Author Archives: Mikei

Updates to the Mikei® Reward Program

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Current Redemption Policy

To receive your complimentary Mikei® Red Reishi Mushroom Essence or Mikei Red Reishi Mushroom Essence EX capsules, please submit your vouchers either by mail or e-mail.

Mikei Red Reishi Mushroom Essence

Redeem 10 vouchers to receive a free gift of 60 Mikei Red Reishi Essence capsules. Other quantities will not be processed.

Mikei Red Reishi Mushroom Essence EX

Redeem 10 vouchers* to receive a free gift of 60 Mikei Red Reishi Essence EX capsules

*Vouchers received in other quantities will not be processed.

Two Ways to Submit your Vouchers

By Mail

Mail in your completed redemption voucher form and each required voucher to the applicable address below. It is recommended to keep a copy of your submitted vouchers in your records.

UPDATED ADDRESS
Please send your redemption vouchers to our new PO BOX address in Richmond, British Columbia. Our Vancouver PO BOX is still valid until further notice.

Nikkei (Canada) Marketing Ltd.
PO BOX 97206 STN MAIN
Richmond, BC
Canada, V6X 8H3

By E-Mail

  • Electronic submissions of vouchers will now be accepted over e-mail.
  • Submit photos of your completed redemption voucher form and each required voucher to redeem@mikei.ca.
  • A representative from Mikei will contact you during office hours (9:00am – 5:00pm PST Mon – Fri, excluding public holidays) to confirm receipt of your vouchers.
  • Please ensure that the barcodes, barcode numbers and the contents of the form are clearly shown in the submitted photos.

Terms & Conditions

  • Gift vouchers are valid for residents in Canada and USA only.
  • Only voucher quantities of 10 will be processed. Vouchers received in other quantities will not be accepted and deemed void.
  • Nikkei (Canada) Marketing Ltd. is not responsible for vouchers with incomplete information, missing vouchers or lost/late mail.
  • Please allow 3-4 months for processing.
  • Nikkei (Canada) Marketing Ltd. reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of this offer without prior notice.

LISTEN NOW: Have you heard about Red Reishi?

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Reishi has been used as a medicinal mushroom in China, Japan, and other Asian countries for over 2000 years. The fruiting body is kidney-shaped with a wavy undersurface. There are about 80 different types of reishi that have been identified. For this episode Melissa Carr, Dr. TCM, sits down with Kuko Health* to talk about the benefits of the superfood, red reishi.

EP. 23/ WHAT IS THIS SUPER FOOD, RED REISHI?

*Kuko Health is a self-proclaimed Traditional Chinese Medicine enthusiast. Visit her website and join her on her health journey to uncover the truths behind this century old practice.

Holiday Shipping

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Please be advised that we have reached our holiday shipping deadline. Any orders received after December 22, 2021 will be processed and shipped in the new year.

Have a happy holidays and thank you for choosing Mikei!

Shipping Delays

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Please be advised that there may be shipping delays for all Mikei orders as shipping carriers have suspended or limited services in certain impacted areas due to the recent flooding conditions and road closures in British Columbia.

We appreciate your patience while the shipping carriers work to get your orders delivered.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@mikei.ca or call toll-free +1-866-606-5342.

Interview with Lorraine Hahn, former CNN and CNBC anchor

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Lorraine Hahn is an experienced journalist with over 20 years in the business. As a former anchor for CNN and CNBC, she covered their flagship programs that focused on the economic and political issues of Asia. Lorraine also produced her own television show, “Earth Factor Asia” and hosted a program called “Executive Golf.” Today, Lorraine sits down with us to talk about her career in journalism and share some of her health tips that have helped her adjust to the stresses of this industry.

With your success in media, what inspired you to pursue a career in journalism?

Actually, my career started as an accident. I needed a job in Hong Kong and a friend suggested I try getting a job at a local radio station. I had no experience since I studied English literature and business at university. Fortunately for me, the station decided to give me a chance as a cub reporter. That was in September 1989 and I haven’t looked back since.

Working with CNN provided you many opportunities to speak with high-profile interviewees. Who were some of the more memorable profiles to interview?

Oh there were so many interesting people I met and interviewed. Sir Elton John was fascinating because he shed so many stories about the struggles in his life. The former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger was formidable. Tiger Woods was charming. But two of the more challenging interviews was with the late Lee Kwan Yew, who is known to be a very tough interviewee. He had a reputation to challenge your questions so you had to be super prepared. The other was my CNN world exclusive with then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed.

Following your career with CNN, you produced your own program Earth Factor Asia. What prompted you to focus on environmental matters?

I thought at that time environmental issues were gaining interest so I decided to do a series that focused on the challenges Asia faced. One of the stories involved our team having to track the River Ganges from the Himalayas right down to Varanasi, which has been in the news recently because of pandemic. Despite the river being heavily polluted, the Indians believe the Ganges is sacred and they would bathe and drink from the river. They also place their dead in the water. However, when you reach the Himalayan area, the River Ganges is pristine.

