by Eric Boa
Japan, South Korea and North Korea share a troubled history. Japan’s colonial era and subsequent treatment of its occupied countries left a legacy of resentment and distrust that still resonates today. Following the defeat of Japan in the Second World War and the creation of an independent Republic of South Korea in 1948, the two countries slowly established a pragmatic working relationship based on trade. More recently Japan has begun to address the many wrongs exacted during colonial rule.
This is only a novice’s assessment, gleaned from web sources and Perplexity, a rather wonderful internet site for getting quick answers to knotty questions. North Korea? I don’t begin to understand how it is seen by South Korea, Japan or indeed any other country. The nearest I can come to describing North Korea’s relationship to Japan and South Korea, and outlook and behaviour to most countries, is to draw an analogy with Millwall football supporters. Widely loathed and castigated for violent and obnoxious behaviour, their response (despite sanctions against the club they purport to adore) is the infamous chant: “No one likes us and we don’t care.” It seems particularly apt for North Korea, a country which has been repeatedly sanctioned yet continues to act outrageously.
I should add that Millwall football club continues to strives to improve fans’ behaviour. North Korea? No change there. My purpose here is not to highlight political differences and antagonisms, but rather to emphasise positive things that bring North Korea, South Korea and Japan closer together. All share a common love of mushrooms and one type in particular, known as matsutake. This one type in recent decades has played an important yet poorly understood role in connecting the two Koreas and Japan. The trade in matsutake has survived many dips in political relationships. Even when fragile progress in improving Japanese-South Korean relationships has been undermined by ill-considered visits of a Japanese prime minister to the Yasukuni Shrine*, the trade in matsutake has continued. Not perhaps the most significant sign of an enduring political amity but still a sign nonetheless.
Before continuing, some essential background on matsutake. The scientific name is Tricholoma matsutake. Matsutake is especially revered in Japan and was once used to pay tribute to the royal family. It has a firm texture and characteristic spicy odour and though it looks like many other mushrooms it is quite different. People pay high prices in Japan for what is a luxury item. Imported matsutake are on average around US$90 a kilo, a good general guide to what the ordinary citizen might pay. Exceptional specimens collected in Japan can cost $130 per mushroom.
Matsutake is also linked to sexual prowess. A colleague invited to a special meal in Japan commented on the large specimens of matsutake being grilled over a traditional stone and charcoal grill. He wondered why everyone laughed until someone explained the similarity in appearance of an emerging matsutake with a penis.
Matsutake is an ectomycorrhizal fungus (it grows on roots and exchanges minerals and water with its host). It mainly grows in association with pines and oak. It can be cultivated, but only with difficulty and in tiny amounts. The reality is that matsutake has to be harvested from forests. The slow decline of pine forests in Japan over many years eventually led to a crisis of supply in the 1980s. Intrepid traders began looking for alternative sources, which they located in South Korea and North Korea, but especially from Yunnan province in China. I omitted China from my introduction on ‘troubled relationships’ but there is plenty of outstanding grievances from Japan’s colonial era too.
Despite this, matsutake continues to be exported in bulk from China to Japan. From 1997 to 2006 they sent 10,400 tonnes worth $400 million. The matsutake trade between North Korea and Japan is rather fuzzy, though one source said that 783 tonnes worth $142 million were exported in 2007. The trade began in the 1970s on a much smaller scale. North Korea’s exports (and imports) are in general poorly known. So it was surprising when more information about matsutake production became unexpectedly available following a series of state visits in the 2000s and 2010 involving Japan and South Korea.
The first I heard about matsutake diplomacy was from a clipping from The Times (of London) on 12 October 2022, sent to me by my mother. It had the slightly misleading heading of “Mushroom gift gives Koizumi stomach-ache”, even though matsutake is not poisonous. Junchiro Koizumi, then prime minister of Japan, had made the bold move to visit his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-Il, to discuss the abduction of Japanese citizens. Despite the horrific topic, diplomatic protocol was observed, including the exchange of gifts.
Richard Parry Jones, the writer of the article, described two Japanese obsessions: ”mushrooms and gifting gifts”. It wasn’t clear what gifts Koizumi gave Kim Jong-Il, nor was it known what he received in return. At least until a magazine reported the unloading of 300 boxes of matsutake from the prime minister’s plane after his return. I would estimate each box to contain around six kilos, so that’s 1.8 tonnes. Parry Jones noted that North Korean matsutake are said to be inferior to Japanese specimens and that each one “costs between £8 and £15”. Rather a valuable gift and one viewed with contempt by the Japanese press (and presumably their readers). A significant if inadvertent misstep by a modern and reformist prime minister.
The main purpose of the visit was to negotiate the release of Japanese citizens who had been abducted by North Korean to teach Japanese to future spies. North Korea admitted during the visit to abducting thirteen Japanese and that eight had died in “improbable accidents”, according to Lloyd Parry. A small step forward for Koizumi but inevitably tainted by the discovery of the matsutake gift.
Lloyd Parry noted that gift-giving in Japan could be a pretext for bribery. Was North Korea playing Japan at its own game, using matsutake to embarrass their ex-colonial master? I think this is unlikely and that the 1.8 tonnes were a simple if hugely generous gift by Kim Jung-Il, perhaps with a hint of creating a good impression with Koizumi, for some unspecified reason.
Two years later, an envoy from Kim Jung-Il brought 300 boxes of matsutake for President Kim Dae-Jung of South Korea. A Korean newspaper noted that this “unexpected gift was distributed among influential Koreans”. More mushroom diplomacy at work, this time without any apparent negative repercussions. In 2018, Kim Jung-Un sent 2 tonnes of matsutake to the Moon Jae-In administration in South Korea, said to be worth 1.5 billion won. Today’s exchange rate says that’s worth $1.1 million. All part and parcel of trying to be nice to each other, though clearly this hasn’t lasted.
Matsutake exports to Japan have had a significant positive impact on rural livelihoods in Yunnan, China and more widely in Mexico, another important exporter. I watched youngsters and elderly folk bring their carefully collected mushrooms to a traders’ stall in Oaxaca, back in 2004. They received $30-100 for a day’s harvest, based on weight and quality.
The northwest Pacific region of the USA has also benefitted economically from Japan’s demand for matsutake. It’s not so long ago that the USA imprisoned Japanese because of their threat to national security following Pearl Harbour. Massive gun placements can still be found in Port Townsend, Washington State, where a Japanese invasion was once feared.
Washington and Oregon states export huge quantities of a related species of matsutake to Japan. The trade provides alternative sources of income to itinerant pickers (some from Mexico, Cambodia and Vietnam) and resident timber workers no longer able to earn a living following logging bans.
Matsutake has brought nations closer together through commerce. It’s a small yet important step in showing that we all depend on food from other countries and that trade is much easier when political relationships are on an even keel and not under stress. Matsutake has to a limited extent smoothed relationships between North and South Korea. Matsutake has also queered attempts to resolve painful issues between Japan and North Korea. Welcome to mushroom diplomacy.
* The Yasukuni shrine in central Tokyo became a hotly contested site when fourteen Class A World War Two criminals were buried here in 1978. A small but hugely significant addition to the 2.5 million other people who are commemorated here
I’d like to thank my colleague, Jun He of Yunnan University, for his excellent reporting on the matsutake trade in Yunnan.
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