At the WSJ page, you can click on certain segments of the interview to hear the speakers in more detail. Below is a taster of the full text.
According to the Valuable 500—an international collective of CEOs committed to ending disability exclusion—one-in-five people experience disability in some form. In the U.S., this figure rises to one in four. Despite the enormity of the issue and global progress on this front, professional opportunities for disabled workers remain severely limited in some countries and sectors.
“In my view, DEI is about nurturing diverse perspectives, giving equal importance to each opinion and creating a workplace where everyone can express themselves,” says Christina Connelly, VP of Human Resources at OMRON Americas and Executive Sponsor of its DEI Workgroup.
Connelly explains that as firm supporters of equitable practices for over five decades, the global technology leader “brings together people with different abilities, personalities and perspectives, and empowers them to take on challenges while creating value for society.”
Understanding that DEI efforts require ongoing discussion, four experts from around the world came together to share the challenges, outcomes and hopes associated with inclusive integration. The following conversation features Tim Hill, Head of Stakeholder Engagement at OMRON Americas; Yolanda Bolaños, HR Director at OMRON Latin America & Canada; Teng Zhang, HR Manager at OMRON Robotics & Safety Technologies Inc.; and Caroline Casey, Founder of the Valuable 500.
According to the Valuable 500—an international collective of CEOs committed to ending disability exclusion—one-in-five people experience disability in some form. In the U.S., this figure rises to one in four. Despite the enormity of the issue and global progress on this front, professional opportunities for disabled workers remain severely limited in some countries and sectors.
“In my view, DEI is about nurturing diverse perspectives, giving equal importance to each opinion and creating a workplace where everyone can express themselves,” says Christina Connelly, VP of Human Resources at OMRON Americas and Executive Sponsor of its DEI Workgroup.
Connelly explains that as firm supporters of equitable practices for over five decades, the global technology leader “brings together people with different abilities, personalities and perspectives, and empowers them to take on challenges while creating value for society.”
Understanding that DEI efforts require ongoing discussion, four experts from around the world came together to share the challenges, outcomes and hopes associated with inclusive integration. The following conversation features Tim Hill, Head of Stakeholder Engagement at OMRON Americas; Yolanda Bolaños, HR Director at OMRON Latin America & Canada; Teng Zhang, HR Manager at OMRON Robotics & Safety Technologies Inc.; and Caroline Casey, Founder of the Valuable 500.
How can companies ensure the voices of disabled employees are consistently spotlighted?
CC: First, I want to pick up on the fear of the language around disability. “Disability” covers a vast spectrum of lived experiences, and it’s okay to say the word. Sometimes, discomfort with the language can mask this diversity. I am registered legally blind, but my experience is incomparable to those of others. Eighty percent of disability is unseen, so unless there are what Yolanda describes as “safe spaces” for employees to self-declare disability, normalization is impossible. That’s why we need to demystify these terms through meaningful conversations and accessible services that elevate those voices.
Tim Hill: These perspectives can also be platformed in ways that offer more human connection. One of our HR analysts, Keigo Tozawa—also a member of our Americas DEI workgroup—underwent inclusive leadership training and experiential learning at OMRON Taiyo in Kyushu, Japan. He discovered a system started by a mentally disabled employee who struggled with expressing himself: workers would write their daily feelings and concerns on a whiteboard, in a highly visible area on the factory floor. This exercise helped employees relate to one another and was a valuable best practice shared with our workgroup. That’s why disabilities shouldn’t be magnified as weaknesses. We encourage all employees to transform their unique potential into value through mutual knowledge, cooperation and ingenuity.
How does inclusivity drive business outcomes?
YB: We see this not only from a business perspective, but a societal one. Some governments and organizations are trying to bring disabled people to the table. At the same time, OMRON has been pioneering inclusivity for over 50 years—it’s a collaboration between business and society.
CC: What business values and includes, society follows. There is no chance that we’re going to end the exclusion crisis without organizations like OMRON because when they share what they’re willing to learn from us, that will trickle into society. Business is the most powerful force for change on this planet, and you can’t force integration unless companies understand the value. The consumer spending power in this market is $13 trillion. Leaders are realizing that to serve those markets and as a point of growth and differentiation, they need this talent in their ranks.
The highly contagious bacteria that cause the infection can, in some cases, cause serious illnesses, health complications and death, particularly in adults over 30. About 30% of STSS cases are fatal
Left: Shiitake cultivation at Mori Sangyo KK, Kiryu, Japan (Photo by the author); Right: S. pyogenes, (Photo: NAIAID, Wikimedia Commons)
“Experts warn that a rare but dangerous bacterial infection is spreading at a record rate in Japan, with officials struggling to identify the cause.
The number of cases in 2024 is expected to exceed last year’s record numbers, while concern is growing that the harshest and potentially deadly form of group A streptococcal disease – streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) – will continue to spread, after the presence of highly virulent and infectious strains were confirmed in Japan” – J. McCurry, Mystery in Japan as dangerous streptococcal infections soar to record levels, The Guardian (2024). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/15/japan-streptococcal-infections-rise-details.
