Tōhoku region
Tōhoku was traditionally considered the granary of Japan because it supplied Sendai and the Tokyo-Yokohama market with rice and other farming commodities. Tōhoku provided 20 percent of the nation's rice crop. The climate, however, is harsher than in other parts of Honshū due to the stronger effect of the Siberian High, and permits only one crop a year on paddy fields.
Chestnut
Always served as part of the New Year's menu in Japan, chestnuts represent both success and hard times—mastery and strength. The Japanese chestnut ("kuri") was in cultivation before rice and the Chinese chestnut ("C. mollissima") possibly for 2,000 to 6,000 years.