Vol. 8

March 2024

Resilient Local
Communities
Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the
Resilience of Local Communities:
Voices from Nakadori and Hamadori, Fukushima
Edited byJunko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature &National Institutes for the Humanities

Resilient Local
Communities
Vol. 8March 2024

Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology,
and the Resilience of Local Communities:
Voices from Nakadori and Hamadori,
Fukushima
Edited byJunko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto

Resilient Local Communities
Vol.8 March 2024

Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the Resilienceof Local Communities: Voices from Nakadori and Hamadori, Fukushima   2Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto
2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant,
Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source: Farming andLandscape of Abukuma River System, Fukushima City, as Seen from
Sasaki Farm and Sasaki Farm Café   11Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki
3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of Adatara
Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City   38

Satoshi Nemoto
4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in
Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture   72

Hiroshi Miura
List of Contributors 113

1. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the
Resilience of Local Communities: Voices from Nakadori and
Hamadori, Fukushima
Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto
BackgroundIn this volume, we present the voices of farmers from Fukushima City,
Nihonmatsu City, and Minami-Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture. Our
research team has been engaging in dialogues with farmers and residents ofrural communities in northeastern Japan, including the Hei River drainage
area in Miyako City and Joboji in Ninohe City, Iwate Prefecture (see, forexample, Habu, Sasaki, and Fukunaga eds. 2018), as well as Nibutani in
Biratori Town, Hokkaido. The focus of our dialogues has been on therelationships between local/traditional ecological knowledge and the resilience(the ability to maintain systems’ key functions in the face of disasters andother disturbances) of rural communities. Among our dialogues in various
places, the results of our discussions and interviews with farmers in Fukushima
Prefecture were particularly insightful when considering the resilience andlong-term sustainability of local communities.
The initial focus of our dialogues with farmers in Fukushima was todetermine whether traditional ecological knowledge and social networks
could still contribute to the resilience of local communities under the extremely
difficult circumstances of ongoing radiation contamination caused by the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident after the Great East Japan
Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Throughout the development of our dialogues,
it became clear that traditional ecological knowledge and social networks are2

1. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the Resilience of Local Communities
Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Gotointertwined with the history and rural landscapes of each region within
Fukushima Prefecture. Their importance cannot be fully evaluated without
understanding their historical and environmental contexts. Our interviews also
highlighted the regional characteristics of the three regions within Fukushima
Prefecture: Hamadori, Nakadori, and Aizu (the easternmost, central, andwesternmost regions of Fukushima Prefecture; see Figure 1.1) (Y. Goto, N.
Goto, and Habu 2018).
Among the three editors of this volume, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto
are university faculty members who have taught in Fukushima City for many
years. They have been actively visiting disaster-stricken areas for dialogues
with residents and stakeholders since just after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant accident in 2011. At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake
in 2011, the third editor of this volume, Junko Habu, began preparations tolaunch a transdisciplinary project at the Research Institute for Humanity andNature (RIHN). This project, titled “Long-Term Sustainability through PlaceBased Small-Scale Economies: Approaches from Historical Ecology,” ran its
full-research phase from 2014 to 2017. Yasuo and Nobuyo Goto contributed
significantly to this project, emphasizing the value of local, bottom-up
approaches in Fukushima. The project’s findings underscored the need for a
global shift from growth-oriented models to sustainability models.
In parallel, Habu initiated the “Knowledge and Skills in Mountains,
Rivers, and the Ocean” project with support from the Nissei Foundation. This
project aimed to explore the resilience of rural communities in the Tohoku
Region, focusing on the role of traditional ecological knowledge andenvironmental education.
Both projects included a dedicated Fukushima team led by the Gotos,
focusing on engaging with small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs in Fukushima

3Prefecture (e.g., Photo 1.1). Our efforts continued beyond 2017 under the
RIHN Research Team “Developing Resilient Local Communities against
Disasters through Environmental Conservation,” an Institutional Project of
the National Institutes for the Humanities.
2021 marked the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake
and the Fukushima Nuclear Accident. Recognizing the importance of hearing
directly from residents in Fukushima, we decided to publish the round-tablediscussion by the Sasaki Family (Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda, and Takehiro
Sasaki) in Sabara, Fukushima City, which took place in 2016, as well as two
new interviews with Satoshi Nemoto in Nagata, Nihonmatsu City, and Hiroshi
Miura in Idagawa, Odaka Ward, Minami-Soma City. Their stories revealed
key issues in the discussions of regional revitalization in Nakadori and
Hamadori, going beyond the efforts of individual farmers.
Efforts of Sasaki Farm and Sasaki Farm Café in Sabara, Fukushima City
In Chapter 2, Kenzo Sasaki, a former president of the Japan Family
Farmers Movement (NOUMINREN, or Noumin Undo Zenkoku Rengokai),and his family members discuss their long-term efforts to leverage theadvantages of small-scale dairy farming. They focus not only on producing
and processing milk but also on selling it directly to local customers. In 2011,
due to radioactive contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant accident, they were forced to discard their milk for about a month.
However, they actively engaged in negotiations for compensation with Tokyo
Electric Power Company through Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers
Movement Association (Fukushimaken Nouminren) under the Japan Family
Farmers Movement (NOUMINREN). Local family customers supported their41. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the Resilience of Local Communities
Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto

efforts to continue and revive their milk plant business.
Kenzo Sasaki’s daughter, Jun Koda, opened Sasaki Farm Café in 2016,
where various fruit and vegetable-flavors of soft-serve ice cream made with
low-temperature pasteurized Sasaki Milk have gained popularity. Additionally,
Kenzo Sasaki has taken over a wasabi field from an elderly person on a nearby
mountainside and is producing wasabi with several childhood friends. The
story of the Sasaki family exemplifies how a family farm can develop a placebased, sustainable operation and continue to face new challenges.
Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm: Satoshi Nemoto in Nagata,
Nihonmatsu City
The concept of collaborating with young newcomers and outsiders
materializes in the Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm (Adatara
Schoolfarm) project initiated by Satoshi Nemoto described in Chapter 3.
Nemoto, the chair of the Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers Movement
Association (Fukushimaken Nouminren), resides and farms in Nagata,
Nihonmatsu City, nestled between the Ou Mountains and the Abukuma
Mountain Range in Nakadori. Nemoto’s vision of young people moving toFukushima to become future leaders in regional revitalization was evident inour previous dialogues with him (Goto, Goto, and Habu 2018). In the Adatara
Schoolfarm project, he extends his efforts and identifies urban residents
interested in weekend vegetable farming in rural areas as key allies andcollaborators. His ultimate goal is for all citizens to consider themselves as
farmers. When Nemoto consulted us for the English translation of this concept,
we proposed the term “agro-citizens.”
Nemoto’s interview sheds light on the history of agricultural practices in5the Nakadori region, emphasizing the importance of shifting from conventional
to organic agriculture. The widespread use of pesticides and chemicalfertilizers, which began in 1961 following the implementation of theAgricultural Basic Law, led to a decline in traditional agricultural knowledge
in the region. Through the Adatara Schoolfarm project, Nemoto and his
collaborators aim to rediscover and revive the forgotten traditional ecologicalknowledge.
Farmland Consolidation and “Half-Farming, Half-X”: Hiroshi Miura in
Idagawa, Odaka Ward, Minami-Soma City
Hiroshi Miura (Chapter 4) managed the Miura Family Farm in Idagawa,Odaka Ward, Minami-Soma City until the Great East Japan Earthquake andsubsequent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011. The
radiation contamination forced him and his family to temporarily evacuate to
Shinchi in the Soma District (see Figure 1.1). Post-accident, the number ofpeople engaged in agriculture in the Hamadori region drastically decreased,leading to significant farmland consolidation. This consolidation, facilitatedby mechanization of water management and mowing through post-disaster
infrastructure projects, is particularly notable in rice paddy field agriculture.
Miura is actively involved in the process of farmland consolidation. At
the same time, he believes in the importance of not only utilizing paddy fields
effectively but also in cultivating a variety of vegetables and fruits, emphasizing
the need to conserve and manage the mountains and forests behind thefarmland. He envisions agricultural diversification that extends beyond cropvariety to include the establishment of new organizations to support farmers
and farmland. While engaged in solar power generation and other businesses,
Miura’s ultimate goal is to protect the Hamadori region without abandoning its

6

1. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the Resilience of Local Communities
Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto

farmland. Preparations are underway for a “half-farming, half-X” (han-no,
han-X) model, allowing individuals with other professions, such as in IT andtextiles, to participate in agriculture.
Resilience of Local Agricultural Communities from the Perspectives ofAgroecology and Forest Landscapes
The three groups introduced in this volume all believe that farming is at
the core of the resilience of their local communities. Their approaches vary interms of agricultural scale, product diversity, engagement with traditional
agricultural knowledge, and specific responses to the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant accident. However, their fundamental principles align:
they are committed to protecting the region without abandoning farmland.
Moreover, they share concerns about conventional agriculture’s heavy relianceon chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which prioritizes short-term economic
gains over long-term resilience and local autonomy. In this respect, theirstrategies resonate with the core principles of agroecology, as outlined bypioneers such as Altieri (1987), Gliessman (1998), and Hidaka (2000).
A central element of agroecology is its focus on regional landscapes, crop
diversity, and forest biodiversity. Kenzo Sasaki’s wasabi cultivation revives
traditional forest usage, and the Sasaki Farm Café’s wood stove utilizes
thinned forest wood. The belief in the importance of protecting and utilizing
mountain and hillside forests (sanrin) for the sustainability of farmland andwater conservation is a common thread in the works of both Nemoto andMiura.
Agroecology, as proposed by its pioneers, is underpinned by rigorous
ecological research across various spatial and temporal scales, emphasizing

7the long-term sustainability of regional landscape practices. It is particularly
noteworthy that the principles of agroecology, which intertwine ecosystem
resilience studies with the restoration of food sovereignty as a social movement,align with the efforts of Fukushima’s farmers affected by the radioactive
contamination. This convergence invites active dialogue among researchers,
local farmers, and a broad range of stakeholders.
Acknowledgments
The content of the interviews and round-table discussion manuscripts
published in this booklet was reviewed and approved by the speakers
themselves. We extend our heartfelt thanks for the opportunity to share suchvaluable narratives. This booklet features photographs taken by Hiroko Aihara
and those obtained from Satoshi Nemoto and Hiroshi Miura. We are gratefulfor the permission to use these photographs. Kazumasa Hidaka provided
invaluable insights into agroecology, for which we are thankful.
References
Altieri, M. A. 1987. Agroecology: The Scientific Basis of Alternative Agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder.
Goto, Y., N. Goto, and J. Habu, 2018. Social resilience and nuclear disasters:
New attempts to develop small-scale economic activities in Fukushima
Prefecture. In Weaving the Knowledge of Mountains, Rivers and the
Ocean, edited by J. Habu, T. Sasaki, and M. Fukunaga, pp. 163-188. Tokai University Press, Hiratsuka (in Japanese).
Gliessman, S. R. 1998. Agroecology: Ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture. Ann Arbor Press, Chelsea, MI.
Habu, J., T. Sasaki and M. Fukunaga (eds.). 2018. Weaving the Knowledge of8

1. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the Resilience of Local Communities
Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto

Mountains, Rivers and the Ocean. Tokai University Press, Hiratsuka (inJapanese).
Hidaka, K. 2000. Past, present and future in energy flows in agroecosystems.
In Connecting with Nature, edited by K. Tanaka, pp. 193-221. Showado,
Kyoto (in Japanese).