This form of Strep A is a nasty one. In his Guardian article (June 15th, 2024) Justin writes:
“Most cases of STSS are caused by a bacterium called streptococcus pyogenes. More commonly known as strep A – it can cause sore throats, mainly in children, and lots of people have it without knowing it and do not become ill. But the highly contagious bacteria that cause the infection can, in some cases, cause serious illnesses, health complications and death, particularly in adults over 30. About 30% of STSS cases are fatal”.
Across the globe, as drug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms proliferate, medicinal mushrooms (MMs) are being researched as never before as weapons in the fight against disease. In in vitro testing, a component derived from the edible shiitake mushroom has shown antimicrobial effectiveness against Streptococcus pyogenes to a degree that matches antimicrobial drugs.
Shiitake cultivation in the labs at Mori Sangyo KK, Kiryu, Japan. (Photos: JFA)
A 2001 paper from Hungary suggests the effetive substance is likely lenthionine. “The mycelium-free culture fluid [derived from Lentinus edodes, Shiitake] was bacteriostatic against Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus megaterium. The substance responsible for the activity was heat-stable, could be extracted with chloroform and had a molecular weight under 10000. These characteristics suggested that the component might be lenthionine, an antibacterial and anti-fungal sulphur-containing compound”.
The paper then reassuringly adds “The culture fluid was less toxic to human tissue culture cells than to microbes.”
The following, from research conducted in Ireland in 2009, indicates the humble shiitake’s usefulness in a number of antimicrobial applications: “Several batches of Shiitake and oyster mushrooms were purchased fresh from a local supermarket and underwent aqueous extraction of potential antimicrobial components. After reconstitution, aqueous extracts were tested qualitatively against a panel of 29 bacterial and 10 fungal pathogens, for the demonstration of microbial inhibition. Results: Our data quantitatively showed that Shiitake mushroom extract had extensive antimicrobial activity against 85% of the organisms it was tested on, including 50% of the yeast and mould species in the trial. This compared favourably with the results from both the Positive control (Ciprofloxacin).”
J. R. Rao, B. C. Millar, J. E. Moore, Antimicrobial properties of shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes). International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents33, 591–592 (2009).
Shiitake offer other health benefits too. Lentinan is a polysaccharide extracted from Shiitake. β-Glucan is its major bioactive component, and has proven immunostimulatory effect. Its antitumor properties were recorded in the 1960s and it has been approved as an adjuvant therapeutic drug in China and Japan for treating cancers since 1980s. However, globally more often than not products derived from MMs – shiitake included – are marketed as ‘dietary supplements’.
Read more about its likely anti-tumor, cholesterol-lowering, immunostimulant, antiviral and antibacterial properties at the excellent, ever erring-on-the-side-of-caution, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s About Herbs site.
I’m lucky enough to live in Japan where there is a cheap and plentiful supply of Shiitake. I will make a decoction – aka, aqueous extract/fabulous dashi – and a tincture soon, and post more info here in case you’d like to try it yourself.
「STSSのほとんどは、化膿レンサ球菌と呼ばれる細菌によって引き起こされます。一般的には溶連菌Aとして知られているこの細菌は、主に子供たちの咽頭炎を引き起こします。しかし、この感染症の原因となる感染力の強い細菌は、特に30歳以上の成人では、場合によっては重篤な病気や健康合併症、死亡を引き起こすことがあります。STSSの約30％は死に至ります」。J. McCurry, Mystery in Japan as dangerous streptococcal infections soar to record levels, The Guardian (2024).https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/15/japan-streptococcal-infections-rise-details.
地元のスーパーマーケットから新鮮なシイタケとヒラタケを数バッチ購入し、内在する抗菌成分を水抽出しました。再構成後、水性抽出物を29種類の細菌および10種類の真菌病原体パネルに対して定性試験を行い、微生物阻害を実証しました。その結果、シイタケ抽出物は、試験対象となった酵母およびカビ種の50％を含む85％の生物に対して、広範な抗菌活性を有することが定量的に示されました。これは、陽性対照（シプロフロキサシン）の結果と比較すると、良好な結果でした。J. R. Rao, B. C. Millar, J. E. Moore, Antimicrobial properties of shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes). International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 33, 591–592 (2009).
Sano-san is our great friend and ‘shishō’ 師匠- the Master – of all things fungi. Check out my story in Kyoto Journal, issue 104, ‘A Fascination with Fungi’, or drop by the Kyoto Imperial Palace Gardens once a month to join Sano-san on one of his brilliant Sunday morning fungi forays. Mrs A. and I are usually there. There is a Japanese translation of the text included, if you wish to show it to a Japanese friend (or are Japanese yourself 笑).
