A breeze rustles through leaves of oyamabokuchi plants on a farm in Katsurao, a village in Fukushima Prefecture.
The herb, an edible variety of thistle, is normally found in the mountains. It is ground up and mixed with rice to produce a local delicacy called shimimochi, or frozen rice cakes. The plant once grew in abundance in nearby forests, but harvests have been limited since the Fukushima nuclear crisis in March 2011.
Fearing the chewy delicacy, passed down through generations, might disappear along with the herb, the village began working with Koriyama Women's College on a project to develop new cultivation methods for oyamabokuchi, which is also known by its botanical name Synurus pungens.