9Figure 1.1 Three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, and key places discussed in thisbookletPhoto 1.1 Field trip to the Fukushima Ryozen Citizens’ Joint
Power Plant (From left to right: Junko Habu, Yasuo
Goto, Takehiro Sasaki, Nobuyo Goto)

102. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk
Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy
Source: Farming and Landscape of Abukuma River System,
Fukushima City, as Seen from Sasaki Farm and Sasaki Farm
CaféKenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki(Date recorded: December 28, 2016)
Mr. Kenzo Sasaki (Photo 2.1: second from left) is known for serving as
the president of Japan Family Farmers Movement (NOUMINREN or
Nouminren [Noumin Undo Zenkoku Rengokai]) for seven years from 2001 to
2007. He has operated a dairy farm starting in 1959 in Sabara, Fukushima
City, at the base of the Azuma Mountains (Photo 2.2). Resisting what wasconsidered a mandated order for expansion of scale in Japanese agriculture, in
1989, he set up a small-scale milk plant which would integrate production,
processing, and sales of milk from start to finish, and began direct sales ofmilk. The milk plant did well, and he thought he could continue its operation
as is. But a few years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, he agreed to therequest of his daughter, Jun Koda (Photo 2.3), who had been a teacher, when
she said, “I want to do something new,” and opened the Sasaki Farm Café
(http://sasakicafe.com/). Ms. Koda is the manager of the Café, which serves
soft-serve ice cream and drinks using Sasaki Farm milk.
Mr. Kenzo Sasaki’s second son, Mr. Takehiro Sasaki (Photo 2.1: second
from right and Photo 2.6), has been active in the renewable energy business of
the Co-op of the Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers Movement Association

11

(Fukushima Ken Nouminren Kyodo Kumiai) as the Executive Director of the
Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers Movement Association.
The editors visited Sasaki Farm Café on December 28, 2016, and had theopportunity to hold a discussion of some two hours on the history of Sasaki
Farm through the birth of the Café, the effect of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant accident, and the activities of the Fukushima Prefecture Family
Farmers Movement Association. As we left, we were shown the “Akasagarbha
Boddhisatva of Iri Sabara” (Iri Sabara no Kokuzo-sama) at the side of thecattle barn (Photos 2.10, 2.11). A summary of the activities of Sasaki Farm
was published (Goto, Goto, and Habu 2018), but the totality of the in-depth
discussion was not introduced.
When approached about publishing the content of the discussion in thisbooklet, consent was readily given. As it was a long discussion, we omitted thecomments and questions of the editors, and compiled the statements of thethree speakers in a readable form. The edited text was reviewed by Ms. Jun
Koda and members of the Sasaki family. The photographs were taken at ourrequest on December 28, 2016, by Ms. Hiroko Aihara, who accompanied us.
(Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto)
Birth of Sasaki Farm
Kenzo Sasaki: The history of dairy farming at Sasaki Farm traces back to thecourse of postwar Japan’s agriculture, specifically the livestock industry, as it
relates to national policies. Three years ago, a critic named Yoichiro Aonuma
wrote a seven-part series critiquing the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). Heinterviewed me for the final part. According to this, it is clear that in the historyof postwar Japanese agriculture, though I have been tossed about from thehigh economic growth period until now, I have lived through the times in an

12

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

earnest manner.
I graduated from Agricultural School in Fukushima in 1959. Just after
that, in 1961, the Agricultural Basic Law was enacted, announcing a new
direction for agriculture. Being young, I had dreams as I started dairy farming.
I obtained a four-month-old calf from a farmer who lived near the Agriculture
and Silkworm High School in Watari. That was the start of my life inagriculture. That means I have been engaged in dairy farming for 57 years,
from 1959 to today (2016).
The policy of reduction in rice cultivation was strengthened starting in
1976. The basic agricultural policy at that time was to encourage the livestockindustry by the cultivation of feed in place of rice. It was just at the time when
my cattle had increased from one or two, to five or six. And I was wondering,“Now, what shall I do?” In those days it was practically a mandated order forJapan’s agriculture to expand the scale of farms, but I chose to follow a
different direction. If I expanded I would face various problems, such as what
to do about feed, about environmental issues concerning animal excrement,
and what to do about labor issues. Thinking about these one by one, I thought
I would face too many obstacles in expanding the scale of my farm.
When I thought of how to make a living keeping the scale as is, it was notenough to live on to keep producing 300 kilograms (approx. 300 liters) ofmilk, for example. I would have to increase production by two times, or atleast one-and-a-half times. The calculation required that I would need 30 to
40, or, in the future, 50 head of cattle. This led me to think how I could earn
income from milk equivalent to that of 50 cows, rather than raising 50 cows. I
was fortunate to encounter an impressive instructor who taught me that one
way would be to process my own milk and set my own price. I opened a milkplant in 1989.

13

At that time, nowhere in Japan was there a milk plant that produced andsold on such a small scale as 300 liters. When I inquired of the Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), they bluntly spurned me, saying,“It’s not as if it’s a school experimental project, so there aren’t any dairies likethat.” But I was able to calculate how I could make enough to live on, thanks
to my mentor.
That said, the only experience I had was raising cattle. So processing anddelivering milk, collecting money, maintaining the milk plant, sanitation—all
were new experiences for me. It was a lot of hard work, but with the supportof my mentor, I was able to make a start. My thought was to keep the same
number of cattle, add value to the milk, and make a living.
As this was my first experience doing this, I faced many problems. For
example, the government is now trying to destroy the system of DesignatedMilk-Producing Organizations (Shitei Seinyu Seisan-sha Dantai) throughwhat they call “Agricultural Reform.” This system’s merits and demerits
offset each other, yet it plays a major role. However, there is a law that is
advantageous to the organizations that allows the suppression of those like me
who process and sell our own milk, as we will disrupt order in the market. I
studied hard to figure out how to avoid going afoul of this law.
I found an exclusion clause in the law. When I found that “if the daily
processing volume is less than 360 liters, this law does not need to be applied,”I decided to keep my production under 360 liters. That said, even a farm thatprocesses only 360 liters is treated the same way as the major milk producers,
such as Morinaga Milk Industry Company, Meiji Company, and Kyodo Milk
Industry Company. This seemed unfair to a small dairy farmer. But that was
the reality, which caused much hardship for me. It was a new experience forus, as well as for the government and industry, which led to many laughable

142. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

episodes, now that I recall those days. My mentor was well aware of thoseconsiderations as he gave me advice. I still regard him as someone I am
indebted to. Unfortunately, he has passed away.
After I started up the milk plant, for the first year or two there was a boom
when we shipped out a large volume and were very busy, but the boom
gradually receded. That was when my mentor told me, “It’s good that you cansell to supermarkets and large retail stores, but you can’t rely only on them.”
He advised me that I should deliver milk to individual households, even if it
entailed a lot of work.
At that time, if I delivered milk to a supermarket in the morning, it soldout by noon, and if I delivered mid-day, it would be sold out by evening. That
was how much I was able to sell. I felt some discontent in doing the laborintensive job of delivering milk to each house when it was easy to sell to large
stores. But I was told that it was an iron rule that “What you increase easily
will always decrease, while what you increase under hardship conditions will
always remain.”
Several years later, that came to pass. That is why at our farm our businessis still 99% home delivery. I don’t sell much to stores. That is why, when
consumption decreased, or when we faced the nuclear power plant accident,
our long-term delivery customers quickly returned. I now realize that it wasworth going through those hardships.

A new initiative: Sasaki Farm Café
Kenzo Sasaki: Next year will be 2017, thirty years since we started the milkplant. I thought I could continue staying on this course. But one day, mydaughter (Jun Koda, Photo 2.3) suggested, “I’d like to try something new.”15

There were a few build-ups to this idea. In 2015, the 21st convention of
the Japan Family Farmers Movement Association, or NOUMINREN, washeld in Tokyo. This is a general meeting that assesses the activities of theNouminren, which emphasizes exchange of experience. My health not being
robust, I participated in the convention joined by my daughter.
My wife had for three years continued to produce and supply vegetables
to residents of Namie-cho who had evacuated from the nuclear power plant
accident and were living in temporary quarters in nearby Sabara. We were also
disaster victims affected in various ways, but she searched for something she
could do to help those who had suffered more than us. What she decided to do
was to produce vegetables, her specialty. I don’t want to seem like I am
boasting about a family member, but I think she really did a good thing. I was
impressed, and thought, “Why did you work so hard to help them?”
When my daughter reported on that activity at the national convention,
the audience members were deeply moved, as was she as the presenter. Thatexperience was crucial for my daughter, at a time when she was trying todecide whether to continue as a teacher or to do her best, even faced withhardship, to do something for Japanese agriculture. Of these options, shedecided on the latter. I thought, “Isn’t it better if you stay a teacher?” But she
told us she would follow after us in what we were trying to do.
That led to, “Let’s walk along a new path together,” and we opened the
Sasaki Farm Café (Photos 2.4 – 2.7). It wasn’t as if we had set out on that goalfrom the beginning. Many coincidences came together, giving us the option togo forward, to go backward, or to stay put. But we chose to attempt to go
forward and opened the café.
It would be a lie to say that we didn’t have some uncertainty, but we gave
it our all, and have had some good responses. We have been able to confirm

16

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

our direction, and attain our initial goal, and that is what we want to convey.
I have spent many years going to Tokyo, becoming a candidate for theHouse of Councillors, speaking from up on high, looking at things from above.
Now I want to implement my own ideas from a low position, close to the earth.
So I am engaged together with my local associates, as I look at things from thisperspective.
Wasabi cultivation and generational succession
Kenzo Sasaki: I’d like to mention that I am growing wasabi now. About four
kilometers from here in the mountain is a place that has clear water where
there is a wasabi field. The person who had been cultivating wasabi in this areafor forty years stopped growing wasabi due to old age and the effect of thenuclear power plant accident. He had been looking for a successor, so I
contacted some people around me and we formed the Wasabi Production
Union and took on the wasabi field.
These six members are people who are over 70 years old and are retirees.
They include a former financial director of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative,
an engineer at a machine manufacturer in Fukushima, the regional sales
director of a major electrical machinery manufacturer, and a construction
worker who works with a shovel getting all dusty. We are in different fields but
all friends from childhood who live in this area. Just day before yesterday, ourwork for this year ended, and we will start up again next spring.
There is a tendency to think that old people are a burden on society. But
I have experienced cultivating wasabi in this way as a way for old people inthis region to have something to live for and engage in discussions that don’t
reflect our age. It has made me realize that participating in this kind of activity
allows us to be as active as young people without getting in their way.

17

One of our members says, “My colleagues in my company all have goodpensions and a lot of free time, but all they talk about is golf. Ending your life
by just talking about golf is meaningless. When we talk about wasabi here, welose track of time and it is good that we can argue with each other. This issomething we have that makes life worth living.”
It is tough work to cultivate wasabi, but we work hard at it as we
encourage each other. Using the wasabi that we grow, we make wasabi softserve ice cream at this café. This is an actual example of how old people canbe active with daily goals if we devise ways that fit our own communities.
My oldest son is the one doing the main job of dairy farming. I justcritique and leave it to the younger generation. I can say that there is a different
way the younger generation perceives farming. But that is the flow of thetimes, so I think it is fine that they have their own way of doing things. I needto learn how to deal with myself as a parent who has a successor, so I plan to
put this into practice before I give my opinions to others.
Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and Fukushima Prefecture
Family Farmers Movement Association (Fukushimaken Nouminren)
Kenzo Sasaki: Due to the nuclear power plant accident, our dairy, along withothers, was affected from that day, March 11, 2011. For a month we faced theterrible situation of having to throw out our milk. For a while we could not use
the feed we had grown. It is only recently that we have finally been able to use
our own feed. During this time, we addressed problems that were unable to besolved by any one individual by engaging in action through the Nouminren
organization, particularly the Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers
Movement Association. Similar to an unscripted drama, I can only say, “We
did well.” There were many dramatic moments that I wish could have been18

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

recorded by someone with good writing skills.
Under such a terrible situation, the prefectural Nouminren, paradoxically,
actually grew in membership and became stronger. It isn’t true that whenconditions are bad an organization weakens. It also isn’t true that whenconditions are good the organization grows. I learned that even whenconditions are bad, with everyone doing as much as they can, a movement ororganization is strengthened. The Nouminren put this into practice.
I expect that TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and thegovernment recognize the strength of effort shown by the Nouminren. As I am
no longer at the forefront of the organization, I am viewing it from a distance,
but I sense this in various key areas. I found out that if we work as hard as wecan, the way ahead can open up for us.
With that in our past, our future issue is in what direction we should take
Fukushima’s agricultural industry. I don’t think there is just one road ahead.
The only thing we can do is for each of us to make efforts and devise ways as
we engage in movements and struggles to select our paths. What I haveexperienced is one way ahead.
I think it is rather difficult to assess the value of Sasaki Farm Café. Theremight be people who say that starting a café in these chaotic times may not besomething to be high-spirited about. But my hope is that this café cancontribute something to our movement. Many people visit in the summer, andI want them to get a sense of our intention and direction. This facility willallow that to occur. I want to value that and cooperate with my daughter as wego ahead.
I love cows
Kenzo Sasaki: Basically, I just love cows (Photos 2.8, 2.9). That is why it