Sano-san will also be leading a Mushroom hunt to coincide with the Kansai Mycological Club’s 30th annual mushroom event on Saturday 28th October from 2 to 3 pm in the Kyoto Botanical Gardens . I’ll be at the venue providing English translation, though likely in the main exhibition space, not Sano-san’s lecture.
Dates: October 28 (Saturday) to October 29 (Sunday), 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (until 4:00 p.m. on the last day). Why not bring along a mushroom or two and get it identified by the experts.
The following pics are from the Botanical Gardens event in 2019:
This is one of the Sunday-morning Kyoto Imperial Gardens forays led by Sano Shuji:
State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2023/plus open-access, global review of fungal diversity
[October 11th, 2023] Kew writes: Our fifth report in the State of the World’s series lays out the current condition of the world’s plants and fungi globally, and is titled ‘Tackling the Nature Emergency: Evidence, gaps and priorities’
It is the second report that is accompanied by a full volume of expert-reviewed scientific publications from our partners, the New Phytologist Foundation. Their special collection on ‘Global Plant Diversity and Distribution’ includes open-access papers published in the journals New Phytologist and Plants, People, Planet.
The list of suggested health benefits for the Ganoderma lucidum fungus is huge. I have dozens of academic papers, and less formal articles, on the topic. Here I’m posting just a few, to give an overall impression for the readers who don’t want to pore over volumes stuffed with complex terminology (I confess, I like that stuff).
I’m also including, for balance, the entry for Reishi at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital excellent ‘About Herbs’ site. They are at the cautious, objective end of the evaluation scale. But we begin with a table from the ultimate Medicinal mushroom advocate, Paul Stamets. This is from his Host Defense Mushrooms commercial site.
A quick glance at my notes reveals that the following Medicinal attributes apply to Reishi (it’s not an exhaustive list): Anti-aggregant; Anti-allergy; Anti-bacterial; Anti-herpetic (it’s used against herpes); Anti-inflammatory; Anti-oxidant; Anti-tumour (boosts NK (natural killer) cells; Anti-ulcer; Anti-viral (it’s in the anti-HIV ‘cocktail’); Cholesterol lowering; Hepatoprotective and Anti-Hepatosis (liver protect and heal); Immunomodulating; Lowers serum glucose (Anti-diabetic); works against Colitis/IBD.
Naturally, these claims are extremely difficult to prove. Most of the research is in vitro, and it’s hard to prove that these effects work outside the lab. That said, if ‘follow the money’ being chucked at Reishi research across the globe, it is quite astounding. Here is just one example of the cross-border collaboration taking place:
Certainly Ganoderma lucidum – known as Linghzi in China – plays an important role in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) though this excellent piece in the North American Mycological Journal argues strongly that its ‘ancient history’ is based more on speculation than actual fact. “Belief in the antiquity of use is somehow supposed to make this polypore more acceptable as a an empirically verified scientific medicine,” argues author Dianna Smith, “. “This is unfortunate. Certainly, there are numerous fungi used in Chinese cooking, which are also recommended for maintaining health and even enhancing it if not in tip-top shape. However, it is impossible to find supporting evidence that Ganoderma ling zhi has a two to seven-thousand-year history of use in China”.
One thing is for sure, the Chinese are buying Reishi like never before. Indeed so is everyone. One study reports a market value of 104.78M USD by 2025 for Reishi mushroom extract (www.marketwatch.com).
Memorial Sloan Kettering reins in some of the more extreme claims, and advises ‘more research is necessary’. Here’s their synopsis for ‘patients and caregivers’. They add the text below, ‘for health care professionals’ (warning, nerdy science language follows):
Beta glucans, polysaccharides present in reishi, demonstrated antitumor and immunostimulating activities (18)(40). Its triterpene compounds may inhibit tumor invasion by reducing matrix metalloproteinase expression (16), and tumor metastases by limiting attachment to endothelial cells (17). Findings also indicate that reishi induces natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity against various cancer cell lines via activation of the natural cytotoxic receptors (NKG2D/NCR) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-signaling pathways, which result in exocytosis of perforin and granulysin (31). Reishi polysaccharides were shown to increase expression of the major histocompatibility (MHC) class I and costimulatory molecules on melanoma cells, resulting in enhanced antitumor cytotoxicity (32). In ovarian cancer cells, reishi induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest, activated caspase 3 to induce apotosis, increased p53, and inhibited Akt expression (27).
The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) Sightseeing Database is a great resource (searchable, in Japanese too) if you don’t mind the lack of fancy pictures. The link to their main page is here. 日本語リンクはここです I’ve been writing pieces for them for several years now. My locations have included a World Heritage Site (Sericulture in Gunma), a National Park (Kamikochi and environs, Gifu/Nagano), a Samurai Town and Geopark (Hagi, Yamaguchi), and Sake Breweries and Historical Sites (Fushimi, Kyoto), amongst others.
