Abstract

Are azuki beans boring? Not at all! Adzuki beans are vibrant, diverse, and remarkably resilient. This book focuses on a salt tolerant wild variety of adzuki bean and explores the secret behind its extraordinary strength. Can the power of adzuki beans overcome salt damage, one of agriculture’s greatest challenges, and help save the world? From trekking across scorching beaches to battling powdery mildew, this is a story of exploration and dreams, chronicling scientific research carried out under the burning sun.

Author’s Information

Ken Naito, born in 1978 in Konan City, Shiga Prefecture, is currently a senior researcher at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization's Genetic Resources Research Center. His specialty is plant genetics. His ancestor, Masanari Naito, rose to prominence after making a name for himself in the Battle of Azukizaka, his great-grandfather lost his entire fortune in azuki bean futures trading and fled the capital, and he himself discovered the origin of the azuki bean and won the Kodansha Science Publishing Award. His previous works include "The Origin of Azuki Beans," and he has also co-authored "Tracing the Ancient Japanese Archipelago with Genomes" (both published by Tokyo Shoseki).