19wasn’t a hardship for me to work with cows. If I can boast a bit, I was able tounderstand what the cow two generations ago was thinking right then.
Nowadays, I am not involved with the cow barn, so I can’t do that anymore.
When I made the decision 30 years ago to process and sell 300 liters ofmilk on my own, the number of heads of cattle was about the same as now, at
20. The feed was pasture grass and corn silage, a stored feed. In 1976, under
the government’s emergency rough feed measures subsidy program, five of us
cooperated in purchasing harvesting machinery and a storage silo. The five ofus secured feed by filling the silo together. The cow barn that we use now wasbuilt in 1976 using funds from the comprehensive modernization fund. Of theoriginal five of us, three have passed away, and now the two of us who remain
are still working hard. The others just went to the point of shipping out milkby the milk collection vehicle.
At Sasaki Farm we rely on imported grains, but produce our own feed asmuch as we can. The pasture land is about 7 hectares. However, we couldn’t
use it after 3/11. In my case, I brought in grass from Hokkaido until this spring,
through the Nouminren of Hokkaido. It is only recently that we have been able
to use our own feed again, but I am not sure if we can get by with just our own
feed. We test the plants each time, so if we don’t have enough, we will likely
obtain the rest from Hokkaido. In our negotiations with TEPCO, I am pushingfor pasture grass to be included in the claims subject to compensation.
The negotiations with TEPCO are being done through the Nouminren.
You might have heard from Mr. (Satoshi) Nemoto that the negotiations withTEPCO in June of the year of the disaster, just before shipment of peaches,
was intense. The current TEPCO president, Mr. Naomi Hirose, was theexecutive director in charge after the disaster. In our negotiations, we stood
our ground and called director Hirose to the telephone to get final confirmation.

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2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

The stance that Nouminren as an organization was sincere in replying to thedemands of the farmers spread among the local farmers.
Making our demands known by actions in front of TEPCO’s headquarters
building was also important. That kind of action has meaning as ademonstration, but some see it as in no way reaching the intended target. Yet
when people engaged in struggle in earnest, we were able to pry open even theheavy doors of TEPCO. I realized this for the first time when I joined others tocarry out our movement together. Just doing desk work and only thinking
about issues doesn’t allow you to get a real sense of things. I realized theimportance of the weight of struggling and joining in the movement on site.
After the accident, the (Fukushima Prefecture) Nouminren must have gained
about 250 members.
Of the 70,000 farmers in Fukushima Prefecture, 1,400 are members of
Nouminren. Currently, there aren’t many examples of agricultural organizations
existing in Fukushima Prefecture that have over 1,000 members. For instance,
the dairy farmers’ organization has about 400 to 600 members. Compared tothat, the Fukushima Prefecture Nouminren is three times as large.
All the calves are born at our farm. The cattle are bred by artificial
insemination. This is more advanced than human artificial insemination. Cattle
sperm can be stored for decades in liquid nitrogen containers. In recent years
we can implant fertilized eggs to allow cows to give birth. It is also possible toselectively breed male or female cows. The livestock industry is making rapid
strides in such techniques. Fertilized eggs can be imported, as well as being
available from livestock agencies. I think the fee is ¥ 10,000 to ¥ 20,000.
Takehiro Sasaki: There is quite a wide range of price depending on the rankof the seed and egg stock. It is the same as the pedigree of horses.
Kenzo Sasaki: Nowadays they are distributed all over the world. At one time,

21

when there were cases of BSE, we couldn’t import adult cows. When the
restriction was lifted, we could import cows. And we also import fertilized
eggs.
After the nuclear power plant accident, all the dairy farms in the Hamadoriarea in the immediate region of the disaster stopped their operations. We lost
about one-third of the dairy farms in Fukushima Prefecture.
Takehiro Sasaki: Just recently, about 2 kilometers from here, people who had
evacuated joined together to start a recovery cattle farm. They have over 500
head of cattle. If we are a small-scale manufacturer, they are a cutting-edge
large-scale operation. We are both operating in the same area (laughs).
Kenzo Sasaki: Until my father’s time, this area mostly raised silkworms.
When silkworm demand declined, we had the issue of imported food. With theimplementation of the 1961 Agricultural Basic Act, fruit and livestock wereadded to rice and wheat. When I later researched this, I found out that this wasa national policy that had certain goals. With that background, and wanting toraise cattle, we switched from farming rice and raising silkworms to dairy
farming.
Low temperature pasteurization, non-GMO grain, and soft-serve ice
cream
Kenzo Sasaki: I consider our current milk to be of the highest quality. First ofall, we were feeding the cows plenty of dried grass from Hokkaido until justrecently. It is significantly more expensive, but we are using non-GMO grains.
Second, the milk is pasteurized at a low temperature. This combination isn’t
done elsewhere. I think the taste of the milk is at a very high level. Everyonesays our soft-serve ice cream is delicious. The high quality of the milk whichis the base ingredient connects to the quality of the soft-serve ice cream. Most

22

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasakiof our customers tell us so.
Jun Koda: This is wasabi soft-serve ice cream. In the summer we offeredtomato soft-serve ice cream. We use tomato juice made at Nouminren farms.
Kenzo Sasaki: It is “Yuima-aru” tomato juice from Mr. Satoshi Nemoto.
Jun Koda: I didn’t think wasabi soft-serve ice cream would get such highpraise. It must be that wasabi and milk go well together. They are in perfectbalance. I hope you will have some.
Characteristics of Fukushima Prefecture Nouminren
Kenzo Sasaki: One characteristic of Fukushima Nouminren is that there areyoung people working in the executive office. In other prefectures there hasn’t
been that kind of success. I do hope they can learn from Fukushima’s case. We
intentionally recruit young people.
Even though the principles of farmers’ movement are valid, unless there
is financial support, they will quickly be toned down. Hiring young people
requires economic backing. This is where our chair, Mr. Satoshi Nemoto,excels.
Takehiro Sasaki: At the Fukushima Nouminren office we have five staff
members. If we include all the sections, there are at least 30 people. This isbecause they are working on businesses. It is the same for selling direct fromthe producer and for solar energy generation. The businesses are interesting
and the results are easily perceived. However, unless we are always consciousof doing business in order to engage in farmers’ movements, focusing only on
business will lead to the end of the movement itself. Working on businesses
while being conscious of our goals has been handed down in Fukushima from
Mr. Setsuo Kobayashi, the founder of the Fukushima Nouminren and its first
representative member of the standing committee.

23

Kenzo Sasaki: Historically, in the farmers’ movement, it was considered
improper for farmers’ unions and Nouminren to sell things in order to engage
in the movement. A new way of theorizing says, “Farmers grow produce toearn their living, so why is it wrong to sell their produce?” This is the starting
point for today’s Nouminren model. That is why we actively engage inbusiness.
Of the 30 staff, about 20 are women, so over half are women. In general,
the image of the successor to a farm is male, but that’s not the case. Women,
including mothers, are increasingly becoming the successors to farms. The
movement now exists with various combinations of participants.
From April 2017, a female junior college graduate who wants to work at
a dairy farm will join our farm. Her family is in forestry.
Takehiro Sasaki: I think she would rather see the result of her work with her
own eyes than be overworked typing at a computer in an office of an
exploitative company.
There are quite a few people, male and female, who would like to workin farming, but there are few places to do so, and they don’t know how to joina farming operation. The hurdle is high for someone to start brand new infarming. In Fukushima Prefecture, during the five years after the disaster,
22,000 farmers quit farming. Currently the number of farming families in theprefecture is 70,000. I don’t think this will happen, but if farmers quit at that
rate, in the future there will be zero farmers. Ten years ago, there were 100,000
farming families. Decreasing numbers have been the trend, which was
accelerated by the disaster.
Agriculture in Fukushima today foreshadows what will happen in Japanin ten years’ time. Even so, there are people who want to farm, and unless weaccept them and train them, we will not be able to maintain our farms.

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2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

Vegetable production is not able to keep up in the areas close to city centerswhere they deliver their produce. This is urban style farming.
Chiba, Tochigi, and Saitama prefectures, which are close to the Tokyo
metropolitan area, have supply destinations and farmland, but when thefarming population becomes elderly, they cannot continue to farm. In somecases, farming families may gain successors or may be able to increase theirscale, but overall, a decrease in farming population will no doubt occur in the
future. As the amount of unused farmland increases, agricultural production
can’t keep up. There are many people who want to farm who are not blood
relatives of farmers, but without support such as agricultural corporations or
assistance in hiring farmers, the number of farmers will continue to decrease
with no successors.
We must think about whether Nouminren can provide such support. We
are thinking of doing this. I think Nouminren may change into an organization
to aid in increasing the number of farmers in the future.
I think in the future decrease in agricultural production will come before
the decrease in demand for foodstuffs due to population decline. Japan’s selfsufficiency rate is currently 39%. I am afraid collapse of the production basewill occur soon. Unless we protect our self-sufficiency, we will not be able tokeep up our production infrastructure as the precondition to making a profit
from exporting. There are many people who want to start farming, and what
we need is a way to support them.
I would like to have those who are currently actively working in
agriculture, whether they be an organization, incorporated farm, or individual
farmers, give guidance to people who want to farm. Having someone who is
not related by blood take over as a successor, or maintain the farmland byletting a corporation run it—that is the kind of method we need. Farm

25

management is the main precondition, but what is needed is some kind of
arrangement to cover other aspects.
Possibility for village-managed farming
Kenzo Sasaki: As a way to preserve the community’s agriculture, one method
would be “village-managed farming (shuraku eino).” The Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is promoting in a top-down way organizing
farming as village-managed farming. But what we are thinking of is a bottomup cooperative effort for village-managed farming.
For example, in this area, if two young people become the main leaders,
we can reduce to a certain extent the area of abandoned cultivated fields(kosaku hoki-chi). However, unless there is a plan of what crop to grow there,
the discussion won’t go forward. A business needs to be set up to growsomething. By setting up the business, the wages of the two young people canbe paid, making it possible to manage the organization. This can be done byleveraging various government agricultural policies.
All around the country, many farmers are searching for those kinds ofmethods. Therefore, Prefectural Nouminren around the country need tocarefully reassess the conditions in each area. It seems to me that there arequite a few organizations in various regions that are working hard, which weneed to value. It is too narrow a way of thinking to have each farmer protect
their own operation. We need a perspective that looks at the entire region. As
I think about these issues, when we are able to take one, two, and three more
steps forward, it may take shape.
That said, as there are elderly people and those who have already goneaway to find work, there is a limit to how farming can be managed by a group.
How to connect those diverse conditions with a horizontal thread differs

26

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

depending on the criteria of each community. In Fukushima’s case, we have ahuge area of forests which includes national forests.
I think the pivotal point in our regional businesses is how to utilize ourforest areas. With each community having its own various factors, deciding on
how to utilize the resources requires the people living there to devise plans,
make efforts, and conduct research. I am saying this in theoretical terms, but
in actuality we won’t know until we try it.
The wasabi cultivation that I mentioned earlier is an example of putting
this into practice. In the case of wasabi, it is a success if it is “able to maintainthe current state plus alpha”; that is, it’s a reward for elders’ power. If weswitch this to an operation by young people, what would happen? That is theissue we are facing.
We must have a tradition of discussing these topics in a way to look to the
future among villages and regions. If we are only talking about minor issues
and looking backward toward the past, there can be no progress. Unless the
movement develops a vision and makes the effort to look forward and expand,as the Nouminren does, I can’t see a way forward. The existence of theNouminren has been important, but it will become much more important in the
future. Talking big, as Mr. Nemoto does, is very important.
I try not to get bogged down in argument, but theory is important. That is
the tradition that my senior, the late Mr. Setsuo Kobayashi (former Nouminren
board director) built on. He was a master at coining phrases. They were simple
to understand. “Safe foods from Japan’s earth.” “Growing things is whatmakes us farmers.”
The mentor that I spoke about earlier used the phrase, “You don’t have to
make money, as long as you don’t lose money” from an economics perspective.
Usually, people say “try to earn a profit,” but his theory was “it’s all right as27

long as you don’t lose money.” What we need are examples and phrases inwords that are easily understood by those who have been active in farming
villages.
The majority of farmland in Fukushima is rice paddies, but we have adiversity of produce. Among the produce we ship out there are a lot of fruits
and vegetables, such as cucumber. Added to that are livestock and energy.
Fukushima Prefecture is a major rice-growing region, but withmechanization, growing rice doesn’t require that much human labor. For
example, if two people are focused on operating the machinery, others cangrow cucumber and fruits and vegetables. That would actually increase theincome for the farm. Growing cucumbers requires a lot of work on a daily
basis. Harvesting them goes on day and night, to the extent, “When cucumber
harvest starts, we don’t have time to take our boots off.” But a rather small plot
can yield income.
Added to that we can think of livestock and energy. In the past, livestock
farms outside of Hokkaido imported their grain feed. I think that will continue
for a while. But, the demand for rice for food will decrease by 80,000 tons
each year, so that farmland will not be needed. Currently, we are growing ricefor feed for pigs and chickens on that farmland, but we will need to growsomething else on the unused rice fields. When that happens, there is thepossibility that there will be no way to maintain large farmlands other than forlivestock feed. This may be a strange way to put it, but “using farmland in aless proper way” may be needed.
Feed grass doesn’t earn as much as rice grown on the farmland. But feed
grass can be a resource for the region, and this use of farmland will allow thefarm to keep operating. Local cows can graze on the land, which would requireless intense labor.

