Name: Day in the Life of a Japanese Oyster Farmer
Uploaded: 2026-02-14T18:04:38.000Z
Duration: 22 min 9 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

This is a day in the life of a Japanese oyster farmer.

This is Shota, 30 years old, living in a coastal town in Japan's Ishigawa Prefecture.

Adverbs of degree

His day starts early at 4am before most typical Japanese wake up, including his family.

He lives in this two story house with his wife and two kids.

Since he has a two year old who often wakes up at night, he sleeps in a separate room to ensure he gets enough sleep, while also avoiding waking them up in the morning, he usually keeps his breakfast light.

And while he drinks it, he spends some time on his PC.

Shoto works at his family business, even helping out in his elementary years after school.

And by the time he was ready to graduate high school, he had already made the decision to eventually take over the business.

To prepare himself for what was ahead, he spent five years five years working in the Kanazawa Central Fish Market.

And with the experience under his belt, he returned home to work alongside his father.

This one is super early, but we had to do it.

Luckily, Shota should be arriving shortly, so all we have to do is wait for him to arrive.

Shoto works as an oyster farmer at Yamaguchi Suisan, their family owned business founded in 1941 by his great grandfather.

This is Shota's seventh year in the company which handles the entire oyster cultivating process, including its own sales.

As the fourth generation in line to take over the business, he's involved in all aspects of the operation, even helping lead their 11 dedicated workers.

Wow, so you took over the business from your dad, right?

He says that his youngest son actually became a police officer carrying on his dream, Right?

We are getting on the boat and going out to sea.

In Japan, 60% of kaki, aka oysters, come from Hiroshima.

In fact, Ishikawa Prefecture, where Shoto is located, doesn't even make the list of the top 10 producers in the country.

But his specific area, Noto, is renowned for cultivating extremely high quality oysters, which are large, clean, and

First, the crew places the baby oysters in the ocean.

In Japan, oyster farmers typically begin by purchasing scalp shells from specialized hatcheries.

Each one already attached with several young oyster seedlings.

From there, they carefully rework and space them out like this, giving each oyster the room it needs to grow strong and healthy.

These oysters are now placed back in the water after being on land.

Japanese oyster farmers use several techniques to help oysters thrive in calm waters.

One common method is briefly taking them out of the water to create a small amount of stress.

Once returned, the oysters feed more actively.

And over time, that process helps produce oysters that are larger and plumper.

Hey, how many did you put back in the water?

Now it's finally time to pull up the oysters that have been grown in the ocean for two full years, a bit longer than the usual one to one and a half years.

You can see the oysters piling up more and more as they pick it up from the water.

I never realized how they're all just stuck together like it is.

Oysters are typically grown hanging from rope rather than resting on the seabed, a method that helps keep their texture tender and delicate.

And Shota's family raises their oysters in confidence.

Low salinity inland seas, where the warm Tsushima current meets the cold Lehman current.

This produces a special condition of mineral rich waters filled with plankton.

The result is noto oysters, a flavor that is truly unique.

Deep in umami and noticeably less briny than oysters from Europe or the United States.

So it looks like we are heading back right now.

So how long have you been with the company?

So, working here so long, what do you like about the job?

As a part of Shota's job, he must check the condition, size and taste of the harvest to help ensure that they meet their quality standards.

As soon as the crew arrives at the dock, they begin to unload the oysters.

Today they harvested about 3,000 oysters.

But during peak season, which is at the end of December and January, that number can reach as many as 30,000 oysters in a single day.

And over the course of a year, it adds up to around 1.5 million oysters.

A scale that reflects the endurance these men must possess to face the elements day in and day out throughout the year.

Next, the oysters are washed Using a special machine that produces ultra fine bubbles that remove dirt as well as bacteria.

Oyster farming is a natural part of life in this region of Japan, with its people living by the rhythm of the seasons.

Historically, springs and summers were spent working in the rice fields, and

once harvested in the fall, they turned to oyster farming, ensuring that they had work throughout the year.

For Shota and his family, though, there is no shortage of work as oyster oyster farming is their year round seven day a week way of life.

Shouta now quickly moves onto his next task, cleaning the shells.

Since their fresh oysters are straight from the ocean, they're still covered with Fujitsubo barnacles, already grown through their stressing process.

These wands are selected for the premium quality and are sold with their shells, so they must look pristine.

In order to do so, he must shave each shell by hand, one by one.

He explains that the tiny bubbles help cleanse the oysters, allowing them to purge impurities so they can safely be eaten raw.

In Japan, oysters must meet strict standards under the Food Sanitation act to be sold for rock and sand consumption.

During peak season, oyster producers undergo regular testing, and

only oysters that pass these inspections are approved to be shipped and labeled for raw servings.

Okay, so it looks like they started to haul in the load from this morning.

While Shoto worked on his task, his crew unloads the oysters destined for the shucking room.

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Day in the Life of a Japanese Oyster Farmer

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