How ya gonna keep ‘em down on the farm?
Japundit reader Chris Mick kindly sent a link to this article about the small local farms around the city of Fukuoka, which is located on Kyushu.
I have spent a lot of time in Kyushu and I have to agree with the article about how tasty the food is down there.
Unfortunately, the writer makes the common mistake of starting out talking about Fukuoka and ending up saying “Japan.” He then goes on to lament the decline of family farms both here and in the U.S.
I once was in a farming town down in Kyushu during the summer O-bon holidays, where I met a young woman who was there for the same reason. When I found out that she is living up in Tokyo, I mentioned how happy she must be to be able to get back to the country every now and then from the Big City.
She laughed in my face and looked at me like I was nuts.
“tranquil rice fields and farms are tucked between houses and temples in the shadows of skyscrapers no more than ten miles away.”
That must be one heck of a skyscraper!
I agree with most of what he says. Americans will never, in my lifetime, go in a big way for local produce. It would require a huge shift in the way they do things. There is a small group that does go for it, but they are mostly neurotic people who do it for the wrong reasons, and who rarely enjoy actually eating things.
America has 400 acre circles of crops in the West. In Japan, that’s simply impossible.
So far as the kids leaving the farm - there are no Mexicans in Japan, so the work is harder here. For the same reason, large farms are unworkable. Some farms bring in Chinese to “train” them, and get some cheap labor that way, but it’s limited.
All said, I think farming can be a pretty good business in Japan. Like in America, the farmers who can’t cut it are the ones who don’t watch the market. I have thought of trying myself, but I’ll have to wait until my kids are old enough to do all the work;)
By the way, JP - there is plenty of good food in Tokyo, but it costs.
September 9th, 2006 at 8:36 am