Yam is one of the few vegetables exported from Japan to overseas, and the export volume is steadily increasing due to the growth of demand in overseas markets. It seems that farmers in Hokota City, Ibaraki Prefecture, who specialize in different crops, are making efforts to replace cultivated land on a regular basis. In addition to preventing continuous cropping obstacles caused by producing the same crop, it also secures the harvested area, which seems to have great management benefits. It is shipped in vacuum packs every year from late November to mid-July.
Until around 1963, the former Asahi Village (Hokota City) mainly cultivated wheat and sweet potatoes, and the chief of the agricultural cooperative in charge from Hokkaido at that time proposed melon cultivation, and it seems that trial cultivation of prince melon was started. In 1966, the Melon Subcommittee (35 members, about 5ha) was formed and full-scale cultivation has started. In recent years, the number of members and acreage has decreased due to the aging of producers, and in 2014, about 200 producers shipped more than 5,000 tons of melon and boasted the highest production volume in Japan.