Effort to grow bananas in snow bears fruit in Fukui; Japanese farmer does the ‘impossible’

Naoki Ejima holds bananas that he harvested, in front of a large greenhouse surrounded by a snowy landscape in Fukui. - The Yomiuri Shimbun via The Japan News/ANN

FUKUI: A farmer in snowy Fukui City in Japan ships tropical bananas year-round.

Naoki Ejima, 63, was a pharmacist at a drugstore in the city but quit before reaching his retirement age to grow bananas. He began studying agriculture at a Fukui prefectural training facility in 2021.