28

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

Then we have energy production. This is like the farming of the old days.
Small-scale and sustainable, without having to sell labor elsewhere, and nothaving to buy energy from the outside, keeping it all within the region. Perhaps
it wouldn’t be completely within the region. But by keeping energy supplies
within the area, I think it is possible to realize a direction not to release as
much energy to areas outside the region.
Combining with energy
Takehiro Sasaki: We had started to consider how to use forests and timber asenergy even before the earthquake disaster. We were actually scheduled to go
to Germany in June of the year of the disaster. With the nuclear power plant
accident, we have prioritized efforts to put in place solar power generation.
However, I think using forest resources is more important in activating Japan’s
potential.
If we were to use timber, we were thinking of the energy value of heatfrom a stove that we could use directly. We don’t want be wasteful and boil
water once and turn the turbine to generate electricity, so we thought of using
the mountainside as is like an “oil field.” It wouldn’t cost much, and it is better
if money reverts to the mountainside. It may not have a great impact on theregional economy, but it would lead to a long-term, gentle use of resources.
The stove here is using wood from thinning the forest.
Kenzo Sasaki: The solar power generation that Takehiro and others areworking on is tied to the subsidy initiative to use 5% of the profits for theregion’s industrial recovery. We heard that there is about ¥500,000 that theprefectural Nouminren can use. If we use those funds, we could thin out thecedar forest nearby, and transport the wood to use as firewood. Then we could
create a “three-party benefit” of the owner of the thinned forest land, the29company that cuts the trees, and the users of the firewood. It isn’t a very large
area, but this kind of initiative looks interesting, so I am keeping an eye on it.
Furthermore, we planted wasabi seedlings in the area where trees were cut
which gets dappled sunlight. Apparently, an official from MAFF was curious
about this rare use of land.
We have to think about the mountainside in that way. They say mountains
are a real bother, and there’s nothing we can do with them, but I think they canbe “treasure mountains.” Those of us who live at the foot of the mountain needto think about how to use the mountain.
Takehiro Sasaki: That said, I can’t operate a chain saw, and I’ve never cut
down a tree, so I have to start by learning how to do this. Our foresters need to
be able to do the German style cutting of trees. Not having roads going into themountainside, Gifu Prefecture had German foresters come to construct them.
That is what we want to do all over Japan.
At the recent negotiations between Nouminren and the government, werequested a budget for forestry. We now have the budget, but the thinned trees
are just lying there with no ideas for how to use them. I say it is only worthwhile
if we use them, but that hasn’t taken root. It’s a waste of resources. We need tobe aggressive in our demands.
Japan is full of mountains. But unless we practice what we intend, we
can’t say what should be done. Putting ideas into practice on a small scale, andshowing the prefecture and national government that “this is necessary,” in acumulative way from the bottom, is a better way than giving orders from thetop.
Importance of water and landscape
Takehiro Sasaki: It is important to combine mountains and rivers with30

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

landscape and tourism. I don’t have specifics on how to use the river, but I
think it is plenty for it to be part of a “farming village landscape.” We look atthings from the farming village side, but it is important to have people visit
from the outside by attracting them with our produce and landscape. Unless
we are growing produce, the landscape won’t be maintained. Having silver
grass and reeds overgrowing the riverside would not be good.
The water source for farming here is Arakawa, just over there.
Kenzo Sasaki: There is plenty of water so we haven’t experienced conflicts
over water. The water flows into Abukuma River. The water quality is very
good as it is the clearest stream in Japan.
Takehiro Sasaki: Usually, land like this requires obtaining water rights, andmoney must be paid to acquire water for wet paddies, but we don’t have that
restriction. We have been using the water from olden days, so we can use thewater without any restrictions. But downstream there are times when there
isn’t any water. At times the government brings up the idea of redistributing
the rights. But water rights are crucial, so those discussions are avoided, I hear.
Compensation for feed grass
Kenzo Sasaki: It wasn’t very obvious, but Fukushima Prefecture Nouminren
played a major role in the issue of compensation for feed grass. The initial
method of calculation for feed grass compensation brought up by MAFF andTEPCO was so complicated, that farmers could not deal with it. We proposedto the officer of the Japan Livestock Industry Association to use “theNouminren method of calculation.” The negotiations with MAFF and TEPCO
proceeded using that method.
I heard from the officer of the Council that “It was very helpful to learn
the method used by the Nouminren.” The Nouminren presence was important31

in that instance. For negotiations with MAFF, I went many times to Tokyo
with the officers of the prefectural Dairy Farmers Union.
The reason Nouminren was able to engage in beneficial struggles was
because we had dealt with taxation for a long time. Our movement was to havea self-reporting method whereby farmers calculated their own financial status
to file their taxes. That is why we could respond quickly to the demands wewere making to TEPCO. With accumulation of long-term records, we hadhistorical data. I think this was very effective in persuading TEPCO.
Takehiro Sasaki: When taxes are carefully calculated, it can lead to tax
savings. It is not good to try to hide numbers, but if everything is carefully
disclosed and calculated, there are no problems. We disclose all our farmers’
profits to make the calculations.
Cattle feed and milk
Takehiro Sasaki: Getting back to cattle feed, if cows eat only feed grass, they
will only produce about 4,000 to 5,000 kilograms of milk. If we feed themgrains and corn, they can produce 8,000 to 9,000 kilograms of milk, but that
leads to working the cows so hard as to have them die young from overwork.
In order to fully utilize the function of the four stomachs that cows have,feeding them grass is the best. The volume of milk is less, but the value of themilk is higher. No doubt the cost is higher, but we have our story to tell, andwe can raise the cows fully on domestic feed.
In terms of sustainable management of the farmland, not overworking thecows and managing them well and letting them graze results in better quality
milk. But it may not be obvious when people drink milk as to how the milk is
produced and what the cows are fed.
There are many issues that need to be discussed about the dairy industry,32

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

such as the bad health conditions of the cows due to overfeeding, or there
being too much milk, or the lack of butter. Japanese people’s intestines tend to
be intolerant of milk. There are lactose-intolerant people who cannot drink
milk. It may be detrimental for a milk producer to say this, but I think it is finethat those who want to drink milk do, and those who can’t drink milk don’t. I
am afraid that many farmers have pushed for increasing production no matter
what. To me, the way of thinking to suit the physical conditions of the cows
and to produce the amount that the farmland allows is more sustainable andcan be done on a small scale.
Although the threshold for starting a farm is high, I wonder why there
aren’t more dairy farms like ours starting up around the country. We sometimes
hear customers say, “Please send us your milk.” When I hear that, I wish that
there could be more dairy farms like ours in their local areas, where cows areraised with local feed, and milk is delivered to them. It is far better to havemilk from cows you can see in your region than to drink milk from cows thatare fed who knows what. Rather than thinking an operation must keep growing,
it is truly the case that it will last a long time when a farm goes with the flowof nature and the physiology of foodstuffs.
Reference
Goto, Y., N. Goto, and J. Habu, 2018. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and theresilience of local societies: new attempts to promote small-scale economies in Fukushima Prefecture. In Weaving the Knowledge of Mountains,
Rivers and the Ocean: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Ecoliteracy in Tohoku, Northern Japan, edited by J. Habu, T. Sasaki, and M.
Fukunaga, pp. 163-188. Tokai University Press, Hiratsuka, Japan (in Japanese).

33

Photo 2.1 Group photo after the round table discussion (From left to right: Nobuyo
Goto, Kenzo Sasaki, Junko Habu, Takehiro Sasaki, Yasuo Goto)

Photo 2.2 The Sasaki Milk Plant

Photo 2.3 Jun Koda explaining various
flavors of soft-serve ice
cream (from right to left:
kabocha pumpkin, wasabi,
tomato)34

2. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

Photo 2.4 Sasaki Farm Café front door sign

Photo 2.5 Sasaki Farm Café counter

Photo 2.6 
Takehiro Sasaki with abottle of Sasaki Farm milk

Photo 2.7 Sasaki Farm Café menu

35

Photo 2.8 Cowshed at Sasaki Farm (1)Photo 2.9 Cowshed at Sasaki Farm (2)362. Round Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant, Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source
Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki

Photo 2.10 Takehiro Sasaki showing Akasagarbha Boddhisatva of Iri Sabara

Photo 2.11 Signboard explaining the history of Akasagarbha Boddhisatva of Iri
Sabara37

3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launchingof Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu
City
Satoshi Nemoto(Date Recorded: February 22, 2021)
Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers’ Association (Fukushimaken
Nouminren) Chair Satoshi Nemoto (Photo 3.1) is known for publicizing thatthe radioactive contamination immediately after the Fukushima nuclear plant
accident was not merely “rumor” but was actual damage that occurred inreality, taking the stance toward Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to
demand compensation. This was a declaration exposing the real problem bygoing against the “damage due to rumor (fuhyo higai)” way of thinking, whichassumed that the decline in sales of agricultural produce from Fukushima
Prefecture was due to “unfounded” rumors of radioactive contamination after
the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Mr. Nemoto’s farm and house (Photo 3.2) are located in Nagata,
Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, which is in the Nakadori area,
sandwiched between the Ou Mountains and Abukuma Mountains. Due to theSecond Agricultural Structural Reform Initiative of the 1970s, agriculturalland infrastructure construction (kiban seibi) for rice paddies was accomplished,
and diversified farm management was encouraged in addition to rice farming.
Under the promotion of diversified farm management, or “rice paddies plusalpha,” grapes were planted, cutting into the mountainside, but this program
did not succeed. By 1979, when Mr. Nemoto graduated from university, the38

3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City
Satoshi Nemoto

grape arbors were mostly unproductive with no prospects for the future. Under
that condition, loans for the agricultural land infrastructure construction andgrape cultivation were repaid by cucumber cultivation. The grape arbors (2hectares) were all demolished about five years ago during the winter.
The editors had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Nemoto about the postnuclear power plant accident activities of the Fukushima Prefecture Nouminren
in two interviews held on July 17, 2015 and July 13, 2016 (summarized in
Goto, Goto, and Habu, 2018). When we asked him about publishing the fullcontent of the 2016 interview in this booklet, his reply was that his present
activity Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm would provide more up-todate information.
As Mr. Nemoto continues to serve as Chair of the Fukushima Prefecture
Nouminren, he has recently come to see the meaning of living within his local
community. For this publication, we heard about the background and activitiesof the Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm in an online interview held in
February 2021. We have edited the interview to make it readable for thisbooklet, but we have attempted to reflect his way of speaking and theatmosphere of the conversation. The edited manuscript, including the column,
has been proofread by Mr. Nemoto. Photos 3.1-3.2 and 3.5-3.6 were taken by
Junko Habu on July 13, 2016, while Photos 3.3-3.4 and 3.7 were provided by
Satoshi Nemoto. (Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto, and Nobuyo Goto)
Establishing Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm
Habu: Please tell us what you learned as you established Adatara Food andAgriculture Schoolfarm in your community. (Photos 3.3, 3.4; Figure 3.1)
Nemoto: In order to start the Schoolfarm, I thought first I needed to go out into
the fields. In order to actually grow produce, we lease land from local farmers,

39and consult with them. This way, we find out the history of the land.
We selected land that was no longer cultivated, so we could hear about
whose land it was and how it came to be the way it was now. We found that
there was an old well there. The well hadn’t been operated for a while, so it
had dried up, but with a little effort, it became usable, so we were able to getwater from it.
The title of the land had changed, and it was no longer cultivated, but by
asking people who are 80 to 90 years old, we could find out what had beengrown there. It was important that we heard about the history related to theland: that there was a mulberry field and the farm raised silkworms, and whenthat wasn’t manageable, it was turned into vegetable fields.
In general, nowadays people lease land that is in good condition where
agricultural land infrastructure construction has been done. In that case you
don’t need to know the background at all. The only thing that is considered isefficiency: that it is in a good location, and large-scale machinery can be used.
So if things don’t go well, the land is quickly let go. But once you learn about
the history of the land and how people are attached to the land, it isn’t that easy
to let go of it; you can’t let it go just because it didn’t work out.
Our not leaving the place even when it has low doses of contaminationfrom the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident is due to this history that we
carry with us. Knowledge of that history is starting to fade, so it may not be
conveyed to the younger generation. It isn’t interesting to farm from just theperspective of efficiency and scaling-up the farmland under agricultural
policies. That weakens the intention of living in that place or thinking oftelling the younger generation about the community.
Habu: It seems to me that young people who are thinking that way are
increasing, though little by little, compared to before. Do you sense that?