Having experience as both a producer and a host, do you prefer being behind the scenes or in front of the camera?

Oh I definitely being in front of the camera. Even though the pressure is immense, because your every move and word are watched, I still find it easier and much more fun.

Are there any other passion projects that you want to pursue?

I was thinking of doing a medical show but in some jurisdictions, medical experts are not allowed by law to be part of a program. So it is still a dream at this stage.

Any future projects in the works that you are able to share with us?

Right now because of the pandemic, much of my high profile work and projects have been put on hold. Im hoping 2022 will be more promising.

What is your personal and/or professional mantra?

Be humble, prepare well and be passionate about what you do. Don’t wish for something, do it and never give up as there will always be someone younger, smarter and stronger than you. Just keep on working hard.

In your line of work, it can be quite hectic with the schedule and travel, yet you’re so full of energy and your skin is absolutely radiant. What wellness rituals do you stand by to maintain work-life balance?

Thank you for the compliment! Unfortunately, television make-up takes its toll on one’s skin, especially if you have to work outdoors so I always try and wash my face thoroughly.

It normally takes me about ten minutes to complete my daily cleaning routine. I rarely eat red meat, seldom eat desserts, drink lots of water and exercise. I also try and get at least eight hours sleep each night. My bed and I have a special relationship! I may also be blessed with good genes!

I also take a few supplements, including Mikei Red Reishi for decades, along with the usual vitamin C and D. Red reishi is known as a powerhouse for anti-oxidants, which helps to protect my skin from all the years of heavy cosmetics used for tv.

You currently reside in Hong Kong, but you spent some time in living in Canada. What do you miss most about Canada? Do you have any favourite spots that you always go back to when you visit?

I emigrated to Canada in 1979. My parents stayed on while I left after University of British Columbia (UBC) to live in Hong Kong. Vancouver holds a very special place in my heart. Every visit I take a drive to UBC just to relive some memories, although the campus has changed a lot.

I must eat at the Keg Steakhouse + Bar, White Spot and Earls Kitchen + Bar every visit and have my favourite dishes, which luckily have not been scrapped from the menus. My father is also laid to rest in Vancouver and I still have a good group of friends there who I miss a lot.

Finally, for individuals looking to pursue a career in journalism, what advice do you have for them?

Being on television may appear fun and glamorous but that is so far from the truth. You often have to juggle roles in the studio from editing stories, providing voiceovers, and preparing the story for coverage for multiple mediums.

A career in TV journalism will bring a lot of struggles, pains and practice. You’re asked to cover a lot of ground with very little resources. A lot of the time you’ll need to respond to events as they occur and that can mean working longer hours at a quicker than usual pace to get it on air.

Some prime examples of this was when I had to anchor the stock market crash, cover the historic 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, and report on the 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand. All these events were high stress moments that required my team to work around the clock to update the viewers in real time as each event unfolded.

But whatever the case, if you have a passion for anything, you will never know until you do it. More often than not, it will all work out!

Thank you Lorraine for taking the time to chat with us and we look forward to seeing you in your future projects in the coming year.

#ChooseMikei

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First and foremost, we want to thank you for all the support we have received over the years.

Your loyalty to Mikei has helped us continue to serve our customers for over 45 years. But now, we we want to hear from you!

Be a part of the #ChooseMikei campaign and submit your personal testimony of your experience with any of our Mikei products. Click here: www.mikei.ca/choosemikei.

As a special thank you for your testimony, you will receive 10% off your next purchase of Mikei on our online store.

Finally, over the next few weeks, we will be introducing you to some of our special #ChooseMikei ambassadors who will share their experience of Mikei with everyone.

Thanking you for choosing Mikei!

Welcome to the new and improved Mikei.ca!

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We are very excited to announce the launch of our newly designed website: www.mikei.ca.

Our goal with this new website is to provide our visitors an easier way to learn about red reishi and our products with our new streamlined online store and resource section.

We will be frequently updating our content with health articles, tasty Japanese inspired recipes and special promotions.

For our existing customers, please register for a new customer account when making a future purchase.

Finally, to celebrate our launch, join the Mikei e-newletter subscription list to receive 10% off your first order of $100 or more. A unique promo code will be sent to your email.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at info@mikei.ca.

The Mikei Team

Reishi Cultivation

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A great health food supplement is only as good as the source material in which the ingredients come from and our story begins first with a little reishi history.

For thousands of years, the rare and revered “mushroom of immortality” could only be found in dense forests on remote mountains. The reishi mushroom’s growing habitat required a delicate balance of humidity, temperature, and nutrients provided by the soil and the wood-logs on which it grew on. As reishi prefers to grow in hot and humid conditions, good quality reishi is mostly found in Asia. Not only was it rare, the quality of wild reishi was inconsistent due to environmental factors such as disease and insect infestations which may have prevented it from growing to full maturity.

