The city of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, has been working on a project to farm sea urchins, an expensive delicacy, by making use of cabbage thrown out by supermarkets.
The project is aimed at securing a new source of income for local fisheries when they are not harvesting wild sea urchins, which grow by eating seaweed and come into season between April and July.
Natural sea urchins do not grow well in winter as there is not much fresh seaweed. A fishery cooperative from the city's Ohata area that usually halts sea urchin operations in winter is participating in the project.