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Satoshi Nemoto

Nemoto: This is from a different angle, but we are now soliciting participants
for the Schoolfarm through Zoom. About 70 percent are women in their 30s to
40s. I feel that a high level of interest in foodstuffs is concentrated in thisgroup.
I do get the feeling from the young generation that they dislike the value
system that is being forced on them. Many of those who come to us are throughthe internet or website. Things may be able to change as we are able to convey
to them our live voices and the condition of the land.
Habu: Are the 70 percent of women in their 30s and 40s from this region?
Nemoto: Many of them are from Fukushima City or Koriyama City. Also
some from Nihonmatsu City. Actually, the pre-planning for the Schoolfarm
began with our pre-school. There was interest in providing organic food forlunch for the pre-school. We wanted the parents of the pre-school children to
take an interest in this, so we started in Nihonmatsu City. I had hoped more
people involved in the pre-school would take an interest, but in that group
there were only a few. More of the participants are from Fukushima City andKoriyama City.
Habu: Going back a bit, could I ask about the start of the Schoolfarm and get
an overview of its activities?
Nemoto: The impetus was in March of last year (2020). I wanted to create aplatform to think systematically about food and agriculture truly rooted in theregion. I thought it would be effective to connect actual organic farmers withthe younger generation who could send this information out on Facebook andsuch, in order to give an accurate picture of the realities of agriculture.
In this effort, the power of farmers themselves to relay information was
weak. I’m involved in farm work myself, but it is quite difficult to havesomeone take photos and hear about farming and relay that outward. I also41

wanted to have researchers involved, so I talked to Prof. Nobuhiro Kaneko in
the food and agricultural sciences department at Fukushima University andasked for his cooperation.
A woman named Chikako Yanaginuma has been involved in a Foodbankthat delivers a variety of vegetables to the Tokyo area since the nuclear power
plant accident. In addition to the three of us, I also consulted with a person
practicing organic farming, and a couple of people who had the ability tobroadcast information who had worked for a year or two in Nihonmatsu City
as part of the regional cooperative group and had returned to the region.
In terms of what to start off with, we decided to make a field. Prof.
Kaneko suggested that, in order to think about how to cultivate crops with
non-tillage farming, we make a field where we could compare non-tillage,organic, and conventional cultivation. We searched for land that was not undercultivation. We found a 0.4 hectare (40,000 sq. m.; 1 acre) field in one place,so we decided to lease that land.
Another goal was to have a building. If people come for training at aguest house for just one day or one time, it doesn’t stick in their minds.
We discussed what kind of people we were targeting. Farmers were one
target. But for farmers changing over to the latest agricultural method, such asorganic farming, the hurdle is high. Rather, we thought of having those who
eat the crops participate in growing the crops, in the practice of farming.
I’ve been saying this to many types of people, but the idea is to have all
citizens consider themselves as farmers (hyakusho), growing even a few plantson their own. The aim is to establish farms so that people who live in the area
can do a bit of farming in various ways. Examples are: kleingarten (German:
small garden. In Japan this means “citizens’ farm.” In Germany and other
European nations, a farm that is made for citizens who live in urban areas who

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Satoshi Nemoto

don’t have a garden) or dacha (Russian: weekend house in the countrysidewhere vegetable plots can be cultivated. After the dismantling of the Soviet
Union in the 1990s, it was a valuable food source). With telework gaining
hold, there are more people who want to move out of urban centers. We arehoping to be a receptacle for such people, and are progressing on that idea.
At Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm classes, at first we asked
Ms. Junko Kimura-Kuroda as a lecturer on the dangers of Neonicotinoid andother agricultural chemicals. The second session was by Prof. Kaneko on theimportance of the switch to a new agricultural method, including the issue ofclimate change. At the third session we talked about the soil. The fourth
session will be week after next, on the organic garden.
In addition to growing food crops, we plan to make an organic garden,
with some flowers, in a picturesque part of the experimental field. It will be aplace to take a rest under a wisteria arbor. We are providing a place to showthat it would be nice to live in this way, in a place like this, including the views
that farming villages offer.
We are recruiting twenty to thirty trainees to participate in sessions about
once a month. There are quite a few experienced organic farmers who we want
to invite as lecturers. We wonder how many students from Fukushima
University, where Prof. Kaneko teaches, will attend. We are thinking of having
about three fields that we can compare, including the non-tillage field.
Habu: How long will the twenty to thirty trainees you are recruiting undergo
training?
Nemoto: It will be one year. For those who want to continue on their own, weplan to introduce them to fields or rice paddies. We thought of building
something like a guest house where they could stay and work, with an open
kitchen, over there. But that location has a cliff behind it, and it is hard to get

43

a construction permit. So, now I am thinking that it would be good if we canbuild a place to have people stay in a different location. We plan to spend somemore time planning this.
For the time being, I am thinking of training sessions where those wholive nearby can attend about once a month. Whenever they come, an instructor
will give a session on growing things this way, once a month. A total of eight
sessions from April. We have worked out a cultivation plan, so in March I will
start preparations right away.
Prof. Kaneko says abandoned fields are a treasure trove. Chemicalfertilizer and pesticides haven’t been used there for decades, so the soil isnearly like the soil in a forest. When we cut down withered grasses with ahammer mower, it turned out really nicely. The rye wheat that we sowed fromabove that grass is now growing well (as of February 2021). I was quite
surprised. We are making plans to harvest the rye wheat.
The precursors of organic farming
Habu: You mentioned that several people were leaders in organic farming in
Nihonmatsu. Could you tell us who they are?
Nemoto: We have asked three of them as lecturers on cultivation. The first is
Mr. Shin’ichi Ouchi of the Ainou-kai (Love for Agriculture group). And then
Mr. Fumio Watanabe of Iwashiro in Nihonmatsu. The third lecturer we haveinvited is Mr. Saichi Sato, the chair of the Adachi area Nomin-no-kai farmers’
association.
Habu: Are those three people currently involved in organic farming?
Nemoto: Yes they are. Mr. Ouchi and Mr. Watanabe are certified as JAS
organic farmers.
Habu: In all of Nihonmatsu, about how many farmers are doing organic

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Satoshi Nemoto

farming?
Nemoto: Of the 4,000 or so farming households in Nihonmatsu, about ten areorganic farmers. I’m not sure exactly, but there are about ten or twenty people
in the Japan Organic Agriculture Association (Nihon Yuki Nogyo Kenkyukai), so I think that’s the ratio.
Habu: That number doesn’t seem too bad.
Nemoto: Well, I don’t know if that is many or few because I haven’t compared
the numbers with other areas, but I think it is significant that they have kept at
it all this time.
Habu: You mentioned Organic Farming Study Group (Yuki Nogyo Kenkyukai). Does that mean these individuals were doing organic farming since the1970s?
Nemoto: I think Mr. Ouchi was from earlier. Many members of the Ainou-kai
have been involved in organic farming as a philosophy, irrespective of whether
it is trendy. I think the Ainou-kai is made up of Christians. Mr. Ouchi has been
involved in that way.
The Ainou-kai has produced quite a few successors to the farms. One
reason is that in Mie Prefecture there is the Ainou Gakuen school, the Ainoukai’s own high school. It is a boarding school which specializes in farming. It
is very important to teach organic farming in a systematic way to children who
are high school age. It is particularly effective as it is a boarding school where
all the students live in the dormitory.
I have said this to Prof. Kaneko, but the current academic system ofagricultural departments is at odds with actual farming. There are hardly any
graduates of university agricultural departments who go into farming. I myself
came home after graduating from an agricultural university, but I couldn’t doanything on the farm. It is most important, after all, to see how crops grow45

while working with the soil.
In terms of scientific indicators, there are many things such as soil
analysis, and also the agroecology way of thinking. We have tried that kind of
scientific agriculture and farming, such as EC (electroconductivity) and PH(soil acidity). But the effect of those on crops depends on the conditions ofeach region, so just applying that knowledge isn’t helpful. We can’t use
scientific analysis indices for agriculture unless we rethink how to use them.
Nowadays, they talk about smart farming, employing scientific analysis,
doing everything according to a manual, and using machinery. But I wonder
about that method. Farming and nature don’t progress by implementing
quantification and those types of methods. That doesn’t guarantee that safeand delicious food can be grown. Attempts at hydroponics and vegetablefactories are most likely to ultimately not succeed. Are there any Japanese
universities that offer training in a true agroecology way of thinking, which
involves farming by taking into account local natural features, regional history,
and verifying crops that one has grown? I have never heard of any classes or
lectures that go into that kind of ecology, whether it be at university or not.
Habu: Among our project’s joint researchers is Prof. Kazumasa Hidaka of
Ehime University, a specialist on agroecology, who says, “Our university is
about the only one that champions and teaches agroecology.” He is thinking ofsustainable agriculture by researching the biological diversity of insects in rice
paddy fields. He often says, organic farming is important, but just having
everything be organic isn’t the point, it is important to keep out non-native
species and support the local ecological environment.
Nemoto: When I think about the younger generation, educational institutions
such as universities are important. If agriculture that does not rely on chemicalfertilizers, pesticides, or mechanized smart agriculture can take root in46

