2009, I experienced my first video call. The sun had made it’s way to tomorrow on the other side of the ocean, where my friend cheered me with her visual presence via Skype video call. I felt the Japanese summer heat, looking at her short sleeves and the air conditioner. We played row-shan-bo with a 5 second delay, and pretended to drink tea like we were in a virtual cafe.

She told me current affairs in the vegetable and food market of Japan. For example the most recent and popular word 食育 (shokuiku; food education). “It’s in magazines and television and schools” she said, “everybody is trying to learn all about their food on the table”. In fact, almost all of rice is made in Japan as well as much of all vegetables, but most of soy beans are imported from China, meaning Japan would be without tofu, soy sauce and miso if somehow this international link would go bazoonk.  

She works for a seed company. They’re working on a miniature Daikon radish seed that can grow in planters inside homes. Yet, an average Japanese person’s vegetable intake has dwindled since the introduction of on-the-shelf, ready cooked meals. On the other hand, with a push to combat expanding health care spending and the encouragement of eating healthy foods, “Americans eat more vegetables than the Japanese now” she told me. 

We talked for over an hour. On my side the sun had long passed and there, a high noon was calling her to be outside.

In a flash she’d appeared on the other side of the call, and in one click she was gone. I was left in a dark silence, lingering in her voice, imagining the taste of a miniature Daikon radish.