 Miso fund
These days the investment has been diversifying its features. You can choose the theme-oriented mutual funds such as emphasizing on ecology, environment, energy and water conservation, etc. It is ideal that you can invest in the field you really care about and make some bucks, isn't it!
One of our organic miso manufactures, Marukawa Miso (located in Fukui prefecture) gave us an unique and safe investment opportunity last year. Marukawa miso had issued a privately-offered corporate bound last year. The deal is 60,000 yen per lot and a 3 year-long capital safe investment with interest at 5% of annual interest (after tax deduction). The unique feature is that the interest is paid by organic miso not money. The story does not end here. It has a more romantic feature to it.
100 years
“With money we get, we buy wooden barrels made of Japanese cedar and bamboo and commit ourselves to produce organic miso for the next one hundred years,” Mr. Kawasaki (president of Marukawa Miso) explains. “These wooden barrels are said to last for one hundred to one hundred twenty years. This represents the mind of patience.”
Organic Miso and beyond
“Miso making is the traditional, cultural, and historical heritage that our ancestors left us generation after generation,” he says. “And I hope this opportunity will make a lot of people interested in organic miso and eventually contribute to the growth of organic farming in Japan.”
For Future
People participated in this miso investment had another interesting opportunity, that is one could write a message on a plank of cedar (many of these planks will make one big wooden barrel) with sumi ink. Many of Muso employees participated in this miso investment wrote the messages for future generations and printed our buyers’ name in hope that their prosperous organic business will flourish in the future. “I wanted to cast our passion toward Japan’s bright future a hundred year from now into shape,” Mr. Kawasaki added. “The message written on the piece of cedar will be only read by someone when the wooden barrel can no longer be used, one hundred years from now.”
Availability
The First shipment of organic miso fermented in this newly built 100-year cedar barrel will be available around November of 2007. Why don’t you enjoy this special organic miso for yourself, too!
| Japanese Organic Miso Almanac |
What is the annual production volume of organic miso in Japan?
The annual production volume of miso in Japan is about 500,000 tons. Of that, organic miso accounts for only 3200t, 0.6% of the total miso production volume (data on 2003 figure). The annual production volume of organic miso at Marukawa Miso is about 120t; therefore, it accounts for about 5% of annual production of organic miso in Japan.
What is the production volume of organic soybeans in Japan?
The annual production of soybeans in Japan is about 200,000 tons. Of them, 853 tons are organic; it accounts for only 0.4% of total annual soybean production in Japan.
Furthermore, producing 1 kg of conventional miso requires 3 square meter of soybean and wheat and normally 192g of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides (according to the research done by Marukawa Miso)
Marukawa miso annually produces 120t of organic miso.
This means that they saved a 364,000 square meter field (equal to 8 football stadiums) from soil contamination with 21 tons of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. In other words, they contribute to saving our environment and moreover plant soil.
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