My Town Inagi 2019 Mr. Eiji Shiobara
Updated: September 12, 2019
Beekeeper in Inagi City
Eiji Shiobara
Eiji Shiobara runs a beekeeping business in Inagi City, which is within a 30-minute train ride from the city center and still retains an abundance of nature.
Beekeeping is the breeding of bees to obtain honey, royal jelly, propolis, beeswax, pollen, etc. Mr. Shiobara collects honey from flowers such as cherry blossoms, rape blossoms, lotus flowers, acacias, clovers, and sunflowers in Inagi City.
Mr. Shiobara was shocked by the scale of beekeeping in the United States when he was a student, and studied beekeeping for a year under a beekeeper in Shinshu. After that, I learned that Inagi has a lot of nature and is the best place to run a beekeeping business.
Inagi Beekeeping Dojo
When I asked Mr. Shiobara, who has been involved in the beekeeping business for more than 50 years, about the difficulties he faced until now, he replied, "I have never felt any difficulties. Even if troubles do occur, I will try to overcome them." He spoke passionately.
Mr. Shiobara has been an advisor to the beekeeping club at Inagi Third Junior High School for about nine years. In the beekeeping club, Mr. Shiobara teaches beekeeping to the teachers four times a month, and the teachers give guidance to the students based on that. Therefore, Mr. Shiobara's apiary is named "Inagi Beekeeping Dojo". Currently, Mr. Shiobara is also teaching teachers at junior and senior high schools outside the city, further expanding the scope of his activities.
There are about 40,000 bees in one hive.
Mr. Shiobara hopes that through beekeeping, children will have questions about various things and find their own answers. He also said that he would like to teach the importance of the food chain and the process of growing crops until they reach their mouths, because we live in an age when we can easily get what we want by going to the supermarket.
Mr. Shiobara hopes that many children will continue to experience beekeeping and feel that "the knowledge and education they have acquired are assets that cannot be stolen by anyone."
Let's support Mr. Shiobara's future activities as a rare beekeeper in Tokyo, who provides children with a place of valuable experience.
Honey can be purchased at Tama Bee Garden (Yanoguchi).
Inquiries about this page
Inagi City Planning Department Secretariat and Public Relations Division
2111 Higashi Naganuma, Inagi City, Tokyo
Phone: 042-378-2111 Fax: 042-377-4781