In their words: “The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) has set up this website for searching English-language texts on sightseeing destinations in Japan. The texts, totaling around 7,000, have been prepared for the JTA’s “Promoting Multilingual Support for Sightseeing Destinations around Japan” project. The objective of the database is to provide regions in Japan and the private sector with content they can use to supplement or refer to for creating their own texts for media, such as interpretive signs, pamphlets, and websites”.
Have a poke around to see what takes your fancy. Here’s one example of some of my stuff.日本語のテキストは以下の英文に続く
Kizakura (Kizakura Co. Ltd.) and Kappa Country
A relative newcomer to the Fushimi sake scene, Kizakura was founded in 1925 by Matsumoto Jirokurō (dates unknown) when he split off from his family’s brewery. Unlike most of the breweries in Fushimi today, Kizakura also brews beer.
In 1995 the company established Kizakura Kappa Country in its old brewery buildings to showcase its products and explain the company’s history. Traditional straw-wrapped barrels are stacked at the entrance. These bear the company emblem, Kizakura—literally “yellow cherry blossom.” A garden patio contains tables and features a cherry tree with yellow springtime blooms.
Photo by me, added, not in JTA original.
One old sake warehouse has been converted into a small museum that explains the origin of Fushimi sake and displays posters showing how the company has developed since its founding. In the first room, a small diorama illustrates ancient brewing techniques, from the first washing of the rice to thepressing that separates the finished sake from the lees.
In one corner of the room, there is a faucet that draws directly from a natural spring called Fushimizu. All of the beer and sake made at Kizakura is made with this spring water. By tradition, the springs of Fushimi are open to the public.
In the next room an old wooden sake press (sakafune) is on display. On the other side of a glass panel is its twenty-first century equivalent, capable of doing many times the work in a fraction of the time.
To recap, we are looking at a duel extraction process here, with two steps, using alcohol and water. That is to say, steeping the mushrooms in alcohol (making a tincture) and boiling the mushrooms in water (making a decoction). You can do this with the same batch of mushrooms. Indeed, this is the least wasteful approach, and the most cost effective. You get more out of your mushrooms this way.
However, if you decide to make a tincture with one batch of mushrooms, and a decoction with another set of mushrooms – the other half of your harvest, perhaps – and keep them separate, that’s fine too.
Making the decoction
To begin your ‘marc’, the mushrooms left over from the alcohol soak, or fresh mushrooms, and soak them in water in a large pot. If you are using fresh mushrooms, make sure to scrub off as much dirt – and bugs – as possible. I generally rinse fresh mushrooms, soak them in water for a while, then dry them overnight in my drier. This stops any moud creeping in. The green meanies seem to go for reishi as soon as you bring them out of the forest. Here’s what my drying process looks like:
As you’ll not, I sliced these reishi up to dry. They were pretty tough, so it took some effort. I used a saw, a chisel and finally scissors to get them down to size. Younger specimens are easier to slice.
Boiling/Simmering and a Recipe
A quick net search will show you that there are many different recommendations for how long to heat the mixture. I follow my Japanese ‘Mushroom master’ Shuji Sano’s advice.
Take 50 grammes of Medicinal mushrooms
Add them 2 litres of water in a large saucepan
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer
Let the mixture simmer for an hour, or until the liquid has reduced by half
Filter off the liquid (I use a kitchen drain net)
Et voila, you have a litre of Medicinal mushroom decoction.
Sano-san combines 40 grammes of Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) with 10 grammes of Artist’s Conk (Ganoderma applanatum). How you take it is up to you. Mrs A and I add 25 ml to our morning smoothies, along with several drops of the Medicinal mushroom tincture mentioned previously.
Or is that Fungi as gay Icons? To celebrate Pride Month in the UK, the Kew Gardens Mycology department came up with these fun images. Which is your favourite?
I spent a long time writing this book. When it dropped through the letter box I was amazed. “Who the x@#! is Yoshi Abe?” I shouted. Despite some awful editing by LP I am still proud of it. Great assistance from Mrs A throughout. If anyone else’s name was to be on it, it should have been hers.
It seems that some people liked it, according to the reviews:
It also seems that I am a real person and have a brain!
The same people who translated my writing on Niku Jaga did the same for my piece on Natto.
Natto (Fermented soy beans)There are plenty of cuisines that produce stinky, oddly textured delicacies. Japan’s is natto (fermented soy beans), marrying a stringy-gloopy texture with the smell of long-discarded sports socks. Kansai dwellers hate it, but Tokyoites lap the stuff up. We have to confess to being total converts, and even mix it with sliced spring onion and a raw quail egg (see the recipe below). The egg and onion bind the beans together, and slightly lessen the stink. Try it. When you qualify as a certifiable natto-nut, you’ll crave that gorgonzola-in-the-car-boot effect, for sure.Quoted from P.31, “World Food – JAPAN”, John Ashburne and Yoshi Abe, Lonely Planet, Australia, 2002.
A few years ago I stumbled across this translation into Japanese of something I wrote in my Lonely Planet ‘World Food Japan’ book. Nobody asked permission, but I didn’t mind. They did it well.
