Last summer, Toichi Ubukata stood aghast before vast fields of leeks in the village of Shalingzhen in Shandong Peninsula, about 500 km southeast of Beijing.

The Chinese village is located on the same latitude as his hometown of Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture -- Japan's major growing area for leeks. It has developed a mass-production zone for leeks that stretches 670 hectares toward the horizon.

"The most surprising thing was that the entire area is concentrated on growing leeks to be exported exclusively to Japan," Ubukata said.