4 Wild Plants in Japan that are Safe to Eat!

[@kermit502]

It's amazing the different kinds of wild edibles you can find there. As long as you know, or someone who knows what to look for.

[@AbuChanOfficial]

Beautiful nature.. i had no idea about those plants.. learned several new names

[@chupoposama]

Interesting and also calming video. :-) I wished I can do the same, foraging for wild vegetables in a pleasant forest, and not having to think constantly of work...financial commitments etc .

[@expatkaz742]

Just watching this, I felt I got younger for 10 years. Beautiful and very Shinrinyoku !

[@homesteader4331]

its so relaxing watching these videos of yours and getting to see the beauty of nature plus the fun of foraging :)

[@robbiecox754]

Looks good! Collected quite a haul of warabi (3+ kg) with a buddy in Okutama, Tokyo a few weekends ago! Thanks for sharing

[@GoNorthJapan]

Warabi is delicious!

[@derrabe1133]

Your hiking videos are great but your foraging videos are brilliant!

[@zarendia]

What an enchanting place 🌿

[@foliottech]

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly life bounces back following winter (or even fires). Great video, Quinlan!

[@pahoopahoo]

I made one haiku. Snow is over And we see Haruo-san again

[@GoNorthJapan]

Love it!

[@yvettecoopey6395]

Quinlan swore! It's so strange hearing you swear. Beautiful surroundings though, what an amazing way to de-stress. I live in the countryside in the UK and totally get the feels for this.

[@goldengem_3]

I love these videos. It's great to see just what you can find if you know what you're looking for.

[@RobbC.]

Love to watch these videos. Miles from the nearest 7-11 but surrounded by food. Great stuff!

[@Nynke_K]

Okay, now there is finally a sansai that also grows in my garden in Europe: urui, a.k.a. hosta montana! I recognized it immediately and it turns out it's actually the same plant. Mind-blowing!

[@kurofune.uragabay]

Thanks Quinlan. @3:52, I also love those lively little streams, I probably would make a crap sansai collector, as I would spend most of the time admiring the flowing water and looking for ornamentals and small critters... 🌷

[@GoNorthJapan]

Totally understand. That's at least half the fun!

[@h.o.j2375]

The kind of adventure I would love to e on! Would you consider doing tours like this post covid?

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yes! Definitely! Post-covid I would love to take small groups on foraging tours!

[@whereisdari]

Thumbs up for the Ramen with vegetables...

[@natalienakayama3479]

Loved this video! A surprising and hilarious first few seconds, though I hope you were okay! The foraging fun in Japan appears to be endless. I hope one day to try it. Thank you for sharing!

[@tailstraveladventures79]

Beautiful nature in Japan 🇯🇵

[@smartmouthredhead8392]

I always really enjoy the foraging videos. Keep up the great work!

[@kostadinb]

Cooking with Quinlan - WHEN ?! :D Glad You did not lost your keys this time hehe

[@centrifugedestroyer2579]

That forest looks absolutely gorgeus. I'd love to do go foraging in Japan one day. There are so many things to discover. Where I live we got the first warm and sunny weather after a rainy spring and nature just expolded with luscious green leaves and beautiful flowers. Needless to say, I can't wait for the weekend : )

[@ilvaqazwsxilva]

This was so great!! Thank you for the trip 🍃✨

[@kammymarie13]

I love your foraging videos because most of these plants look so different in Japan compared to the US! Aiko in Japan is much more round than the nettles here in Colorado! I always add them to soups and they make a great tea full of minerals and anti-histamines! Spring to me tastes like nettle tea 😂🤧

[@GoNorthJapan]

That sounds great! I didn't eat them when I lived in the States, but I definitely want to try them sometime when I'm back visiting!

[@kammymarie13]

@@GoNorthJapan I'd be really interested to hear if they taste different, too!

[@grenm9]

I've walked on a lot of stream beds and I understand the fear of falling while on those rock faces so well

[@verneiceturner8250]

glad you are ok

[@Ajlez]

I love these foraging videos! Thank you!

[@Pogue4]

Love these Videos. :)

[@puentecorto2688]

I am appreciate how much you lived in the area. I miss so much of my home country. What I am doing in NYC? I looking forward to see your videos. God Bless.

[@高一-s2j]

山菜取りは楽しいですね。😉👍沢山取れましたか？

[@GoNorthJapan]

うん！たくさん採りました！

[@yaroslavatimoshenko252]

Inspired by your foraging videos, I went out and procured some fiddleheads! They're just about the only wild plant I feel very confident to harvest - aside from nettles. And speaking of nettles, I'm going to try them boiled with a bit of soy sauce. That sounds so refreshing!

[@GoNorthJapan]

Let me know how you like them!

[@simplymonca]

Laughing 3 seconds in 😂 I love your little spills 😝 Keeping it real on this channel! ♥️

[@GoNorthJapan]

Little accidents abound...

[@simplymonca]

@@GoNorthJapan which is to be expected, but almost didn’t expect it 😂

[@리선미-s5r]

Your foraging videos are my favorite :) this might be a dumb question, but does japan have poison ivy? I went foraging for berries the other day and spent more time trying to avoid poison ivy/oak/sumac than actually finding berries haha

[@GoNorthJapan]

There actually isn't any poison ivy or poison oak here. There definitely isn't anything like that in this north half of Japan, and I've never heard anyone mention it down in Kyushu or the smaller islands either. Fewer ticks than North America as well.

