【明報專訊】A story about a vegetable hero? Yes, that's right. This is a story from Japan about a daikon - a large white radish. Roads are good in Japan, but this city road had a few cracks in its asphalt (瀝青). Near the side of the road small green leaves appeared in one of those cracks. That's nothing special. Grass and small plants often grow in cracks. But the leaves grew larger and the white body of a daikon started to appear. Bigger and bigger the daikon grew. It was a miracle that the daikon could continue growing. The soil was poor; the midday sun made the asphalt hot; and, the crack filled with water when it rained. Danger was all around too. People drove by, people cycled by and people walked by on the pavement beside the road. Yet the daikon continued to grow.