By CHIEKO HARA/ Staff Writer
May 2, 2024 at 18:17 JST
This food truck sells two types of corn near Odori Park in Sapporo. (Chieko Hara)
SAPPORO--Corn on the cob is fast becoming a pricy delicacy in Hokkaido, famed for producing sweet kernels, lightly brushed with soy sauce, and grilled. Or simply boiled.
Faced with a supply shortage, prices are going up again for the staple that, like crab and ramen, brings hordes of visitors to the northernmost main island of Japan each year.
A food truck parked by the city’s Odori Park is reckoned to serve some of the best corn around.
This year, Yamaga Chikusan, the company that operates the food truck, has raised the price of a single ear of corn to 500 yen ($3.20). That comes on the heels of a 100-yen hike last year.
According to Kenichi Yamaga, the company president, the root of the problem stems from a year ago.
The corn food truck began operating this year from April 20. While it normally operates until October, corn frozen from the previous year is used until late July when fresh corn is harvested.
Last year saw a flood of tourists to Hokkaido, as well as from overseas, after COVID-19 was downgraded as an infectious disease.
The company had a stockpile of 30,000 frozen ears of corn, but that ran out around June, forcing the food truck to temporarily shutter. Business resumed only after corn was purchased from Hokkaido farmers not normally contracted by Yamaga Chikusan.
Last year’s frozen corn stockpile was smaller than usual because in 2022, as people became less panicky about COVID-19, the corn food truck did brisk business just among locals. That often meant waiting in line for an hour to be served. One customer bought 40 ears of corn at one time. Back then, one ear sold for 300 yen. That meant some corn frozen for use in 2023 was instead used a year earlier.
While 50,000 ears were frozen for use this year, some again had to be used a year earlier because record heat last summer led to a shorter harvesting season. That meant the company started this year’s operation with the same stockpile of 30,000 frozen ears as last year.
Yamaga sought out new farmers to contract for corn to be sold this year, but he is uncertain if the supply will last.
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