Kyoto Veggie Guidebook 京都 おいしい野菜のごはん屋さん

「ベジタリアン」ときくとちょっと身構えてしまいませんか？　そんなあなたにおすすめしたい一冊。最近は、マクロビオティック、ヨガなどの影響もあり、自然食品や天然素材への関心が高まっています。おいしいお野菜を食べると心がほっこりあたたまる、そんなごはん屋さんを44店掲載。お野菜ってこんなにおいしかったんだ！　そんな発見ができるベジタリアンレストランガイドです。

京都 おいしい野菜のごはん屋さん”>京都 おいしい野菜のごはん屋さん
定価1,575円（本体1,500円+税）

企画／山中睦子（やまなかむつこ）
編著／アリカ
体裁／A5　総96頁
ISBN 978-4-8381-0423-9 (2010.1)

A Heart warming new guidebook to 44 delicious veggie restaurants in the Kyoto area has been release, reinforcing the opinion that Kyoto is Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian heaven. Delicious vegetarian food pictured in beautiful and artful looking surroundings.

The book contains many Vegan favorites such as; Sunny Place, Hale and stalwarts such as the Kyoto Felafel House.

Foot and Mouth Slaughter in Kyushu

Meanwhile, in the southern island of Kyūshū, more than 280,000 farm animals, mainly cows and pigs, have been slaughtered this year due to an outbreak of ‘foot and mouth disease’, a virus which can be spread by human beings. While it is uncomfortable for animals, is rarely fatal and can be treated by vaccination. Yet it is thought that more than 300,000 animals will be painfully murdered in the hope of containing the outbreak. 

The situation has become so difficult that the Japanese Self Defence Force has been sent to assist in the clean up. Even local livestock farmers are distressed by the sight of the killings.

Central government has admitted that it mishandled the outbreak after it became known local authorities. The reason for the slaughter is again financial and it is estimated that farmers will lose as much as ¥20 billion for the mismanagement.

Yet it is the tax payers of Japan who will be left paying for the mistake. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry have announced that it will pay farmers ¥59,000 for each slaughtered cow as a financial benefit and to further pay farmers rents for land used to bury the slaughtered livestock. Despite pledging more than a billion dollars in assitance, the government had difficulties in obtaining consent for the slaughter because livestock farmers were dissatisfied with the government’s level of financial compensation.

In the Kyushu case, the animals were being reared for the sake of a luxury meat product only affordable by a tiny few individuals at the top of society; the Miyazaki variety of premium “wagyu beef”. In essence, the compensation is a subsidy of the luxury food market by the majority of individual Japanese people who could never afford to eat such food.

Wagyu beef can wholesale for as much as ¥28,000 a kilogram in Japan and retail at $300 a pound in export markets.

Although it is too early in the case of the most recent outbreak, a similar foot and mouth outbreak in 2000 was traced to the cost cutting efforts of one farm which imported cheap wheat straw as feedstuff from the People’s Republic of China. Upon it was fecal-like substances which containing the virus. Despite the risk, such feedstuffs were imported even in Winter when the virus is able to live longer.

There are approximately 1.7 million dairy cattle, 2.8 million beef cattle and 9.8 million pigs in Japan. Livestock worth about 2.5 billion Yen, or 25% of agricultural production.

The Great Japanese Bear War

Whilst all the world’s attention is distracted by the practises of the Japanese whaling and dolphin hunting industries, another slaughter is taking place in Japan that may outreach both their significance.

In 2006, 4,340 Japanese black bears (ツキノワグマ) were killed by hunters … potentially as many as half the entire population. A figure four times the usual average. Classed as “vulnerable” by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), since WWII more than 100,000 “Moon Bears” have been killed for the economic value of their body parts, e.g. gall bladders are thought to be a cure all in Asian medicine, or in hysteric reactions to sightings near human habitation.

“When I looked closely, I saw one three month bear cub sitting contendedly in the Spring sunlight, another riding on the back of its mother, and a thrid clinging to its mother’s teat. When I saw this innocent scene of the parents and cubs together, even I, who has made a living by killing bears, lost my hunting desire.

My heart was attacked by this all too wonderful scene, which Ijust stood watching, forgetting myself.”

- Fujiwara Chotaro

Japan has been home to both black and brown bears since pre-historic time. The nation’s original ancestors, the Ainu, co-existed with the latter in Hokkaido. Unfortunately, post-WWII economic trends have created conditions where human and bear communities are being driven together. Despite very low levels of real threat, modern Japanese are becoming less tolerant and more afraid of their ancient neighbors.

Just as with dolphins, the killing of Japan’s bears is being government licensed and sponsored as “pest control” … a threat not so much to human beings but to financial interests.

One such organization fighting against this is The Japan Bear and Forest Association (JBFA). A 20,000 strong nature conservation group, combined of Japanese and foreigners, who are seeking to restore and preserve an environment where all living creatures can co-exist peacefully. To the JBFA, a rich forest is a place where large animals such as bears can thrive

For bears and people alike, their home has been ruined. Just as the bear must come down from the now bald mountain peak to the plantations, so people must leave the village to work outside.

Also, as their numbers have decreased, bears have great difficultly in meeting a spouse. For example, in the southern mountains of the peninsula, there are isolated bears who will probably end up as lifelong bachelors.

Is this not a rather similar situation to that of those mountain village youth who cannot find brides?

- Ue Toshikatsu

The Japanese black bear became extinct on Kyushu in the 1950s and is now considered extinct on Shikoku. Only on Eastern Honshu are the black bears considered to be living in healthy numbers. However, even the bears on Honshu have to deal with continuous human disturbance.