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Satoshi Nemoto

academic disciplines, we may be able to change the situation.
Reevaluating the importance of forgotten traditional ecologicalknowledge: a new perspective
Habu: I had the pleasure of meeting your parents when I visited Nihonmatsu
a while ago. They said they were not insistent on organic farming, but I am
sure they have memories about the landscape and traditional ecologicalknowledge of their region. What are your thoughts about that? Not necessarily
your parents, but others of that generation who recall how things were done in
the past—how much of those are handed down to the next generation?
Nemoto: That is a difficulty in Japan. My parents are the product of the Basic
Law on Agriculture (development of agricultural policy under the Basic Law
on Agriculture, 1961–1970). After I was born, from around the 1960s,
pesticides and chemical fertilizers were increasingly used, with full backing of
the Basic Law’s agricultural policy. It was pesticides above all. The use of thisliberated farmers from their previous hardships. In the case of rice paddies,
especially, herbicides freed them from the heavy labor of cutting grass during
the heat of the summer. It must have seemed like a magic potion. So I don’t
think they were able to transmit traditional farming methods.
At that time, when my father was young, the guidance for modernizationof farming was much more thorough than it is now. My father’s uncle once
worked for the prefecture in the farm reform promotion office. That generation
wasn’t able to perform the role of practicing traditional agricultural methods
and transmitting them.
This may be mundane, but knowledge about the type of soil and land
does exist: that here the soil is andosol (kuroboku), what kind of crops willgrow here. But as to how to grow the crops, it is hard to let go of chemical47

fertilizers and pesticides.
Habu: Does that mean that although there is knowledge about the land, in
terms of traditional farming methods and techniques, there has been a break,and now there is a need to rethink those methods from a new perspective?
Nemoto: Yes, I think so. If things go on as they have been with pesticides andchemical fertilizers, agriculture will become an industry that destroys theenvironment. In reality, we are currently facing the problem of Neonicotinoid,
which results in the disappearance of dragonflies, locusts, giant water bugs,
and other insects. Only the stink bugs persist. The ecological balance iscollapsing in that way. Everyone knows about this issue, because pesticides
and herbicides are poisons.
We are using what we know to be poison that will affect our children andgrandchildren. They say is should be all right because the amount is less than
the stipulated residual amount, but it still remains as residual amounts. Is it all
right to feed those crops to the next generation? Can we tolerate justoverlooking the degradation of humans as well as the region’s ecosystem? Is
it sufficient to just make money, and lead the good life? I want people torethink things from these points.
It is important that the Schoolfarm has garnered the interest of not only
farmers but also non-farmers in their 30s and 40s. Unless the people who eat
the food produced—I don’t want to say consumers—put more pressure on the
producing end, it is difficult to change the current method of agricultural
production, including distribution and logistics. Have the people who areeating the produce get closer to farming. Growing a little bit of food, having
farmers grow better produce, not wanting them to use pesticides—they needto speak up directly about their demands. Today that relationship is prettymuch cut off, so farmers feel that all they have to do is to send all of their48

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Satoshi Nemoto

produce to the market.
Habu: From my experience of hearing what older organic farmers had to say,several of them told me that when consumer movements were active in the
1980s, things were very good. In those days the network of housewives wasvery strong, and because there were a certain number of people, though not all,who were thinking about those issues as people who eat the produce, it waseasy to sell organic agricultural products. This was the case when I went to anorganic tea cultivator in Shizuoka, and Mr. Kenzo Sasaki’s milk farm seems tohave expanded from that way of thinking. Was there a similar movement in the
Nihonmatsu area? I would think that those who were active in the Organic
Farming Study Group would have had such a network.
Nemoto: I’m not familiar with the situation in Nihonmatsu around that time.
It was just about the time that I came back from university.
Aiming for withdrawal from chemical agriculture
Habu: When I visited before (2015, 2016), I don’t think I heard you talk muchabout the importance of organic farming. Was there a reason in the last few
years that caused you to change your thinking?
Nemoto: Well, this is a continuation of what I was saying before. I myself wasstuck with the thought that it would be impossible to fully withdraw fromchemical agriculture. This is because we have done only this chemical kind of
farming and used these farming methods. So I would look at organic farmers
as being privileged, wishing them well as they worked hard, keeping them atarm’s length.
But then I became more aware of Neonicotinoid pesticide dangers andthe problem of climate change. When I read things in your pamphlet (Altieri
et al, 2017), about how much effect agriculture has on the global environment,49and that over 20 percent of the Earth’s CO2 and greenhouse gases derive fromagriculture, I came to think that it wasn’t a choice of whether to engage inorganic farming.
As to agroecology, I have by no means a complete understanding, but asa way of thinking, if we can hand over to the next generation a sustainable
form, this is the only way to go. As I said before, even we think that theagricultural thinking that we learned in university is not beneficial. Someone
has to put agroecology into practice. We must take advantage of the strengthof those who are working hard in our region, and the knowledge gained bythose who have been working in this field.
There are many attempts that are being put into practice, including what
Prof. Kaneko and his group are pursuing for non-tillage farming. But thoseefforts are not being introduced in an accurate manner. They are only treatedas occurring on an extremely fanatical performances. Instead of treating it thatway, it is necessary to awaken the awareness that this is the stirrings of amovement. The Schoolfarm is also an attempt in this vein. Putting into practice
how one pushes forward the concept of agroecology by letting in fresh air iswhat is being tested of us. So I do feel pressure that we must come up withcertain achievements. And I think this is good for us.
We talked about the generation before mine, the handing down oftechniques from my father’s generation. But I think it is better to have people
who have no experience. People who don’t have superfluous knowledge, and
who think with a blank slate, “I just want to not use any chemical agricultural
pesticides, grow safe produce, and improve the region’s environment. What
do I do for that?” They may be quicker in absorbing new knowledge.
Habu: That sounds interesting.
Nemoto: Brand-new people have that kind of sense. The questions they ask

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Satoshi Nemoto

are right on target. “Why do you till?” for example. (laughs)
Habu: Non-tillage fields start from that question.
Nemoto: Not just for non-tillage fields. Why do you till, and other questions
that startle us, because we can’t answer them.
We have a special word in our dialect for tilling the field: una-u. And wesay, “If we don’t till the field (una-ne-katta-ra), then too much grass willgrow.” Then they ask, “Why is it bad if grass grows?” If we answer, “If thegrass grows, the crop doesn’t grow well.” Then Prof. Kaneko would say, “No,even if there is grass growing, delicious vegetables will grow as well.” Thenthe farmer will say, “Really?” I want to make it a place like that. The farmers
will realize something new. I also want to do a taste comparison too.
Pulling urbanites into farm-style living
Nemoto: I think it is fine if, among the new next generation of farmers, there
are those who expand the scale of farms and are adept at strategic management.
However, as I said at the start, when the citizens of the country are sooverwhelmingly detached from agriculture, foods, and production sites, I see
it as a problem. I want to have 20 or 30 percent of the citizens become
connected to farming in some way. Many urban residents spend two or threehours on their commute and go home exhausted. My thought is we might beable to engage in activities together with people who want to telework whileliving a farming lifestyle.
I think the need for this is rather large. It might be incredibly huge. But
the weak point is that there isn’t a system that allows setting up a means tofulfill that need. In our Nouminren activities, the “Decade of Family Farming”(United Nations campaign to promote measures and share knowledge aboutfamily farming) is emphasized. But it comes with a nuance to protect the51

people of traditional family farms. But people in urban areas who want to start
farming anew also fall within the category of family farming. The term “family
farming” may not seem to be the right term for Japan, but it indicates thatwithin one’s lifestyle there can be a farm-like way of living. This means, as
Ms. Yoshie Sekine (of Aichi Gakuin University) says, a society where a farmlike lifestyle can be lived. We need to have farming be in the upper ranks ofoccupations desired by high school and middle school students. I don’t know
if we can realize this, as it depends on how attractive we can make it.
Habu: How many trainees are registered currently (as of February 2021) for
the session that starts in April?
Nemoto: Right now we have four or five. We are finally about to start recruitingin earnest on Facebook. I want to set things up by mid-March. With
participation by just one person we can’t be sure if that person can attend allof the days, so we plan to make teams of several participants. Each field willbe allotted to one team. We plan to have five to six teams of four persons. Thatis my thought now, but we can’t tell if it will work until we try it.
The problem is that we need to have someone who will manage the field
all the time. Managing the field only when they come for training won’t keep
the field going. We need to have the cooperation of the nearby farmers forabout six months. During the busy season, it would be difficult to ask full-time
farmers for help. Whether we can involve part-time farmers or retired people
in managing the Schoolfarm fields is important. It depends on how many of
those people we can gather for our project.
Habu: This project can be done only because there is a regional network.
Nemoto: Yes, that’s the case. The background of this project getting this far isdue to the Direct Payment System for Hilly and Mountainous Areas. (Note: In
hilly, mountainous areas where conditions for agricultural production are52

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Satoshi Nemoto

disadvantageous, an agreement has been made to maintain and operate
farmland on a village settlement unit; this provides a subsidy of a set amountassociated with acreage when agricultural production is engaged in [Fukushima
Prefecture 2021]. Also, in cases where the problem of abandoned cultivatedfields has been resolved, with internships and other projects that take the formof various initiatives, funds for these additional measures can be used at therate of ¥3,000 per hectare: in our case about ¥2 million. From existingmeasures, our area gets about ¥20 million of Direct Payment for Hilly andMountainous Areas and Multifunctional Payment (support for joint activitiesof the area to maintain and encourage multi-functional capacities of agriculture
and agricultural villages). Of that amount, about ¥10 million can be used forjoint enterprises. For the Schoolfarm, the basis for its establishment is ouracquisition of funding sources. Without any funding base, we would behesitant. In order to offer serious training and continue it into the future, afunding base is a major factor.
Habu: Is it rice that will be grown?
Nemoto: It is field crops. Currently, I am growing rice on my own. The otherfields are vegetables.
Habu: With those fields, including Prof. Kaneko’s non-tillage fields, are you
forming them into experimental fields?
Nemoto: Yes we are. They are divided into three sections. Prof. Kaneko’s nontillage field; the organic wheat field which is tilled and we put down mulch,
but no chemical pesticides are used; and a field where it is all right to use somepesticides if a plant disease is detected, but not as much as for conventionalfarming. That is what I have in mind.
Habu: Would it be like a low-dose pesticide?
Nemoto: Yes.

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Habu: What crops will you grow?
Nemoto: We plan at least ten types of vegetables. In spring, cabbage, broccoli,
red-leaf lettuce, brussels sprouts, potatoes. In summer, corn, tomatoes foreating, tomatoes for processing, eggplant, okra, Malabar spinach, edamame,soy beans, red pepper, turnip, etc.
Agriculture in Nihonmatsu as the backdrop
Habu: Could you talk about the history of agriculture in the Nihonmatsu area,
which is the background for the Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm?
When I visited you at your house in Nagata, Nihonmatsu, you spoke about thisarea having initially been a silkworm raising area, which tried grape growing
at the guidance of the government; but that didn’t go well, and you switchedto cucumbers and vegetables. Could you give some more details about that
history?
Nemoto: In my area of Nihonmatsu that includes Nagata on this side, on thewestern side of Mount Adatara, the type of farming since I was born has
progressed as you said. As with other old houses, we raised silkworms inside
our house.
Habu: Did you have silkworms when you were a child?
Nemoto: Yes we did. I slept with them. When they started to make theircocoons, I could hear the scratchy sound….
Habu: Just like in the historical drama “Reach beyond the Blue Sky” (“Seiten
o tsuke”) that is being broadcast now.
Nemoto: (laughs) I could hear them from deep in the main room. I grew up
watching them. But I didn’t like silkworms much. They fall down, or they canbe squished.
Habu: It might be scary for a child (laughs).

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Satoshi Nemoto

Nemoto: We also went to collect the mulberry leaves for the silkworms to feed
on. My mother and others would get up early in the morning to do this.
We had two or three cows. It wasn’t really like the song Donna Donna(Dana Dana),” but I remember it was sad when we had to send them off tomarket after caring for them. If a cow got a prize, my grandfather would treat
me to some ramen or something on the way home. Those are the memories I
have.
We had cows, and we must have had electricity. But we didn’t haverunning water. Water was from a well, and our food was what we grew. I think
we hardly ever bought any food. One of our neighbors was a plasterer, andsince they didn’t farm, I was envious when I saw them eating sausage andother processed foods.
I think we hardly bought any food until I entered primary school. Until
the 1964 Olympics, the self-sufficiency rate of Japan’s farming villages wasvery high. They had the ability to cover their own needs.
Habu: Excuse me, but how old are you? When were you born?
Nemoto: I was born in 1956.
Habu: I was born in 1959, so you are three years older than I am.
Nemoto: As I was born in 1956, what I remember about the years before theOlympics was that farm labor was tough, but we had a stable life. There weremany children in the neighborhood, and we played by running around in thefields and mountains.
Habu: My parents went on their honeymoon to Inawashiro. My father wasfrom Tanegashima, and my mother had left her home in Imabari, so we didn’t
have a hometown to return to during summer vacation. So when I was a child,we spent two weeks each summer in Inawashiro. The house where we stayed
farmed on the side, so we were served vegetables that they grew. When I was55

still in kindergarten, they still had some sheep for wool. When I visitedrecently, it was autumn, and they gave me some walnuts from their mountain.
Nemoto: That was the way it was for us. We had a lot of chestnuts and walnuts
and wild plants picked in the mountains. We also took care of them.
Cedar forests and cash crops
Nemoto: Just about the time I was born, forestation of cedars was recommended
all over the country. So when I was a young child, I remember going into themountains with our lunch boxes and planting trees.
Habu: Were they doing forestation at that time, too? I thought it was earlier,from the latter 1940s to early 1950s.
Nemoto: Our cedar forests were planted from about the time I was born, so in
the latter 1950s to early 1960s. We planted about 20 hectares. Lunch was justrice with bonito flakes, but I remember it tasting good. That is my memory ofeating on the mountainside with my parents. I don’t remember much else, butthat is a clear memory. In an area that was bare, cedar seedlings were planted,
and there was a good view. Nowadays, in many places they don’t even thin thetrees, letting the forest grow wild. My father spends money on carefully
managing his forest.
Habu: That’s wonderful.
Nemoto: I think it could be thinned a bit more. But it is well cared for with thegrass, and other areas are well kept. In front of the cedar forest there are two
shrines (Inari Shrine and Yamatsumi Shrine) (Photo 3.5). I’m not very
religious, but when I bow twice, clap my hands twice, and bow once, I hear it
echoing among the mountains. That makes me feel good. For that instant, I
think the gods must exist (laughs). There are places that make one feel that
way.