肉じゃが
Yer common spud (jaga-imo) is much appreciated in Japan, not least in Hokkaido where the splendidly titled danshaku (“the Baron”) is preferred. It is originally arrived at the other end of the archipelago in Kyushu, in the early 17th century, when the Dutch brought it to Nagasaki. Sometimes called the bareisho (“horse-bell potato”), it is used in sunomono, aemono, nimono, oden and furai (deep fried; at McDonald’s termed furenchi-furai). A favorite with foreigners is niku-jaga – stewed beef and potatoes with onion and carrot, in shoyu with mirin and dashi. Not only is this izakaya staple tasty, it is easy to order – just ask for a rubber-lipped Rolling Stones vocalist. Works every time.Quoted from P.61, “World Food – JAPAN”, John Ashburne and Yoshi Abe, Lonely Planet, Australia, 2002.
I guess I’ve been around the block a bit since I arrived in July 1986. Here’s a rough map ohf my travels, either privately or writing for Lonely Planet (Japan, Edition 7; Japan, Edition 8); Best of Kansai, Kyoto Journal, etcetera. Click to enlarge. 1986年7月に来日して以来、いろいろなところを旅してきた。個人的に、あるいはロンリープラネット（日本編第7版、日本編第8版）、ベスト・オブ・関西、京都ジャーナルなどで執筆した私の旅の大まかな地図です。クリックすると拡大します
Reishi, aka Ganoderma lucidum, undisputed heavyweight champion of medicinal mushrooms. I harvested these for my extracts last July from the grounds of a forest temple here in Kyoto.
To the left, a tincture (alcohol extraction) to the right a decoction (water extraction). To get the most out of your medicinal mushrooms, combine the two in a single concoction (blend).
Greetings! If you are reading this, I take it you are interested in making some medicinal mushrooms, so here we go, I’ll outline the basics. Before we start, I should point out that I won’t be delving into complex techniques or terminology such as extraction ratios, (if you want to know about those, and bags of good info, check here), or carefully measuring out each milligramme and milliliter of ingredients. Nor am I talking industrial scale production. I’ll just show how I make medicinal mushroom extracts, for me and my significant other, here in our small wood and paper house in Kyoto, Japan. I’ll keep it simple.
By the way, it’s a long post. You might like to pull up a chair.
From start to finish the process takes about 4 weeks, less if you are in a hurry. The most complex equipment you’ll need is a big pan, or pressure cooker, and some glass jars.
Double, Double, Boil & Bubble
The method I’ll describe is what is known as a double or dual extraction. Simply put, mushrooms contain health-giving components that need to be eked out using one of two methods: boiling in water, or steeping in alcohol. If you only do one part of the two-step process, fine, but you’ll miss out on half the good stuff. More on the good stuff later.
If you are going to use mushrooms you found in the forest, don’t forget the mushroom gatherer’s timeless advice: “All wild mushrooms are edible. Once”.
Firstly, you’ll need some mushrooms. I am fortunate, living in Japan, in that I can source fresh medicinal mushrooms – maitake, shiitake, enokidake, shimeji, etc – inexpensively at farmer’s markets and organic stores and supermarkets pretty much year-round. My Kyoto house is not far from the hills, so foraging is not difficult either. I’ll write more about that another time, but if you are going to use mushrooms you found in the forest, don’t forget the mushroom gatherer’s timeless advice: All wild mushrooms are edible. Once.
Sun drying Yanagimatsutake. Get double quantity and make a risotto with the other half. Awesome!
I almost always use dried mushrooms when making my concoctions (that’s not a rude word in these circles, by the way). Using fresh mushrooms is fine, but sun drying ups the Vitamin D content exponentially (good for vegans and vegetarians), and of course it makes storing and handling that much easier.
While we are here, drying some species of mushroom – porcini, yanagimatsutake, cèpes, boletes – then reconstituting them by adding water, makes them even tastier than when fresh. There’s a chemical explanation for this, I’m sure. I just don’t know what it is. Flavonoids? This man likely knows the answer.
First, take some Mushrooms
So, here we go. First, take your mushrooms, make sure they are clean, chop them into small pieces, dry them, and you are ready to go. Sounds easy, right? Well, it is, unless of course one of the mushrooms you have chosen happens to be or good friend, the incomparable, Ganoderma lucidum or reishi. These are seriously tough mushrooms. Literally tough. Not so long ago my mushroom comrade in arms Irish Tom and I managed to splinter an electric saw blade trying to slice up a particularly feisty example.
Look for grain to cut across when slicing reishi. The first cuts across the cap are the toughest. Across the slice is easier.
A simple way to get around the problem is to buy ready-cut reishi chips, or commercially-produced dried mushrooms which are generally easy (easier, more accurately) to slice. For the latter a good heavy-handled knife is handy, as is a hefty chopping board on a stable surface. Experiment slicing across the cap until you find a ‘grain’ that is easier to follow. Even with store-bought reishi, expect to work up a sweat. You might like to play some relaxing music. Or thrash metal. For a super hard shroom from the forest you’ll need a saw.
