March 16, 2010
By W. Blake Gray

All over the west coast of the U.S., you can order Kumamoto oysters. But ironically, they're impossible to find on a menu in their place of origin -- Kumamoto, Japan.

However, a new pilot project is working to change that. In doing so, local fishermen are attempting to reverse one of the few economic hardships caused, rather than ameliorated, by the post-World War II U.S. occupation of Japan. When it paid attention to Japanese businesses in the immediate post-war era, the U.S. military generally concentrated on rebuilding them, mostly to prevent the nation from succumbing to the siren song of communism.

Oyster farming -- both for pearls and food -- was highly developed in Japan at the time, much more so than in the US. This was due to the Japanese preference for raw seafood. Raw oysters were popular in a few coastal areas of the U.S., such as the Maryland Eastern Shore, but were not much eaten elsewhere. In contrast, the fish markets in Tokyo always welcomed oysters, especially from the famous oyster regions of Kumamoto, Miyagi and Hiroshima.

The Kumamoto breed of oysters are recognizable by the ridges on their edge. They're an easy oyster to love, with a mild, slightly sweet flavor and a buttery texture.

The U.S. military command, which had absolute authority in Japan until 1951, ordered Kumamoto oyster farmers to export their oysters to the U.S. But they weren't just after smoked oysters for cocktail parties: the farmers were also ordered to export live baby oysters that could be transplanted in friendly coastal environments of North America.

Fusao Ota, one of the leading oyster producers in Kumamoto in the 1940s, is still alive today, and he remembers gearing up production for the American market. However, after a decade the business became unprofitable because the Kumamoto breed of oysters had proliferated in the U.S.

Ota and most other Kumamoto oyster farmers switched to drying seaweed for nori, the crackly style of seaweed found on sushi wraps.

Left untended, the Kumamoto oyster population dwindled to just a few thousand naturally occurring ones. Nobody was farming them, and only fishermen who took the trouble to find oysters themselves were eating them.

In 2006, Kumamoto Prefectural Fisheries Research Center Section Leader Heiji Nakano decided to do something about it.

Nakano, 51, who had been studying shrimp diseases at the Research Center, spent the first year working quietly with local fishermen, who helped him find beds of naturally occurring oysters that he could transplant in Fukura Bay in an organized way.

"We did it gradually without saying anything," he said.

His preliminary results were promising enough in 2007 to encourage him to ask the prefectural government for a $30,000 grant.

In 2008, the project produced only 75,000 oyster "seeds" -- the technical term for babies. But the national government recognized the value of bringing Kumamoto oysters back to Kumamoto, and stepped up with a $110,000 grant. The money goes further than usual because many local fishermen volunteer their time, boats and expertise.

By 2009, the oyster beds produced 252,000 seeds. The Japanese media has picked up on the story, anxiously awaiting the first taste. But oysters take about 20 months to cultivate, so none have made it to market yet.

The project has had some environmental hurdles. In fact, it almost ended on one rainy day in 2007.

"We're not sure of the reason, but one day we went from 10,000 oysters to 2,000," Nakano said.

That research is crucial because Kyushu, the island where Kumamoto is located, has a month-long rainy season every year that coincides with a key part of the oyster's life cycle.

Oysters lay eggs for two months -- in July and August. Of course, Kumamoto oyster farmers succeeded in the 1940s with far less advanced technology than we have today, so the problem should not be insurmountable.

Nakano hopes the nascent Kumamoto oyster industry does not become the kind of mass producer it was in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Japanese consumers will pay more for rare, seasonal items.

"I want to keep the oysters prestigious so I need to balance price and production," he says. He hopes to top out production at about 1 million oysters per year -- or, if you want to think in US restaurant terms, 80,000 dozen on the half-shell.