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Habu: When I was shown the shrines, I thought with this here, it wouldn’t bepossible to move away.
Nemoto: Did you think so (laughs)? That was the way we lived. I don’t knowthat much about Nihonmatsu as a whole, but at our house we tried manydifferent things. We grew shiitake mushrooms on logs. Various cash crops
became important in an effort to acquire cash income. Whereas we had been
living on rice and our own vegetables from the fields and mountains, times
changed and cash became necessary. We tried many kinds of cash crops.
Silkworms were a large source of cash income. That was a way to get
income other than rice. In time, with imports of silk thread, silkworm raising
was no longer viable, so other cash crops became essential.
In this region, Asian pear orchards became a source of cash. There is amonument to commemorate the person who introduced pears to the region. In
this district of Nagata, there are still quite a few pear growers. But pears haveblack point disease and peaches have short hold bacteria disease, so fruit in
Fukushima is facing a crisis. Diseases that can’t be stopped by pesticides arepermeating the region. This situation also brings up the issue of whether weshould be relying on pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
When I started high school, it was the time when we were trying various
things, and the Second Agricultural Structure Reform Program (from 1969)began. That was when mixed crop management was promoted. There was asurplus of rice being grown, so the recommendation was to not depend on ricealone but plant another crop to have mixed crop management. Rice paddies
would go through agricultural land infrastructure construction, but a subsidiary
enterprise of another type of produce was required. That was when grape
growing was introduced. We cut into the field and mountain and set up grapearbors.

57

That started in earnest when I was in high school, so it was around 1970.
It was completed when I was in university, in the 1970s. But this was a major
failure. There are no grape growers any more. All the mountainsides in the
Nagata district changed into grape arbors, but now there are no traces of them.
When growing grapes failed, we paid back our loan by growing summer andautumn cucumbers in open fields, which were effective as cash crops.
After that, the agricultural land infrastructure construction of rice paddies
went into effect. This meant that small plots that were farmed by hand wereturned into large fields where machines could operate. That led to extra labor
being available, so that subsidiary jobs increased. I think it was also the casethat jobs that could be done while farming increased, along with Japan’s
economic growth.
Those who remained specialized in farming have continued cucumber
production, which is the most profitable. Even now, the overwhelming amountof income of specialized farmers in this area is from cucumbers (Photo 3.6).
Column: Fukushima Prefecture’s abandoned cultivated land (by J. Habu)
When I (Habu) visited Nihonmatsu in 2016, Mr. Nemoto told me that
Fukushima Prefecture has the most abandoned cultivated farmland in all ofJapan. The greatest reason is former mulberry fields. In the past, farmers inFukushima Prefecture lived on silkworm production, but about thirty years
ago the mulberry fields were abandoned. In other areas, such as Gunma
Prefecture, there was subsidy to convert to other produce, so there were notmany abandoned fields. But in Fukushima Prefecture, there was no otherprofitable crop that could take the place of mulberry trees, leaving the fields
untended. In Gunma, the land where mulberry trees were uprooted was58

3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City
Satoshi Nemoto

converted to growing tomatoes and other vegetables, but in Fukushima theslope of the land was too steep.
In the area of the Abukuma Mountains, in particular, the rice paddies
were very small. This was an area that was especially invested in sericulture,and due to topographical limitations, the agricultural land infrastructure
construction did not occur. Even if it did, a tenth of a hectare was about all thatwas possible. The farmers have attempted to grow different crops, such as
vegetables, but it is an area where there are many abandoned rice fields.
Nihonmatsu City was created from joining the former Adachi Town and
Towa Town with Iwashiro Town. Because there were many abandoned rice
fields, there was no need to adjust the production of rice. In other areas andprefectures, the rate of rice production adjustment is high, but in Nihonmatsu
City, there is no need to carry out mandatory decrease of rice producing fields.
Past records and natural disasters
Habu: When I visited before, you told me that the size of your family’s rice
field was 3 hectares, and vegetable fields were 2.5 hectares, but that you areusing only about 0.5 hectares. About the cedar forest we discussed earlier, howmuch land do you have in the mountain?
Nemoto: We have a little over 20 hectares. The mountain and hillside forest(sanrin) wasn’t part of agricultural land reform. The farmland was set at 2 to 3
hectares, and the tenant land was all released, but the mountain and hillside
forest was exempted. So we still have that forest land.
Habu: Does that mean you had more farmland in the past?
Nemoto: Yes. I don’t know how much land we had. There were many tenant
farmers who lived nearby who were tenants on our land.

59

Habu: How far back does the Nemoto family’s history trace?
Nemoto: The temple has burned down twice, so the oldest records we have arefrom the Shotoku era (1711–1716), during the Middle Edo period.
Habu: Was your family a major landowner, or wealthy farmer?
Nemoto: No, I don’t think so. I think it was my great grandfather who
expanded our farmland. He married into the Nemoto family, and probably
around the time of the land-tax reform (1873), when farmers had to let go of
their land, he must have gathered up some land.
Habu: When I think of my mother’s side of the family, it was about the timeof my great grandfather as well. I am starting an agroecology project with aprofessor at Ehime University. So I have become interested in my mother’sfamily history, and am looking into it.
Nemoto: In this area, there was a renowned landowner, the family who lives
where the shrine is located, so my family wasn’t the major landowner. The
oldest small shrine (hokora) that we have is from 1749 (Photo 3.7). It waserected at the time of the severe damage from cold weather (crop failure of
Kan’en 2: 1749), when there was a peasant uprising. The entire Tohoku(northeastern Honshu) region suffered from cold winds from the mountains,resulting in crop failures and uprisings.
The Abukuma Mountain range and Hamadori area are directly impacted
from the cold mountain winds. But here, even in the cold disaster of 1993, ourcrop certainly wasn’t large, but it wasn’t as if we didn’t have any yield. With
the recent earthquake (2011), too, we weren’t that affected. It seems this area
isn’t that impacted by natural disasters. Although we were affected by the
nuclear power plant disaster.
Habu: Do you mean that within Nihonmatsu, the Nagata district isn’t asaffected?

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Satoshi Nemoto

Nemoto: I think historically there were few major natural disasters that
affected this area of Nakadori. There is a stone stele in Nihonmatsu City (thefifth lord of Nihonmatsu domain, Niwa Takahiro, the seventh generation headof the Niwa family, had this stone carved; completed in 1749) to admonish thewarrior class that their stipends come from the sweat of the farmers, so theyshould not disregard the farmers and common people. This must have been
related to subduing the uprising. The ring leaders were not supposed to bepunished, but they were. This area didn’t suffer greatly in the famine of Kan’en
2 (1749), so I assume people from here didn’t go to join the uprising. Even so,
the small shrine on our mountainside was erected in 1749.
Habu: We can’t hear those details of the region’s history unless we talk likethis. Next, I would like to learn about the Nagata district’s geographicalenvironment.
Nemoto: We are in the Ou Mountain area. Adatara Mountain is just ahead of
us. The river is a tributary of Abukuma River. Near our place is the Haneishi
River. All of the rivers that originate in the Ou Mountains flow into Abukuma
River.
This is off topic, but the historical remains of this region dating back to
the Kamakura period (1185–1333) are the living quarters of Adachi Tokuro
Morinaga. He governed this region in the Kamakura period and made Nagata
his base. There is a slight rise which is said to be the remains of his castle, orwhere he lived. The area around it was moated, which resulted in it being amarshland. That is why all the place names within this area have the word“uchi” for being inside: Douchi, Shitouchi, Tsumiuchi. In the Ainu language,“uchi” means river, so in this area it must mean boat landing. The rice fields inthat area are now very good fields. That’s because it was a marshland. Theysay that the rice from fields above the moat doesn’t taste as good.

61

Habu: What domain did Nagata belong to in the Edo period?
Nemoto: It was the Nihonmatsu domain in the Edo period. That is why it wasunder the Niwa lords. With the forced relocation ordered by the shogunate,
they came farther and farther north. Before he came to the Nihonmatsudomain, he ruled the Shirakawa domain. The Shirakawa Komine castle wasbuilt by Niwa. They say that he spent all his fortune there, so by the time hecame to Nihonmatsu, he didn’t have much money.
The possibilities for agroecology
Habu: Our project team has been examining historic and ethnographic recordsof swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture (yakihata) and conducting related
field surveys.
Nemoto: If possible, I would like to teach the next generation about the fieldburning technique, but these days it would cause many problems to burn fields
and mountains.
Habu: There are a few small-scale burnt field areas for the cultivation ofbracken (warabi). Apparently the first plant that comes up after a burn isbracken. They say there is a bracken rice cake (warabi-mochi) boom recently,
and people who want to eat real bracken powder are increasing. A professor at
Gifu University is mapping the areas where the field burning technique isbeing used (Tsuda Research Office, 2015), and it shows there are quite a few
fields related to bracken.
Nemoto: To evaluate the effects of field burning and no tillage, it is importantto have Prof. Kaneko and others gather data and accumulate scientificknowledge. Unless we have a lot of accumulated data, it won’t lead to realagroecology. In order to think about new developments in how to set up
agriculture in Japan, we need a lot of knowledge from many researchers. For

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Satoshi Nemoto

that, financing is needed. We are able to ask for Prof. Kaneko’s involvement
because we can pay for it. We can’t do this if we rely only on volunteers.
Management of livestock and hillside forests
Habu: We’re becoming pressed for time. I would like to ask two questions
related to what I asked in our previous meeting. The first is about the
management of mountain and hillside forests. You told us that your ideal was
to manage mountain forests by use of raising cows on the mountain, but that
couldn’t be done because of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident(Goto, Goto, and Habu 2018). Are you still thinking that management ofmountain forests by livestock is one possibility?
Nemoto: It remains a possibility, but the problem is who will take charge of it.
We couldn’t follow through because the person who was attempting to do it
told us “I’m not going to do it anymore.” It is not possible to manage abandoned
cultivated land just by humans, so it is difficult to continue to manage withoutborrowing the strength of cows and other animals.
For example, I think it was in Iwate, that they were doing mountainous
dairy farming on steep slopes like cliffs. There are people who are trying hardin such difficult areas. The “my pace dairy farming” in Hokkaido is basicallya pioneering method. It aims to get away from current modernized dairy
farming where cows are overworked, by letting cows graze in nature andproduce milk and meat that we want to have.
Livestock raising these days is densely housed, whether it be broiler
chickens or eggs. It is abnormal to have tens of thousands, hundreds ofthousands, crowded together. The bribery case on the part of egg producers
was because they thought that was bad, wasn’t it? We need to set standards
like they have in Europe and protect animals, which Japan isn’t doing at all.

