HAKUI, Ishikawa -- A wild boar 1.2 meters long and weighing about 100 kilograms lay in a room at a game meat processing facility in Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture. Hakui is the gateway city to the Noto Peninsula, which is blessed with the bountiful nature of satoyama and satoumi (woodlands and oceans near populated areas).
The room was being kept at 15 C, and pre-treatment of the animal was completed within an hour after hunters called to say it had been killed. The boar was cleaned with acid water for sterilization, and swiftly separated into skin and meat before processing.
The facility is operated by a joint company called Notoshishidan, which has been commissioned by the city government.
"When processed quickly and well, the meat doesn't smell so strong," said company head Shinji Kato, 31, emphasizing the importance of time-critical work.
In fiscal 2015, the Hakui city government launched Notoshishi Daisakusen, a project to sell the meat of captured boars. The name Notoshishi comes from the Noto region's traditional Shishi Goroshi lion dance, in which a tengu long-nosed goblin gets rid of vermin that devastate farms and rice paddies.
The project was devised in response to the serious crop damage caused by the beasts in the mountain area, endangering conservation of the satoyama landscape.
In accordance with an increasing number of boar sightings in Hakui and two neighboring towns, the number of animals killed jumped from 25 in fiscal 2012 to 779 in fiscal 2015, about 30 times the earlier level. The project was meant to kill two birds with one stone: Protect crops and also develop a local brand of meat.
Five people, including members of the central government's Community-Reactivating Cooperator Squad, are participating in the mission.
Kato, who is from Kyoto Prefecture, moved to Hakui in 2015 as a member of the squad, promoted by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry to revitalize underpopulated areas. Kato joined Notoshishidan at the time of its inauguration in spring 2015. Back then, the organization was just a voluntary group.
In December 2017, Kato finished out his term as a squad member and became the head of Notoshishidan, which has developed into a corporate body.
There were only two members when the group began its activities, laymen with no knowledge of distribution. "I didn't know where to sell our meat," Kato recalled.
With the city's support, they visited michi no eki roadside rest areas and participated in trade fairs in Kanazawa and Tokyo organized by the Ishikawa prefectural government. They also submitted the meat as a return gift in the furusato nozei tax deductible donation system and gradually expanded its distribution routes.
Around summer 2017, Notoshishidan secured sales of more than 1 million yen a month, moving its operations into the black. In fiscal 2017, 336 boars that were killed in one city and two towns were processed into 4.8 tons of meat, whose sales reached about 16 million yen.
The company's meat is popular for being "less smelly and soft, despite being game meat." The brawn loin sells for 5,000 yen per kilogram -- a price that favorably compares with the price of top-quality A5 domestic beef -- and is distributed to broader markets, including restaurants in Kanazawa and Tokyo.
Bones and guts, which otherwise are treated as industrial trash, are carbonized to become fertilizer, while the skin is processed into key cases and other accessories, utilizing every part of the animal to earn a profit.
Notoshishidan previously carried out its mission with a subsidy from the city, but has operated without monetary assistance from this fiscal year.
More members of the company are needed to expand the market. Daisuke Higuchi, 23, graduated from university in Tokyo this year, and became both a squad member and a member of Notoshishidan.
"I've wanted to get a job related to hunting and game meat for a long time. I want to go hunting by myself in the future," Higuchi said.
The key will be bringing in the younger generations, who are increasingly interested in hunting culture, which is directly involved with nature.
"If our activities stop, these pests will bedevil local farmers. We must continue our activities while spreading the name of 'notoshishi' throughout Japan," Kato said.
Certifying game
Amid the growing popularity of game meat cuisine nationwide, the central government and local authorities have individually set up certification systems to relieve consumers' concern over quality and help expand the market.
In July, the central government started a certification system for good-quality domestic game. Wild game meat that meets certain standards of hygiene control and distribution can obtain a certification label.
Since 2015, the Nagano prefectural government has given authentication numbers to individual deer and posted online information regarding the killing and processing of the animals. Hokkaido followed suit in 2015 and Yamanashi Prefecture in 2017, setting individual standards for certification related to venison and slaughterhouses.
-- Hakui, Ishikawa Pref.
The city is located at the neck of the Noto Peninsula, about an hour's drive from Kanazawa.
On the east side of the city is Himi, Toyama Prefecture, a city famous for yellowtail. The west side of Hakui includes Chirihama beach, the only sand coast in Japan that can be driven on in a car. The beach was featured in the TV commercial of a leading automaker.
Flying saucers are said to have been spotted since the Edo period (1603-1867) in the city, and Hakui is known as the City of UFOs.
The population was 21,805 as of Sept. 1.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