Fortunately, many dried mushrooms are easy to make smaller, and often you can pull them apart by hand – a very satisfying feeling (or is that just me?) – or cut them with kitchen scissors. Some crumble to the touch.
The choice of mushrooms is pretty much up to you, and of course you can include different mushroom species in one concoction. If you are creating a medicinal mushroom extract to suit a particular health condition, or to protect in advance against a certain ailment, then you can tailor your mycological ‘mix and match’ to suit. I’ll write on which mushrooms are most suitable for which conditions here at a later date.
Steep, then Boil (or, if you fancy it, boil, then steep)
To recap, we are looking at a duel extraction process here, with two steps, using alcohol and water. That is to say, steeping the mushrooms in alcohol (making a tincture) and boiling the mushrooms in water (making a decoction). You can do this with the same batch of mushrooms. Indeed, this is the least wasteful approach, and the most cost effective. You get more out of your mushrooms this way.
However, if you decide to make a tincture with one batch of mushrooms, and a decoction with another set of mushrooms – the other half of your harvest, perhaps – and keep them separate, that’s fine too.
There is some debate in which order you should do the dual extraction. I’m a steep first, boil later guy. Some dudes go for the boil, then steep. Huh? It’s a bit like Jonathan Swift’s debate over which end you should eat your boiled egg from. I guess I’m a Big Endian, Steep Firster. There is evidence that both processes, whichever you choose, may slightly reduce the effectiveness of the second step, but for our purposes, the difference is negligible. My reason for steeping in alcohol first is that it is easy, and I’m putting off the (only slightly) less easy bit till later.
First step: steep your mushrooms in alcohol. 40% – 50% proof vodka is just the job.
Making the tincture (at last, I hear you say)
Clean a large glass jar, and fill to the half way point with your mushrooms. Then fill to the brim with 40~50% proof vodka. Try to not let any air remain. As you’ll see from the above, there’s no point in splashing cash with fine quality alcohol, as your final concoction will taste of, well, mushrooms. With reishi in there, bitter mushrooms.
A jar with a handle on top is, well, handy, as you can easily agitate it, that is to say, shake it up and down like someone possessed. To get the most from your mushrooms it is recommended you do this daily, but it’s not a catastrophe if you forget. Whilst agitating I suggest you put on a Pointer Sisters record and pretend to yourself you are doing a 1980s aerobics workout. Just don’t let anyone see you do this. If you are reading this in Japan, Seria has perfect jars at ￥100 a pop.
Leave your medicinal mushrooms in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks, agitating daily. That can include making ‘F#c% Trump!’ placards and encouraging youth to vote. Over time the mixture may cloud, but worry not, that’s normal. A water extraction clouds even more so.
I recommend you label your jars with the date laid down, the type of mushrooms within, and whether the contents are a tincture (alcohol) or an extraction (water). It’s easy to forget, if you don’t. You can scrawl on them with a marker pen, or print dainty labels. I like to label mine in, er, Latin. Yes, I know the ‘Pretentious, moi?’-ometer just broke off the top of the scale, but I like it. There’s also another reason for using scientific names, which I’ll get to in another post sometime. Et voilà, your tincture.
Come back here in four weeks for the next exciting installment, aka, How to Make Simple Medicinal Mushroom Extracts (part two – the water decoction).
Store your tincture in a cool, dark place for about four weeks, agitating daily. Yeah!
2015 Kamogawa 10km Sponsored Walk Date: May 31st, 2015 (Sunday) Course: Approx. 10 km (Sanjo to Kitayama and back to Sanjo on the banks of the Kamogawa) The “Kamogawa 10km Sponsored Walk” started in 2005, making this the 11th year of this event. Following on from last year, we will hold the “Walk” in support of the “Zienzele Foundation”, an NPO that supports AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, however, given the terrible news from Nepal on May 25th we will now be sending a great deal of the money to help our friends at the Laliguras Children’s Home repair their damaged building and lives and also help their neighbours. In Japan, sponsored events are not as common as they are in western countries. For those who are not very familiar with the method, here is a quick explanation. A walker collects “sponsors” (as many as possible) who are willing to support him/herself to achieve the target (walking 10km for this event). The “sponsors” then pledge to “pay sponsor money to the walker in order to achieve the target.” (amount is decided on by each sponsor.) After the event, the walker collects the money from all his/her sponsors, and hands it in. On the first “Walk” in 2005, there were 19 walkers and they raised over 500,000 yen. Since then, the number of walkers and the amount of money raised has increased.
