A Gift from Japanese Honeybees: The 2024 Honey Situation

A Path Toward Sustainable Beekeeping: Choosing Quality Over Quantity

Hello. Today is September 22, 2024.
Many of you have been asking about the 2024 Japanese honeybee honey, so I would like to explain the situation in detail.

To get straight to the point, this year's honey harvest is expected to be even smaller than usual. There is a deeper reason behind this, which I would like to share below.

About the Nature of Japanese Honeybees

First, let me explain the characteristics of the Japanese honeybee, a creature close to my heart. Japanese honeybees are quite different from the Western honeybees that produce the honey commonly found in supermarkets.

Japanese honeybees are a wild species with a short history of being kept by humans, and they retain much of their natural behavior. Notably, the amount of honey a Japanese honeybee colony produces is considerably smaller than that of Western honeybees, said to be somewhere between one fifth and one tenth.

This smaller yield, however, is by no means a shortcoming. Rather, it is the result of their adaptation to Japan's natural environment, and one of their finest qualities. Japanese honeybees have developed a remarkably efficient way of sustaining a colony on this small amount of honey, an outcome of a long evolution suited to Japan's climate and land.

What I find even more interesting is a behavior called "toukyo," or absconding. When conditions no longer suit them, the colony will readily abandon its nest and move to a new location. At first glance this might seem like a difficult trait to manage, and it is indeed a source of grief for many a beekeeper. And yet this very habit reveals just how well they adapt to their environment. Because they can survive on so little honey, they are free to move in search of a better place.

A Personal Connection

Let me share something personal here. As a child, I moved from place to place across Japan due to my parents' circumstances. I sometimes think this experience is part of why I feel such an affinity for the Japanese honeybee's habits.

Adapting to a change in surroundings and rebuilding a life in a new place. The process can be difficult at times, but what one gains from it is invaluable. Even now, there are moments when I find myself longing to place myself in a new environment, and my mind wanders with the thought. This feeling seems to echo the Japanese honeybee's instinct to abscond.

Why This Year's Honey Harvest Is Small

There are mainly two reasons for this year's small honey harvest.

1. The effect of climate change:
   The unusual weather of recent years, especially the extreme heat, has had a major impact. Honeybees are vulnerable to extreme high temperatures, and this limited their activity in gathering nectar.
2. My choice of beekeeping method:
   I use a method called "juubako-shiki," or stacked box beekeeping. It is an approach that respects the honeybees' own rhythm of life.

About Stacked Box Beekeeping

There are various methods of beekeeping, and the one I have chosen is the stacked box method. This method was developed through careful observation of the structure of the honeybee nest.

A honeybee nest takes the form of flat combs, with honey stored in the upper section and brood raised below. The stacked box method carefully harvests only the honey from this upper section. This makes it possible to take only the minimum amount of honey needed, without disrupting the honeybees' cycle of life.

Other methods sometimes harvest all the honey from a nest at once, but this forces the honeybees to rebuild their nest from scratch, and it ruins the brood layer as well. At a time when they need energy to prepare for autumn and endure a harsh winter, this places a heavy burden on them.

Why I Chose This Method

It is true that this method limits the amount of honey that can be harvested. Even so, I believe it holds great meaning.

• Respect for the honeybees' rhythm of life:
  They are wild creatures living within nature. I do not believe it is right to change their way of life purely for human convenience.
• Sustainability:
  This method, in which honey is shared each year in keeping with nature's own rhythm, is sustainable over the long term.
• Harmony with my own life:
  This method allows me to balance coffee roasting with my other work, while spending unhurried time alongside the honeybees.

This Year's Honey Situation

As of today, I have only about ten small jars in stock. (Check current stock) The next bottling of honey is expected to take a bit more time.

From a commercial standpoint, this situation may seem difficult. But I believe this small-batch harvest carries great value of its own. This honey is a precious gift from the honeybees flying over a beautiful satoyama landscape, born of putting their lives first and honoring the rhythm of nature.

Looking Ahead

This year's honey harvest is very small, and how things unfold from next year on will depend on natural conditions. What I can do is watch over the honeybees, stay close to them and to nature, and offer just the right amount of support so that I can bring you the finest honey, like a crystallization of a beautiful satoyama.

To offer honey that is truly special in quality, even if small in quantity. This is the form of beekeeping Botarhythm aims for.

Going forward, I hope to keep nurturing the blessings of nature together with the honeybees. There may be times when, like their habit of absconding, I too take on a new challenge. But I believe this kind of free way of living may be one of the forms a life can take, something we can learn from nature, and from the Japanese honeybee in particular.

I am deeply grateful to all of you for watching over this work with warmth and for your continued, steady support. I hope to keep earning your encouragement in the days ahead.