MINANO, Saitama Pref. — As many as 100,000 people from Japan and abroad visit Tetsuo Asami's shaved ice parlor every summer in Minano, a small town in the Chichibu region of Saitama Prefecture, seeking out his products that use naturally frozen ice and are known for their rich taste.
Although Asami, 58, is happy with the thriving business, the threat of global warming makes him unsure whether he will still be able to make natural ice a decade from now.
"I think our customers travel all the way to Chichibu for shaved ice because they sense that they may not be able to eat it in 10 years' time given rising temperatures and deterioration in the environment of the mountains" which generate nutritious water for natural ice, Asami said.