[@山のシロクマ]

視聴者のみなさんは山菜を上手くアク抜き出来ると美味しく食べることが出来ます。 up主さま、良い動画ありがとうございましたー。山行きたいなー。

[@GoNorthJapan]

そうですね。アク抜きはちょっと手間がかかりますね。見てくれてありがとうございます！

[@MageThief]

I have eaten a few wild vegetables in Japan at a friends moms house, she always goes out up in the mountains in Iwate to pick wild vegetables, so delicious. I have picked a flower my self that is wild (don't remember the name) and is really close to the ground, you pick it just as the snow is about to go away. After rinsing them in water you chop them in to a almost paste and mix it with rice or with miso paste, really nice flavor.

[@GoNorthJapan]

That sounds like fuki no to, butterbur in English!

[@MageThief]

@@GoNorthJapan ah yes, exactly those, they are delicious as tempura as well.

[@nearzero1555]

Great video. Those forests look amazing! Are allergies a thing in Japan? I can’t go outside without a pill right now..

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yeah- tons of people have allergies here. In fact something like a third of the population is allergic to the cedar pollen in the early spring. We're lucky there are pills for that now!

[@thatfoxielife3055]

I love Haruo-san’s Air Force top, I miss when that was the official uniform! (And then I realize my husband has been in a loooooong time…. Ha!)

[@Youdontknowmeson1324]

Shiroke is probably related to daisy’s and sunflowers astereaceacd relative plant. Uri is type of hosta that is edible.

[@forrestr.7940]

Hello from Wisconsin, Q! Just learned of you channel from your episode on Abroad In Japan. I had to come check out your work - great stuff! Question: Are there a lot of ticks in Japan?

[@GoNorthJapan]

Wisconsin! Hey there! Thanks for watching! There are ticks in Japan, but probably like 5% or less of the numbers in Wisconsin. I've heard there was a case of Lyme disease somewhere in southern Japan a year or two back, but it's still quite rare here. I have yet to find a tick on me after hiking in Iwate or Akita.

[@demsla]

I'm now wondering if you can eat fern shoots of other species across the world

[@CelticUchuu]

Look up fiddleheads wherever you are.

[@GoNorthJapan]

Fiddleheads, some bracken, definitely!

[@fourcollar]

Can you find these all over Japan? I’ll be living in Hachioji soon and would love to explore the mountains nearby and attempt to forage there.

[@GoNorthJapan]

I think you could actually, if you found the right place to look. The plant life should be more or less the same there!

[@Moilil]

Urui, wow, what a beauty! 😍 But why did you cut the leaf? Is it not edible/tasty? I imagined to pack some meat on it and create a kind of small package and then boil it...maybe I'm just a bit hungry. 😁

[@GoNorthJapan]

Yeah- I'm told you don't (can't?) eat the leaves, just the stems. But yeah- I could see using those beautiful leaves to wrap an onigiri or something. Great idea!

[@masteryota]

Do you need a special permit or is there a limit by plant you can have on your person? I forage in Canada and it's very satisfying to eat something you found by yourself 👍

[@monoman567]

I believe quinlan has said before the most important thing is to get permission of the land owner as much of japan is private land.

[@GoNorthJapan]

If it's private land you would need permission. Where we went in this video is national land that isn't designated as protected, so tons of locals go foraging in this area.

[@masteryota]

Great thanks and indeed it pays to ask permission 👍 This is something I would do on my next trip to Japan it's definitely staying off the beaten path 😎

[@laurenbouchie2394]

Those are called( Zenmi) fiddleheads in the U.S

[@GoNorthJapan]

Actually I think kogomi are called fiddleheads in the States, not Zenmai. Unless fiddleheads is a really broadly used term.

[@XSemperIdem5]

So in order to wine and dine, you have to give those ferns a spa day? 😅

[@marcoh.6345]

Konbanwa Quinlan did you enter the JET programm to come to Japan? I ve studied business administration and had 5 business english courses and 7 years english at school but it seems u must have learned english at university and practise teaching english at school.

[@GoNorthJapan]

No- I never did JET and I was never an ALT. I'm actually not an English teacher. I did teach for 1 year at a conversation school in Tokyo about 20 years ago when I first arrived in Japan, but that's about it.

[@marcoh.6345]

@@GoNorthJapan domo arigato so u learned Japanese first? Do u know how the situation is for students now? u need n2 right? I speak only german, english and dutch fluent. I had a 3 month internship in Belgium in ducth in finanz and marketing

[@GoNorthJapan]

@@marcoh.6345 Actually I arrived in Japan knowing zero Japanese and studied hard after I arrived. I got n2 about 3 years after arriving, and n1 4 years after arriving.

[@marcoh.6345]

@@GoNorthJapan sounds cool I know only hiragana now and it wasn t a Visa problem and a company hired u or did u have savings? hopefully not to personal this question. I really want to live in Japan, but I was very disappointed when I heard that u need to be an english teacher for the Jet program

[@GoNorthJapan]

@@marcoh.6345 I wasn't hired by a company. I've been self employed here for 20 years and self-sponsored my visa back when I arrived. I think the system may have changed. My situation is somewhat different from most so probably not that useful as information, sorry. I think there are reddit forums that you can get more detailed help from on this.

[@DorkusesInJapan]

first yay!