#ProjectKokusan

My Mission to Only Support Made in Japan

As of this writing, it’s the first week of 2022. That means that we’re quickly coming up on the two year mark since foreign tourists have been prohibited from entering Japan. Seeing as I am a writer who has the mission of helping more people get off of the beaten path, these past few years have been trying to say the least. As I outlined in this rather odd piece though, I’ve been able to maintain some sense of sanity by instead focusing on my love for Japan as a whole. Much to my surprise, some of my most joyous moments in 2021 were actually when I was dropping cash willy-nilly on vendors and restaurants in the Japanese countryside.

On that note, I’d like to introduce what I am officially titling #ProjectKokusan. Translated directly, the Japanese word kokusan means something like “domestically produced.” The label is used widely all across the Japanese archipelago to refer to items that have been, you guessed it, made locally here in Japan. #ProjectKokusan is therefore an attempt by any and all involved to more consciously consume only goods and produce that has been sourced by hard working Japanese farmers and craftsmen. It’s a call to action to try our best to support local vendors whenever we can.

To be frank, #ProjectKokusan is something that a few of us Japan-loving fanatics have been trying to practice for a while now whenever possible. I am merely looking to give the concept a name so that those looking to better support Japan can have a call to rally around. The idea originally came to me after I first completed a two-week fast. While experiencing the clarity that only a few days without food can bring (try it if you don’t believe me), I realized that I could just simply opt out of supporting anything that wasn’t made in Japan. Rather than eat some foreign-sourced grub, I could just fast until there was some locally sourced wagyu to enjoy.

Of course, one of the silver linings of this kokusan-only restriction is going to be that when I do eat or purchase something, I can really splurge. Since I’ll ONLY be consuming things that are made in Japan and abstaining from anything else…