In Kathmandu
Last year, there were 56 walkers and they raised an amazing 1,221, 200 yen from 741 sponsors. Nearly all the money we have raised so far has been used for educational fees for the children in Zimbabwe and the educational and living costs for the children in the Laliguras Children’s Home, Nepal. In 2006, we combined the “Walk” money and the money raised from a charity concert in the autumn, and donated the money to the Zienzele Foundation in Zimbabwe to purchase a mini bus to be used in their fieldwork efforts. Last year we donated an extra 300,000 yen to help pregnant women in Laos and Indian school children, and also gave money to two projects in Cambodia and a village school library project in Nepal.
This sponsored walk is a small event that is organized around a group of friends. Therefore, there are no expenses incurred for promotion or operating costs, and all the money raised (except for sending fees) will be donated directly to the supported organizations. With your help, we hope to help as many children and their families as possible in the developing world achieve a better standard of life, now and for the future. We are all brothers and sisters in this world, and we all deserve the same quality of life regardless of where we were born and who we are.
I took this earlier this week at Chuck Kayser’s organic farm, O.K.Fields in Kutsuki, Shiga. Memories of Edward Weston! These are destined for the Tomato sauce at Cafe Foodelica. これから美味しいオーガニックトマトソースになります！
Edited by Michael Lambe and Ted Taylor, it’s a great collection of meditative strolls by long-term residents of Kyoto, and all-round cool people. And me. It sez ‘ere: “Deep Kyoto: Walks is a new anthology of 18 meditative strolls in Japan’s ancient cultural capital. Independently produced by 16 writers who have made their home in Kyoto, this book is both a tribute to life in the city of “Purple Hills and Crystal Streams”, and a testament to the art of contemplative city walking. In a series of rambles that express each writer’s intimate relationship with the city, they take you not only to the most famous shrines and temples, but also to those backstreets of memory where personal history and the greater story of the city intersect. Join Pico Iyer, Judith Clancy, Chris Rowthorn, John Dougill, Robert Yellin, John Ashburne and more as they explore markets and mountains, bars and gardens, palaces and pagodas and show us Kyoto afresh through the eyes of those who call it “home”.
My walk, entitled “Gods, Monks, Secrets, Fish” starts at the place where this fellow, Zen-Patriarch and proto-Foodie Dogen, (pictured left) ‘left the building’, and finishes at the sacred well in Nishiki Tenmangu. En route I stop off for some fine seafood at Daiyasu, and sample some of the great foodstuffs that are available in the Nishiki Market Arcade. At some point I go on seemingly unconnected asides about the French, the Vikings, Locusts, etc. If you’d like a wee taster, please pardon the pun, Michael has kindly put up this link on his Deep Kyoto website. The full kit and caboodle can be purchased for a very reasonable fee at that well-known purveyor of words named after a large rainforest, here. And here, for you patient readers who kindly got this far, is a bit of Dogen that didn’t make it into my walk:
“Through one word, or seven words, or three times five, even if you investigate thoroughly myriad forms, nothing can be depended upon. Night advances, the moon glows and falls into the ocean. The black dragon jewel you have been searching for, is everywhere”
As many of you already know, I am the Guest Editor for the upcoming Kyoto Journal Issue, ‘Food’. Here is the gist of our invitation letter. Enjoy, and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you think that you – or someone you know – might be interested in submitting. Bon apetit! (PS, that’s not the actual cover, although I rather like it – Natto in my genkan).
We sincerely hope that you find some personal interest in this, our new project. We’re very eager to hear suggestions and ideas for content for this issue. And if you know anyone else who may also be interested, please do pass this on to them…
Yoroshiku!
FOOD
“Some dishes seem to be charged with a psychic energy, a mana which makes them attract attention, generate interest, stimulate debate, inspire controversy and debates about authenticity. The same is true of certain artists” – John Lanchester, ‘The Gourmet’
“A great dish is the master achievement of countless generations” – Curnonsky
“The universe is nothing without the things that live in it, and everything that lives eats” – Brillat-Savarin
“Much of the pleasure of food is a flirtation with decay” – Sean French, “First Catch Your Puffin”
We adore it, we abhor it, we need it, we leave it. Without it, we exist not. Food pervades every area of our thought and existence. Food allows us to live, when we are privileged enough to have it. It sustains us. It inspires us. It enslaves us. It educates us. It may kill us. It allows us to communicate with the Gods.
Your food is not mine, nor mine is yours, but we may share it, and in so doing, what joy. The sloth and the wolf eat, but only humans dine. Sometimes upon each other. There are rules for what we eat, and how. There are those who tell us what we should ingest. There are those who say we are what we eat. There are those who say we eat what we are.
Few remain silent on Food. And why would one? What a natural topic for discussion, discourse, eulogy, outrage, comedy, reflection, prayer, ire, poetry, love. Food defies time. It exists in the memory and the here and now. It is simultaneouslyuniversal and particular, literal and metaphoric, indelibly bound with meaning on an infinite variety of levels. Yet let’s not forget, it is also life-affirming, edible, incredible fun, a celebration of life itself. And so many of its greatest exponents and proponents live here in Asia.
