The spring equinox has passed, and the days will become longer from now on. In Chiba Prefecture where I live, the southern Boso region is enjoying mild weather, and tourists flock to the area to see fields of flowers around this time of the year. You can pick poppies and flowers called stocks for a small fee. My family is planning to go there this weekend and stay overnight.
Nanohana (field mustard) is the Chiba prefectural flower, and the sight of small white butterflies flapping over a yellow carpet of nanohana is an iconic image in Japan that spring has arrived.
Nanohaha is also a seasonal food. The soft leaves and stems with small green buds are wrapped like a petite bouquet, and you’ll find them in the vegetable sections of stores. They’re best cooked by being boiled lightly and seasoned with dashi stock, soy sauce and mirin, or with mustard and soy sauce. Nanohana dishes evoke the taste of spring.
There is another leisure activity I especially recommend in Chiba Prefecture — clam digging. Beaches in the prefecture are packed from early spring to summer with families busy digging up clams. You have to pay by weight for the clams you dig up. Children who spend hours digging up clams usually want to take them home, and I often receive some from families who went clam digging.(228 words)
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