Masaki Aiba harvests rice on Aiba Manabu TV program

On the TV Asahi program ‘Aiba Manabu’, Masaki Aiba, Eiji Kotouge, and Abare-kun participated in harvesting rice that they had planted earlier in the summer. Due to recent typhoons and heavy rain, the rice fields were too muddy to use a harvesting machine, forcing the group to manually cut the stalks using sickles.

After harvesting, the team engaged in the full process of rice production, including bundling the stalks, threshing using foot-operated machines, and milling the grain into polished white rice. They used a restored 50-year-old traditional stove, which Aiba affectionately named ‘Tanjiro’, to cook the fresh rice.

The episode featured a ‘Kama-1 Grand Prix’ cooking competition using the newly harvested rice. The contest pitted a ‘Hokkaido Kombu Rice’ recipe, featuring Hidaka kombu, corn, cream cheese, and butter, against the reigning champion, a ‘Laksa Rice’ featuring shrimp broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce.