Helping keep bees in Japan

投稿日：6/7 02:08, 閲覧 400

Hi,

I'm an American living in Sweden. I spent 10 years living in Asia. I haven't lived in Japan, but I've visited many times. I am interested in beekeeping, and I am wondering if it's possible to get training and work as a beekeeper in Japan as a foreigner?

Thank you!

回答

1 / 3

It's possible as a hobby, but difficult as a job and not recommended.

回答

2 / 3

This is difficult to do with honey bees native to Japan, but it is possible with bee species used in beekeeping around the world, but I am not aware of it.

回答

3 / 3

Nationality is not a factor in working as a beekeeper, but you will need a VISA to work.

Also, many Japanese beekeepers are going out of business because they cannot compete with cheap Chinese honey. The self-sufficiency rate of domestically produced honey in Japan is 6%. This is a devastating situation.

I sell value-added products, honey from native Japanese bees, but there is no steady harvest, so beekeeping is a side business.

There are excellent beekeepers who could be mentors, but they are all elderly and none of them are young enough to use beekeeping tracking apps.

hexwax

東京都

分蜂時や盗蜜対策に一時的に巣箱を置かせていただける近隣の蜂友さんを募集中です

Even with the use of flow hives, I could pull only 10 liters of honey from an established japanse bee colony in a successful year. This is less than 1/4 of that of Western honeybees. Also they sometimes run away immediately after harvesting.

There is a serious problem with beekeeping of Japanese honeybees. Acarapis woodi parasitism was found in Japan about 15 years ago. It is believed that the parasite had been on imported honey bees and spread throughout Japan. Although this mite has little influence on Western honeybees, Japanese honeybees are unable to compete with this new mite and it is causing a big trouble.
In my apiary, six out of ten hives died from this mite in this winter, leaving the hives full of honey. We cannot hope to get a consistent amount of Japanese honey.

I have also been interested in mead and have consulted with the Deerlet Field Brewery in Chichibu, they can make a prototype of 4.5L of mead from 5L of honey.

and I realized that using Japanese honey bee honey as the base for the product, a single 375 ml bottle would have to sell for at least 7,000 yen to be profitable. Dreams are truly troubling and fun.

6/10 12:50

Yes, a visa would be definitely required to live and work in Japan.

My interest in beekeeping started by homebrewing mead (蜂蜜酒). I know homebrewing is illegal in Japan, though, which is a shame. I see that there are a few places brewing mead in Japan, like this one https://minenoyuki.com, which is interesting.

It will probably remain a dream, but I'd love to buy an akiya in the mountains, grow fruit, keep bees, and make mead in Japan. I've done some research on getting a license to make and sell alcohol in Japan. I know it's impossible if you want to make traditional Japanese sake, but it can be easier to get a license for making other kinds of alcohol.

So getting a consistent amount of honey from Japanese honeybees is difficult?

6/9 17:47

Wow, I didn't know that there was a Western mite introduced into Japan. Beekeepers in the West are sruggling with the Giant Asian Hornet, the Asian Yellow Wasp, and varrora mites. I guess the problems go both ways.

Cool to see a Ukrainian woman brewing mead in Japan! I love Chichibu. I visited there a few years ago. I'd love to go back.

It's a shame that the cost of brewing mead is so high. Is most of the cost coming from paying Deerlet Field Brewery? Or is it because of wanting to use honey from Japanese bees?

Do you ever use Discord? I'm part of a great Discord server that's about brewing mead, among other things. I know you can't homebrew in Japan, but you could learn A LOT about making it by joining the server. Here's an invite: https://discord.com/invite/the-mead-hall-627621875408961537.

6/10 18:08