Shintaro Takeuchi : Lemon Farmer
At thirty-two years old, Shintaro Takeuchi is said to be the youngest lemon farmer on the Tobishima Kaido Islands. He’s certainly much younger than most. Nearly all of the rest are over sixty, and many are in their eighties. Shintaro took over his family’s lemon orchards a few years ago, when he returned to Osaki Shimojima Island, the next to last island of the Tobishima Kaido Island chain, after getting a degree from the prestigious Kobe City University of Foreign Studies and then trying his hand for several years at a number of jobs elsewhere, including working for a Japanese food importer in Barcelona. He named the orchards for the first time, calling them Shintaro Farm. Branding his orchards reflected his intent to manage them as a business that could successfully support his life on the island.
Although the “slow life” that Shintaro has chosen for himself clearly makes him a happy man, it’s a demanding one. Typical of lemon farms on the islands, Shintaro Farm consists of a number of small orchards scattered across Osaki Shimojima Island, which he must constantly drive between each day to bring supplies, tend, and harvest. Some of the orchards are those Shintaro’s family has been farming ever since the first lemon was grown in Japan on the island in 1898. These are located on steep ishizumi stone terraces tiered on the mountainous slopes of the western end of the island. Other orchards are those he rents from families who gave up farming due to old age or the massive damage that was caused to the island’s orchards by a freak typhoon in 1991. Most of these are located along the single road that winds through the picturesque village of Kubi in a deep valley that cuts across the island, where he lives.
Shintaro pruning the lemon trees on his orchard located on the steep stone-terraced slopes of the western side of Osaki Shimojima Island. In the distance is the coastline of mainland Honshu Island.
The view across the water from Shintaro’s citrus grove to Mikado Island.
In summer, Shintaro often has to fill large containers with well water and drag them across his orchards and water the lemon trees by hand.
Shintaro getting some advice from one of the older lemon farmers on the island.
Shintaro has been replanting the orchards to replace the lemon trees that were lost due to the typhoon, and he now farms about 70 trees, which produce one to two tons of lemons per year. His biggest challenge is his decision to farm them organically. While some organic lemon farmers do nothing to their trees, Shintaro has chosen the arduous path of pruning his trees year-round to produce beautifully-skinned, unblemished fruit like those grown using chemicals because that is what customers expect. By forming trees that have strong, well-balanced shapes, he creates naturally healthy trees. By keeping their branching open he prevents disease and infestations of harmful insects that are otherwise controlled by chemical pesticides. This also prevents damage to the lemon’s skin that can be caused if wind pushes the lemon trees’ thorny branches into the fruit.
Bright yellow, shiny, firm and heavy in the hand, and naturally grown, Shintaro Farm’s organic lemons are perfect lemons.
Shintaro only harvests lemons on request to ensure their maximum freshness and peak flavor. His customers include a growing number of restaurants and organic food makers, like Jam’s Garden, a leading maker of organic jams and marmalades located on Suo-Oshima Island on the other side of Hiroshima Bay from Osaki Shimojima Island.
The harvesting season is long, traditionally running from January through May. In recent years, Shintaro, like other lemon growers in the region, has started to harvest his lemons early, in November, two months before the fruit has fully ripened. Called green lemons, they are spicier and more piquant than mature lemons, and have become a growing new business for him because of the local food makers who are creating inspired new foods and dishes with them.
Shintaro says that the dramatic yet peaceful view of the Seto Inland Sea from the slopes of his orchards is what makes the hard work of being a lemon farmer all worthwhile.
A Year in the Lemon Farming Life of Shintaro Takeuchi
Shintaro Farm
Kubi, Osaki Shimojima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture
Tel: +81 (090) 2869 7492
Email: shintarofarm@outlook.jp
Instagram: shintarofarm
Where To Buy
Shintaro Farm sells organic green lemons from November through December and yellow lemons from December to May. All lemons are picked fresh to order and shipped to anywhere in Japan by express delivery service. Box sizes are 2 kg, 5 kg, 10 kg, and 15 kg. There are about 18 lemons in a 2 kg box, which is priced at ¥3,000 and includes shipping within Japan. For other sizes, ask Shintaro for a quote. He says the best way to contact him is to send a message to his Instagram account.