Day Coming When Sushi Chefs Use Wasabi From Nearby Modules

By CHIKAKO KAWAHARA/ Staff Writer

March 24, 2025

Wasabi being farmed inside a shipping container (Provided by Macnica Inc.)

Wasabi grown on shelves in a shipping container and in the Yokohama area to boot? And delivered straight to sushi chefs working nearby?

Not likely, purists might shout, thinking that Japanese horseradish can only flourish in mountain areas with pristine rushing water.

Going against the traditional image, a specialized factory module in Shin-Yokohama boasts the latest in sensing technology to ensure cultivation conditions remain perfect 24/7.

The operator is looking to pitch an autonomous system based on artificial intelligence (AI) at some point to maximize production.

Using a container for farming is the brainchild of Tokyo-based agricultural start-up Nextage Inc. With technical support from semiconductor trading firm Macnica Inc. in Yokohama, Nextage has begun selling the agricultural module in the Japanese market.

At present, a single 12-meter-long container sits in the grounds of Macnica’s headquarters near Shin-Yokohama Station. On entering, one is quickly struck by the dark green wasabi leaves illuminated by LED lights.

Wasabi plants are arranged neatly on white shelves standing floor to ceiling. Up to 1,800 strains can be raised there.

Wasabi production with hydroponics started in November 2023. Produce from the farm in Shin-Yokohama was named Hakoiri Wasabi (Wasabi in a box).

The variant handled at the site is known as Mazuma, the finest species of native wasabi.

Wasabi in outdoor farms flourishes only when ideal conditions are attained for soil, water quality, sunlight and water and air temperatures. For instance, the temperature must be kept lower throughout the year.

The module, equipped with carbon dioxide cylinders, carefully conditions the air inside. Humidity levels and temperature are also controlled remotely. Nutrient-dissolved water circulates among the shelves. LEDs change their light intensity and color tone as the occasion warrants.

The two years of cultivation leading up to harvest time in traditional outdoor conditions can be fraught with problems. Wasabi production areas are often pommeled by typhoons and other natural disasters, sometimes causing fields to collapse.

The damage to the agricultural areas, coupled with a lack of farmers that take over the job, saw wasabi output nosedive by 40 percent over the decade through 2023, according to farm ministry data.

Container farming technology halves the wasabi culturing period from the traditional two years due to the module’s feature of constantly monitoring and improving the environment within.

Container technology tracks the cultivation environment and plant growth. Stem color, root length and leaf area, as well as the best conditions for growth, can be determined in an indoor environment.

Nextage is now developing an AI-based platform that will autonomously handle growing methods. The envisioned system will suggest optimal solutions aimed at “further reducing cultivation time” or “reining in electricity consumption.”

“By combining AI with sensing technology (to gather growth environmental data), we will be moving to replicate the intuition and knowhow of veteran farmers,” said Yoshiyuki Kurimoto, head of the solution business promotion division of Macnica. “This will enable anyone to engage in indoor farming anytime, anywhere.”

Kurimoto said the company selected wasabi to cultivate simply because the plant was “easier to add a premium to.”

Wasabi retails for around 10,000 yen ($66) per kilogram, which compares favorably with lettuce and other leaf vegetables, as well as paprika and tomatoes, that are often raised indoors.

Demand for wasabi is forecast to further expand with the Japanese food boom overseas.

Additionally, Kurimoto emphasized that the container module, which is available for 20 million yen to 30 million yen, offers the potential to add fresh value to wasabi “through its easy-to-coordinate system.”

For example, improved varieties that go better with white-fleshed fish” or “have a stronger level of spiciness” may be created with the technology in the future.

“High value-added crops will help operators to readily recoup their capital investments,” Kurimoto added. “This will help them to enter the business with ease.”

The day might come when wasabi grown in the middle of an urban setting is delivered directly to sushi chefs nearby.

PHOTO CAPTION

Wasabi being farmed inside a shipping container (Provided by Macnica Inc.)

Macnica Inc.’s container-based farming technology raises the Mazuma wasabi species. (Chikako Kawahara)