To add to the difficulty of finding good quality reishi, there are also many varieties of reishi. While classical herbal medicine texts state of six kinds of reishi (red, black, blue, white, purple, and yellow), there are actually 53 confirmed varieties. Of all the reishi strains, red reishi is considered the most health beneficial and the safest to consume. It was for these reasons and its rarity that red reishi was worth more than gold and reserved only for use by royalty.

It was not until the 1970’s when a group of Japanese researchers including Fumimaru Mayuzumi, the founder of Nikkei Co. and astute mycologist from the Tokyo Agricultural University, embarked on a mission to develop the best reishi mushroom cultivation method. Their goal? To grow high grade red reishi of consistent quality and in a natural environment. It was during this intensive research that the Mayuzumi family, the producers of Mikei, discovered their own Japanese red reishi strain and a technique for its cultivation on aged wood-logs in greenhouses, now known world-wide as natural wood-log cultivation. Because of the Mayuzumi family’s efforts, Japanese red reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) is now commercially available.

Natural Wood-log Reishi Cultivation

  1. Natural wood-log cultivation of red reishi is first accomplished by grafting superior quality reishi fungi (Mayuzumi strain) onto aged oak wood-logs. The wood-logs are then placed in a heating chamber for a period of time to inoculate.
  2. The inoculated wood-logs are then placed in greenhouses in a rigorously controlled environment.
  3. The wood-logs are covered with nutrient-rich topsoil. The quality of soil and wood-log is crucial for the reishi to draw nutrients upon and grow into large, high quality reishi.
  4. Inside the greenhouse, a sanitized irrigation system must be used. Temperature, light intensity, and humidity are constantly monitored. The room must also be well-ventilated and blocked from direct sunlight.
  5. Red reishi begins to flush and grows gradually. Weeds may sprout and insects may appear, but no agricultural chemicals or pesticides are used.
  6. In the last stage of growth, spores break out from the underside of the reishi cap of the fruiting body and into the atmosphere. The reishi spores eventually settles and covers the soil with a reddish-brown color.
  7. The best harvest time is right after the sporing period. Each fully mature reishi mushroom is carefully cut by hand, collected, and then dried. The entire process repeats again for the next year’s harvest. Periodically the greenhouse soil must be left fallow to allow the nutrients to be replenished before the same greenhouse is used again.

The entire process of the natural wood-log cultivation method takes nearly a year.  The pictures shown above were taken at the Nikkei Co. farm in Isesaki-shi, Gunma-ken, Japan in 2014.

Why is it important to know how your reishi product is grown?

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Different cultivation methods will yield different quality products with widely varying amounts (or complete lack) of the health beneficial components of the red reishi mushroom. As the natural wood-log cultivation method takes almost a full year and is the most labour and resource intensive, there are now other methods to commercially produce “reishi” products, which are briefly described below.

Inferior Methods of Reishi Cultivation

  • Wood Pulp Cultivation
    A wood pulp substrate(mushroom growing medium) is placed in a glass bottle or plastic bag in which the reishi fungi are added. The bottles/bags are then stacked on shelves in an enclosed warehouse. After three months, this growing method will usually yield small mushrooms that are thin and frail.
  • Wooden Box CultivationThis method is similar to natural wood-log cultivation in which it involves grafting reishi fungi into a wood-log. However the wood-logs are simply placed in a box and not buried in soil. While this is better than wood pulp cultivation, only reishi of medium-size and moderate quality are generally produced since it grows without absorbing the nutrients from soil.
  • Lab-grown Reishi (or also known as mycelium/mycelia-based products)
    As the red reishi’s preferred growing environment is in the hot and humid climates of Asia, many North American producers use this “indoor” method as a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to mass produce a “reishi” product. Lab-grown products mix mycelium with a substrate such as rice or wheat in an enclosed container and are allowed to grow for a very short period. Unfortunately, the resulting mycelium-based product is different from a properly grown reishi mushroom fruiting body in terms of its composition and appearance. In addition, these products may lack of bioavailability (Upton 2006). Mycelium-based products also do not contain ganoderic acid A, an intensively studied and important health beneficial active component of reishi, which gives red reishi its unique bitter taste. For more information, read Mushroom Dynamics.

Mayuzumi’s natural wood-log cultivation method is the only reishi cultivation technique that can naturally produce high quality red reishi that can attest to all of the health benefits of which this miraculous mushroom has been used for thousands of years.

The Mikei Difference

Mikei uses only high quality, natural wood-log cultivated red reishi fruiting bodies grown to full maturity and rich in all of the active components of which make the revered mushroom effective as a health food supplement.