A variety of rice grown in a hamlet with just several hundred inhabitants has won recognition as a brand name thanks to municipal officials' unusual strategy of sending the rice to Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican.
The Mikohara district of Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, is what is called a "genkai shuraku," or a village on the verge of disappearing due to population loss. It had about 1,000 inhabitants 15 years ago, but the number has since fallen by about 50 percent and about half of the remaining residents are 65 or older.
Water flows down gentle slopes to terraced paddies where farmers plant a variety of Koshihikari rice. This particular strain has long been known locally for its high quality, stemming from the clean water and a sharp difference in temperature between day and night.