Bananas grown in Okayama Prefecture, where the temperature drops below zero in winter, are attracting attention at home and abroad.
After some 40 years of research, Setsuzo Tanaka, 69, who had no farming experience, developed a method of making bananas survive cold weather by using plants that were slowly frozen. His work enables the cultivation of the fruit outside tropical or subtropical regions.
"They look splendid, don't you think?" said Tanaka in December, after the city of Okayama went through some extremely chilly days, as he showed off bunches of bananas at the greenhouse of an agricultural corporation D&T Farm.