Daikon Tries To Evolve

Farmer gets a kick out of real 'daikon ashi'

The foot-shaped daikon radish in Kitakyushu. (Photo courtesy of reader Tadashi Fukuda)
KITAKYUSHU -- A farmer in Kitakyushu's Kokura Minami-ku is getting a kick out of a daikon radish shaped like a foot that she grew in a veggie patch in the front of her home.
Hitomi Katamura, 51, has been farming for 16 years and says she's seen plenty of daikon that split into two or three prongs at the foot, "but I've never seen a radish shaped like a foot."
Katamura initially wanted to sell the daikon, but instead had it displayed outside a Japanese pickle store.
The radish even has an "ankle," so the longer you look at it, the more it appears to resemble a foot. It has become a favorite among customers of the pickle store. "Daikon ashi," or fat legs shaped like a daikon radish, is one of the great fears of Japanese women (ashi is the Japanese word that encompasses the leg, foot and toes). Customers compared their legs to the daikon and one of them reportedly said "I still don't have to worry" about developing daikon ashi, or fat legs. (Mainichi)