Traditional Japanese beekeepers use a pile box hive which is frameless hence favoring the use of traditional methods rather than a centrifuge extractor.
The honey box is placed in a big plastic container with a lid, inside the container there is a 6.5cm tall stainless steel stand that allows honey to drop into the container without getting all over the wooden box. The color and the flavor of honey depend on the nectar sources and the season, where the darker honey is mostly produced in autumn and has a stronger flavor than the light one mostly produced in spring. There are two sections in the honeycomb where each is cut for honey to drip naturally for each section, this is done on both sides of the box. The box is left overnight for honey to drip out naturally by gravity, this drip method gives about 70% honey. The rest of the honey is obtained by squeezing it from the honeycomb.
