As Chief Editor, I can say with no hesitation, that this is the best issue of the Japanese Exotic Mushroom Journal yet. I am very pleased with how our online footprint and network of readers continues to slowly and steadily increase. The publication industry and traditional print media in general are in dire straits, with declining engagement. The difficulty of breaking through the noise, SEO challenges, AI-generated “slop”, all of this makes it a difficult time to work with long-form written articles.

Those difficulties are doubled when the target audience is such a narrow niche: growers of exotic/specialty mushrooms or simple mushroom hobbyists. Yet, we have managed to build up awareness of our work sharing Japanese growing innovations and letting more people know just how amazing mushrooms can be. It’s been slow work building up that base, but the results can be seen in this issue, with four different contributors, from three continents and four different nationalities, provide their different takes on everything from lion’s mane substrate to planning your farm location.

I’ve kept the sleek, web design-inspired look of the journal, but, wrapping up the third year, I’m satisfied with the various small refinements and additions I’ve made to the basic format over the years. The Japanese Exotic Mushroom Journal is finally beginning to have the look and feel of a mature and respectable industry publication, and I hope that more contributors and more readers will continue to join us and help us make a positive professional network for mushroom growers.