The problem has been caused by the destruction of much of the bears’ original habitat by human beings and the establishment of vast mono-cultural timber plantations, starting from World War II, when Japan needed such resources. Uncontrolled harvesting of the native deciduous trees, which provided the bears their food and cover, has continued. Expanding deforestation has forced the bears into villages and farm areas where they look for food.

The situation has been made worse by the breaking down of traditional farming communities which once managed and coppiced woods near villages creating a natural break between human and bear territories. As these lands have been left and neglected, along with fruitful orchards, pastures and even homes, the barriers which kept naturally shy bears away from human settlements have disappeared.

Not being able to find food, and having their hibernation patterns disturbed, bears have started to enter the villages looking for food and entered the popular media as some kind of “folk devil”, the human response to which has become hysterical. In Hokkaido, one bear alert brought 148 hunters, supported by 260 self-defence force members, 50 regular vehicles, 5 snow vehicles and 4 helicopters to kill just 39 bears.

See Part Two (more to follow later).

Why Milk is Not Always Vegetarian

Animal protection group Mercy for Animals sent an undercover investigator into a dairy farm in Ohio, USA to video abuse. This is what they witnessed.

Milk is not “Vegan”, a lifestyle which seeks to avoid causing as much animal exploitation and suffering as possible. In truth, milk is not even always Vegetarian as it is derived from agro-industrial processes within which such abuses are widespread. For example, up to 80% of the beef produced in some Western nations is a by-product of the dairy industry.

The undercover footage shows workers beating cows in the face with crowbars, stabbing them with pitchforks, breaking their tails and punching, throwing and kicking calves while bragging and gloating about the abuse.

Another animal welfare group called Farm Sanctuary has offered to provide rehabilitation and lifelong refuge to any animals that have been taken into protective custody.

In the commercial production of milk, animal slaughter is inevitable. Calves and male animals must die in order that milk be made available for human beings at “economical” prices. Mother cows, who are kept artificially pregnant, are then also prematurely killed after their production rates drop. Heat stress makes much of Japan unsuitable for milk production and keeping dairy cattle.

Chronic milk surplus have occured in Japan, because of the rigidity of prefectural guaranteed price structures and increasing production outstripping stagnant or dropping demands. These have also played a part in the killings. Farmers often attempt to avoid punishing fines for over-production by making other “vegetarian” dairy products like cheese however, in recent years, 1,000s of healthy cows have been killed … purely because they were not financially viable.

Vegan Japan Meetup Groups Grow

Vegan Japan meetup groups grow with a new branch opening in the Kansai area serving Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Shiga.

These Meet-up Groups are groups of Vegans, Vegetarians and veg-friendly people who are interested in vegan food and meeting like-minded people who meet at different vegan or vegan friendly restaurants. Some times meals are a set menu, while at others time everyone can order what they like. There are generally several meet-ups a month. On occasion, organizers arrange special evenings such as potluck picnics, music events and so on.

Tokyo Vegan Meetup Group was first established in July 2006 and is currently run by Tokyo Vegan Earl and Miki. It has a monthly buffet style event at The Pink Cow in Shibuya, an “all you can eat” vegan feast which 25 to 45 people attend, and many smaller events on a weekly basis.

The Kansai Vegan Meetup Group recently start up with a buffet at an cafe-cum-artists studio in a leafy Kansai suburb attracting Vegans and “Vegan curious” individuals from Japan, Australia, South Africa, the US and UK, including the leader of the Kansai Animal Lovers group who is involved in rescuing and housing stray cats … and probably the only vegan dog in Japan!

Good food and dinner parties are an excellent and non-confrontational way with which to promote the Vegan lifestyle.

Many more events are planned for the near future. Please contact the area organizers via their sites, below. More organizers for similar events in other cities are being sought for. If you are interested, please contact us or establish your own group via the Meetup Group website.

Links:

Tokyo Vegan Meetup Group
Kansai Vegan Meetup Group

Over 680 other such Vegan friendly Meetup Groups exist in the UK, Australia, all across the USA, Asia and elsewhere.

New Vegan Japan Products

New products available from our secure Zazzle store including our exclusive “Carbon Footprint” shoes for women and children.

Postage worldwide direct from manufacturer.

第一回 ヴィーガンアースデイフェスティバル京都 ２０１０

引用文 Akiko Iwasa

2010年5月2日（日）　京都市左京区岡崎公園にて,「ヴィーガンアースデイフェスティバル京都」を開催します。

例年、多くの方々にご好評を頂戴しております「ベジタリアンフェスティバル京都」と同様に、美味しくヘルシーなベジタリアン料理店や、お百姓さんによる無農薬野菜直売店、ヒーリングブース、地球環境に配慮した生活用品やコスメ、衣料品等、沢山の店舗が集結します。

今回は、ライブステージなどに加え、NPOの展示、野外ミニ映画館やトークショーなど、新しいイベントも企画しております。
また、ベビールームもございますので、
小さなお子様連れのご家族も安心してお楽しみいただけます。

入場は、もちろん無料です。
観光のついでに、お散歩のついでに、ご家族皆様で過ごされる１日に…
是非お気軽にお立ち寄り下さい。

「知る・観る・食べる」事を楽しんで頂く事で、今の私達のおかれている環境・食生活を、今一度考えるきっかけとなれば幸いです。
スタッフ一同、皆様のご来場を心からお待ちしております。

|| 第一回ヴィーガンアースデイフェスティバル京都2010 イベント概要 ||

日時

2010年5月2日(日)　10:00～17:00 (雨天決行!)