For all of the above reasons, we look forward with great anticipation to Kyoto Journal’s 82nd issue, due out in winter 2014 — our long-awaited special on Food. We seek tales, observations, musings: a sumptuous buffet of interesting, unusual ideas on Asian-related food and food lore. Coffee-table tomes already exist on everything from kaiseki menu planning to dining preferences amongst the headhunters of Borneo …so we are not looking for more of the same, including recipes or restaurant reviews. What we arehoping for is a balance of the personal and the profound, articles that mix wit, gravitas, novelty and spontaneity that will surprise and delight even the most jaded reader’s palate. Let us know what you’d like to cook up for what will surely be a memorable KJ feast!
Kyoto Journal is a long-established non-profit, all-volunteer-based digital quarterly. Contributors receive a complimentary subscription, worldwide readership, and our deepest appreciation!
This week – it’s May 7th, 2014 today – has been a good one, photographically speaking. My photos, see below, are simultaneously hanging on walls on three continents, a first for me. I am also getting paid a decent amount of money. Feels great! 写真家の僕にとっては嬉しい一週間となりました。
現在、初めて三大陸で同時に僕の写真が展示されています。（京都／KG+@Cafe Foodelica、ロンドン／ユニリーヴァコーポレーション、サンタフェ／旧総監邸ニューメキシコ歴史博物館）These images are from top left , clockwise: ‘Beautiful Woman, Jaipur, India‘, currently licensed to the Unilever Corporation and blown up large at their in-house event in London; ‘War Zone’, part of the Hibiku 響 group exhibition/KG+ at Cafe Foodelica, Kyoto; and ‘Birthing Stonehenge’, a pinhole anamorphic image on show in the ‘Poetics of Light’ and in the permanent collection of the New Mexico History Museum Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe. I am doubly happy that the images are not only reaching a wide audience, but also represent three very different areas of my photographic work. I have shown once before in Buenos Aires, so I guest next stop: Tuvalu!
Writing this at The Manor, a boutique hotel in one of Delhi’s wealthy, southern suburbs. The air is full of birdsong and car horns, and it’s a cool 18 degrees, almost chilly after the heat of Kerala. As ever, the food has been a highlight of the trip, though S and I both agree that the standard was universally higher on our last visit to India. Sorry Kerala, too much adulteration for the tourists, and attendant complacency. Though there were some outstanding exceptions – notably the Old Lighthouse Bristow Hotel in Kochi & some of the dishes at the Fragrant Nature resort in Kollam – Tamil Nadu wins hands down. Here’s a ‘Day in the Life’ snapshot of my Kerala repasts – details below in Japanese and English.
Top L to Bottom R: Breakafast, Kadala Chickpea Curry with Putu, a steamed mix of coconut and rice; Lunch, Vegetable Jalfrezi with Mixed Fried Rice (‘Indian and Chinese!’ exclaimed the waiter, Mr Joby, with much head wobbling); Tiffin, Vegetable Pakora and ‘Special Tea’; Dinner, Fillet of Jambali Fish (Sea Bass?).
Thanks to Narisawa-san’s remarkable generosity I sampled ALL of the below in a feast which lasted around three hours, an incredible experience. These are my pics:
Squid, succulent and sublime
‘Evolve with the Forest’
Fugu
Horse Crab Gelée
Langoustine
Rockfish, oh boy
The legendary ‘Soil Soup’. Yes, it is made from soil, from atop a Nagano mountain, no less
Pork, Okinawan style, in a dashi of konbu and seasnake. It was awesome.
‘Winter-Spring’
Hida Beef in charcoal. Yes, you eat the charcoal too.
There is some debate in which order you should do the dual extraction. I’m a steep first, boil later guy. Some dudes go for the boil, then steep. Huh? It’s a bit like Jonathan Swift’s debate over which end you should eat your boiled egg from. I guess I’m a Big Endian, Steep Firster. There is evidence that both processes, whichever you choose, may slightly reduce the effectiveness of the second step, but for our purposes, the difference is negligible. My reason for steeping in alcohol first is that it is easy, and I’m putting off the (only slightly) less easy bit till later.
![dogen[1]_0](https://johnashburne.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/dogen1_0.jpg)
My walk, entitled “Gods, Monks, Secrets, Fish” starts at the place where this fellow, Zen-Patriarch and proto-Foodie Dogen, (pictured left) ‘left the building’, and finishes at the sacred well in Nishiki Tenmangu. En route I stop off for some fine seafood at Daiyasu, and sample some of the great foodstuffs that are available in the Nishiki Market Arcade. At some point I go on seemingly unconnected asides about the French, the Vikings, Locusts, etc. If you’d like a wee taster, please pardon the pun, Michael has kindly put up this link on his Deep Kyoto website. The full kit and caboodle can be purchased for a very reasonable fee at that well-known purveyor of words named after a large rainforest, here. And here, for you patient readers who kindly got this far, is a bit of Dogen that didn’t make it into my walk:
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