Photo/Illutration Plums in Kainan, Wakayama Prefecture, on June 5 (Noriki Nishioka)

During the Meiji Era (1868-1912), Japan’s Imperial Army and Navy, which seldom saw eye to eye on anything, both decided to adopt umeboshi, highly salted pickled Japanese plums, as a key item of meals for their troops.

The leading ume-producing areas at the time were Yamaguchi, Chiba and Saitama prefectures. But Wakayama Prefecture later quickly raised its profile in the market and has maintained the status as the top ume producing prefecture for 56 years in a row during the Showa (1926-1989), Heisei (1989-2019) and Reiwa (2019-) eras.

This spring, I read a newspaper story describing how Wakayama last year had the worst ume crop failure in 28 years. The scanty harvest triggered a wave of umeboshi price hikes.

Umeboshi maker Umeta in the town of Minabe in the prefecture “fell on hard times” as it was hit by two consecutive years of a lean crop of ume combined with repercussions from the novel coronavirus pandemic, says Yoshio Taiji, 61, president of the company.

Surprisingly, the cause of the poor yields was the low activity levels of bees during the peak bloom period, according to Taiji. During the period, bees, which help pollinate plum trees, weren't actively flying around.

Due to warm winter last year, the peak bloom period of ume blossoms came in early February, about half a month earlier than usual. But the temperature dropped immediately after the period began, making bees less active than they should be. The upshot was poor ume pollination.

In Wakayama, the harvest season for “Nanko Ume,” the main variety of ume in the region, is now in full swing. This year, the plums have set well, raising expectations of a bumper crop.

“Ume are beautiful and we are back in high spirits,” said Taiji cheerfully, who visited his company’s ume orchards on June 5.

The Japanese word for the rainy season, “baiu,” is written in a combination of two kanji (Chinese characters), which literally mean “plum rain.” It originated in areas around the Yangtze River in China where rain in the season when plums ripen has been called “meiyu,” written in the same two characters, since ancient times.

This year, the rainy season began at the earliest date on record in the Kinki region around Osaka, including Wakayama. The baiu rainy front is also approaching the Hokuriku and Kanto regions. Many people in these regions must have felt a sense of wariness about the upcoming rainy season while looking up at a cloudy sky.

June 6 was the Day of Ume. As I dropped in a supermarket in central Tokyo, I found both green and yellowish ripe ume. I may take a shot at making “umeshu” liqueur during the rainy season, as I continue working from home.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 6

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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