＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. what is “gibier cuisine”?
The “Japan Ghibier Promotion Association” introduces gibier cuisine as follows.
Ghibier is a French word meaning the meat of wild game, a culinary culture that has long developed in Europe as a traditional cuisine of the aristocracy.
In the old days in France and other countries, gibier was so valuable that it was only available to the upper class of aristocrats who were able to hunt on their own estates.
For this reason, it has long been valued as a luxury ingredient in French cuisine, and has been loved as a noble and special dish.
The spirit of the French cuisine is to give thanks for the life of the animal by using every part of the animal, from meat to organs, bones, and blood, in the dish instead of taking away its precious life. Natural meat that has flown over the mountains and fields is lean, lean, and highly nutritious, a true gift from the forest. It is a winter-only delicacy full of strength and vitality.
In Japan, damage to crops and trees by wild birds and beasts is increasing year by year, with the annual damage amounting to 23 billion yen in FY2012. If gibier cuisine becomes more popular, it will help “turn nuisances into resources” and revitalize local communities.
Typical gibier dishes are deer and wild boar meat.
However, eating gibier raw as a delicacy is very dangerous because of the risk of infection, hepatitis, and parasites.
Also, many people may not like the smell of wild game.
2. “Hunting girls”
Recently, more and more young people, especially women, who have taken up hunting are being featured on TV, in newspapers and other media.
The Dainippon Hunting Club has launched a serialized project website called “Aim for it! Hunting Girl,” a serialized project website modeled after a real female hunter, and is actively promoting itself to women.
However, so far, the reality seems to be that there are still very few of them.
3. future tasks
(1) Expanding the number of hunters
Japan’s hunting population is aging and declining year by year: from 450,000 in 1979 to 250,000 in 1995, and to about 130,000 in 2012.
It is hoped that the number of young people, especially women who are known as “hunting girls,” will increase.
(2) Ensuring gibier safety
① Meat
The meat is not inspected by veterinarians for pathogenic microorganisms and parasites prior to dismemberment, and is noted as high-risk meat.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare cautions that the meat should be well heated before consumption. Even if the person who eats wild game meat does not show any symptoms, there have been cases in which sick people whose blood was donated and transfused have contracted diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms derived from wild game meat.
②Capture and dismantling
Since blood-sucking arthropods such as ticks are attached to wild animals, it is necessary to take sufficient precautions during capture, transport, and dismantling operations because not only direct workers but also their families and neighbors may be infected with Japanese Erythema Fever or other infectious agents.
(3) Development of gibier distribution infrastructure
Until now, the supply of deer and wild boar meat for gibier dishes has been contracted on an individual basis, so while there is a strong demand for gibier cuisine, it has not been possible for the restaurant industry to incorporate it into their “standard menu” due to supply concerns.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the amount of gibier used in FY2017 was 1,230 tons for human consumption, while a restaurant chain would need 100 tons level of meat just to adopt gibier as one of its regular menu items. In order to change this situation, where supply could not keep up with demand, a supply system was needed to unify sales.
Therefore, in order to give momentum to the spread of gibier cuisine, the “Japan Gibier Promotion Association” is working to develop a system (infrastructure) to collect meat (gibier) from wild birds and beasts such as deer and wild boar from processing facilities across Japan and supply it to restaurants. Specifically, in July 2019, we launched “Shinshu Fujimi Kogen Farm” in Fujimi Town, Nagano Prefecture.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will hold a “National Gibier Fair” from 11/1/2019 to 2/28/2020, where restaurants and other establishments nationwide will offer gibier menus as part of the “National Gibier Promotion Project” to increase nationwide demand for gibier. The project will be implemented by the “Japan Food Service Association”.
【まとめ買いで300円引き】猪肉どーんと500g(3〜4人前）【大分県産天然猪肉ジビエ】【RCP】お好みの厚さにスライス