Tsunami-hit area sets world mark for picking strawberries

[yuiyoshida]

WATARI, Miyagi Prefecture--A crowd of 1,141 people enjoyed the sweet taste of success when they broke the world record for mass strawberry picking at a farm here on March 5.

The record-breaker holds special significance for local communities as a symbol of their recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, which ravaged the Tohoku region in 2011.

Guinness World Records recognized the group as the largest ever gathering of people picking strawberries together within five minutes.

The strawberry pickers came together in a large-scale greenhouse, not only to demonstrate their collective recovery, but also to show gratitude for the support they have received over the past six years.

Known as the largest strawberry producer in the Tohoku region, Watari produced 2,200 tons of the fruit annually before the disaster, but the industry took a significant hit from the tsunami.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201703060034.html