63

Dairy farming can’t be done with mega-farms. That is why Prof. Nobuhiro
Suzuki of University of Tokyo and others are saying we may come to the point
when we are really not able to drink milk in Japan. In order to make thesituation better we need to think about how we are engaging in livestockraising. This isn’t just an issue for Fukushima Prefecture, it is an issue for allof Japan.
I said that we used to raise cows in our family. They were raised almost
completely on our own family’s grass. We raised them without buying any
enriched feed.
Habu: About how many head of cattle did you have?
Nemoto: We had two cows. They were for breeding, so we took the calvesborn from them to market.
Habu: The calves that were sold were then raised for beef?
Nemoto: The people who bought the calves then fattened them and shipped
them out for beef. Breeding takes a lot of work. Fattening the cows involves
feeding them and raising them until shipping them out. But breeding requires
watching the cow’s ovulation cycle and do the insemination, so managing thatis a lot of work. That is why there shouldn’t be any breeding farmers that havehundreds of heads of cattle. Fundamentally, a small farmer carefully tends tothe calf and raises it to a certain point before shipping it out. That is why ittakes a lot of work. Under current circumstances, I expect that there will be
fewer breeding farmers in the future.
It is the same for dairy farming. Nowadays they are all F1, and calves areborn not from Holsteins but from black-haired cows, so cows for milking aredecreasing in number, resulting in very high prices that remain high. Thatmeans dairy farmers themselves can’t afford to buy cows. I think it affects
their financial situation.

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Satoshi Nemoto

Habu: That means that it becomes a factor for instability as self-sufficiency
rates decline further.
Nemoto: With the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) and other free
trade systems, as tariffs on agricultural products are lowered, livestock farming
is now facing hardships. It is labor intensive. As at Mr. Kenzo Sasaki’s farm,
the labor that dairy farmers have to do is much more than what we rice farmers
do. It must be hard to take care of cows 365 days a year. That is why I think
the decrease in dairy farms is accelerating. No matter how many big megafarms are formed, if small farmers keep quitting, they can’t catch up.
If we cannot secure large enough cultivatable fields in our small country,
we must figure out a way to put livestock farming, including small-scale
livestock farming, into practice as we think about Japan’s agricultural selfsufficiency. Not that I have any solutions.
A decade after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident
Habu: In today’s interview, unlike the previous one, I haven’t heard about the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. In this final section, I would
like to ask your thoughts on the impact of the nuclear power plant accident on
engaging in organic farming in Fukushima, and what you have come to thinkhaving experienced the accident.
Nemoto: About the nuclear power plant accident, we say we want to go backto the way it was, to regain our subsistence occupations, but there is no waythat we can return to the way things were. Our land is still contaminated, even
if it is at a low dose of radioactivity. In that case, we ourselves have to searchout a new way of subsistence occupation. I think it is not good enough to go
into organic farming as a substitute only because Fukushima is contaminated.
We have to realize that we have been given an opportunity to think about more65

fundamental problems. That includes the way we have farmed up until now.
A while ago, you asked me a question that had the meaning of “Mr.
Nemoto, is that how you have changed?” I think, for myself, that my change
has that in the background. Unless we think about things under a new paradigm,
instead of returning to the old way, having been affected by the disaster will
have been in vain (laughs). I have continued to say “I won’t keep being a
victim,” but that means that we ourselves have to think about what we do next.
From a different angle, the areas like Hamadori that were affected by thedisaster are turning to innovation and cutting edge technology like robots. But,
as you mentioned today, our thoughts are that without taking into account theregion’s history, just suddenly bringing in something new won’t be effective.
It has to be rooted in the district’s climate, landscape (fudo), people, andculture. So I myself think I need to look once more at our region’s history andother factors to develop new ways of thinking for the next step. I do think thatthe nuclear power plant accident has given me that kind of opportunity.
Habu: I believe you must be the first person among farmers in Fukushima
who clearly said, immediately after the nuclear power plant accident, thatradioactive substance contamination wasn’t a rumor but was actual damage.
Could I ask about the Schoolfarm produce as to what kind of policy you haveabout how to sell the produce and how much testing for contamination you
plan to do?
Nemoto: As to the nuclear power plant accident, it is hard to get a real senseof the damage, as many sources have said regarding radioactivity. You can’t
see it, and there is no smell either. So the only way to is to measure it and giveit a numerical value. And if it is low dosage radiation, it may be hard toquantify. I think this is the reason that among the people who live in Fukushima
there is a major gap in the way they view the damage. The danger of agricultural66

3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City
Satoshi Nemoto

produce is also hard to get a real sense of, so the only way we can express it isby words such as “it is safe because we have measured it.” The only way tosolve this is by continuing to work as a farmer while dealing with specificproblems. Of course we do the measurements, but if we think an area isdangerous, so we should stop farming there, then that will be the end of it. So
we continue to do what we can there, and also keep measuring.
Another topic we discussed today is that in forms other than radioactivity,
is it beneficial to continue farming by spraying what is poisonous to humans,
and not only humans but to animals, including insects.
Don’t we have to change the short circuit way of thinking that even if weknow it is bad, we do it anyway for the convenience of human beings? The
result is a realization that not only radiation but all sorts of chemical substances
strongly affect the life of living beings.
As I mentioned in our previous discussion, the reason I dislike pinningeverything on rumors, is that it ends up pardoning those people who caused
the nuclear power plant accident. The accident occurred, radiation spewed out,it blew around, and everything was contaminated. To say that is rumor, only
sounds like you haven’t done anything bad, and we haven’t done anythingbad. That is why my way of thinking is that it’s not rumors.
Unfortunately, with this nuclear power plant issue, the safety myth has
prevailed, with the safety myth becoming resurrected once again. As to thesafety issue of agricultural produce, popular phrases include “it is consideredscientifically safe,” and “there is no immediate effect on human bodies, so it is
all right.” Hum...
Habu: It has been ten years since the nuclear power plant accident. At thisjuncture, I think it is important to tell people clearly what should be said, andcreate opportunities for everyone to think about the issues. What are your67

thoughts?
Nemoto: Well, I have been asked to write some articles, and I’m wondering
what to do. But what I wrote at the time is the most real. Many people aremaking great efforts to do things, but what is most effective is what was
expressed at the time. It is most meaningful to urge people to retrieve what
they thought at the time.
The words I would use now don’t seem to fit, even for me, and they seem
empty. What I thought and said at the time of the accident is very real as I was
living through such a stressful time. So the words and writings that bear
witness to the time of the accident have the sharpest impact. They are evenmore effective because they aren’t carefully organized. It seems to me thatwhen words are well-organized their impact weakens. So when I am asked towrite something, it is more real to attach what I wrote at the time, and givethem the original piece.
People forget, so at this ten-year point it is important go through the taskof carefully keeping what happened then in our memories. At the ten-year
point, or because a decade marks a stage, we need to think about what wethought and what we did at that time. As I always say, at that time, I thoughtthat Japan and the world would change.
Habu: I thought so too. I thought things would change, but what changed wasabout 20 percent of the people, and 80 percent didn’t change or move toward
action.
Nemoto: I agree. When we wonder why that is so, I think all we can do is toreflect on that situation, and tell others what it was like, and what we did at thetime.
Habu: You have spoken about very important issues as we end our discussion.
Thank you very much.

683. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City
Satoshi Nemoto

References:
Altieri, M. A., C. L. Nicholls, G. C. Westwood, and L. C. Lim, 2017 (translated into Japanese by A. Shibagaki). Agroecology: Key Concepts, Principles and Practices. Small-Scale Economies Project, Research Institutefor Humanity and Nature, Kyoto (in Japanese).
http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/fooddiversity/agroecology/agroecology.pdf
Goto, Y., N. Goto, and J. Habu, 2018. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and theresilience of local societies: new attempts to promote small-scale economies in Fukushima Prefecture. In Weaving the Knowledge of Mountains,
Rivers and the Ocean: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Ecoliteracy in Tohoku, Northern Japan, edited by J. Habu, T. Sasaki, and M.
Fukunaga, pp. 163-188. Tokai University Press, Hiratsuka, Japan (inJapanese).
Tsuda Laboratory 2015. Distribution of Field Burning Practice in Japan.
March 16, 2015 Version.
https://www.green.gifu-u.ac.jp/~tsuda/hiiremap.html (accessed on October 20, 2021).
Fukushima Prefecture 2021. An overview of direct subsidy systems forsemi-mountainous regions. Fukushima Prefectural homepage.
https://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/sec/36045b/chusankan-aramasi.html(accessed on October 20, 2021).

Figure 3.1 Two logos of Adatara Schoolfarm

69

Photo 3.1 Satoshi Nemoto with his parents

Photo 3.2 Vegetable fields of the Nemoto Family

Photo 3.3 Adatara Schoolfarm with its sign70

3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City
Satoshi Nemoto

Photo 3.4 Farming Scene at Adatara Schoolfarm

Photo 3.5 Torii gate in front of Yamazumi Shrine and Inari Shrinein the Ceder Forest managed by the Nemoto family

Photo 3.7 Hokora (shrine marker) dating
to 1749
Photo 3.6 Pickled cucumbers grownby the Nemoto family71

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New
Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura(Date Recorded: May 14, 2021)
Interviewer: Junko Habu
Mr. Hiroshi Miura (Photo 4.1) is the Representative Board Director of
Hamadori Co-op Agricultural Products Supply Center (Noji Kumiai Hamadori
Nosanbutsu Kyokyu Center), Representative Board Director of Non-profit
Organization Nomado, Hamadori Nouminren Executive Director, and Misaki
Mirai Business Promotion Director. From about 20 years ago he has served as
representative board director of Hamadori Co-op Agricultural Products Supply
Center (https://hamanou.jp/), until the earthquake disaster, farming anddirectly selling farm products grown on 4.7 hectare rice fields and 0.6 hectare
farm fields in his Miura Family Farm, in Idagawa, Odaka Ward, MinamiSoma City, Fukushima Prefecture.
After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, the Hamadori
Co-op Agricultural Products Center, for which Mr. Miura serves as
Representative Board Director, has worked with Hamadori Nouminren and:(1) established NPO Nomado (https://nomado.info) to actively develop solar
power farms and other projects; (2) reported on activities through thenewsletter Nomado no Shinbun (Photo 4.3); (3) adopted early on thecontamination testing of all bags of rice grown (see Photo 4.2), and opened a
direct sales market for agricultural products and Café Nomado.
Mr. Miura’s farmland in Idagawa, Odaka Ward, was located about 1272

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miurakilometers from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. After the nuclear
power plant accident, it was no longer possible to farm in Odaka due toradioactive substance contamination. His farmland of over 5 hectares wasdamaged in the tsunami and buried under water for 16 months (Photo 4.4).
Having evacuated to Shinchi Town, Soma-gun (Soma District), the Miurafamily leased farmland there and resumed farming as a limited liability
company, Misaki Mirai (http://misakimirai.com/), led by his son who had
returned to Fukushima.
With the removal of the evacuation order in Odaka Ward on July 12,
2016, the Miura family aimed to turn its farmland into a model for revival, byusing their land for solar sharing to generate power and cultivate blueberries
on the same plot, and growing organic cotton in their cotton field. This year
(2021), agricultural land infrastructure construction has begun in Idagawa,Odaka Ward.
The editors visited the agricultural products direct sales market at
Hamadori Co-op Agricultural Products Supply Center twice, on October 19,
2014 and July 13, 2016 (Photos 4.5, 4.6), and talked to Mr. Miura at Café
Nomado. When we requested use of what we learned in 2016 for this booklet,
he responded that the situation had changed greatly between 2016 and thepresent. That being the case, we conducted another interview in May 2021 toreport its content in this booklet. As it was during the spread of Covid-19, theinterview was conducted online by Habu via Zoom.
In order to understand better the content of the interview, we havesummarized the Miura family history from what we learned in 2016 in a sidecolumn. The edited text, including the column, was reviewed by Mr. Miura.
Photos 4.1-4.3 and 4.5-4.6 were taken by Junko Habu on July 13, 2016, while
Photos 4.4 and 4.7-4.10 were provided by Hiroshi Miura. (Junko Habu, Yasuo

73

Goto, and Nobuyo Goto)
From starting to farm until the earthquake disaster
Habu: Could you first speak about your involvement with agriculture up until
now.
Miura: I decided to get involved in agriculture when I was in high school. I
thought farming was the best way for people to live happily, which led to thatdecision. I studied at the agricultural department in university and, when I
returned, I began to farm right away.
At university I majored in livestock production. At my family farm
(Idagawa, Odaka Ward, Minami-Soma City), in order to solve the issue of myfather going away to find work during the agricultural off-season (dekasegi),
we had begun to raise pigs, so I started off raising pigs.
When I married at age 26, I thought I should start farming on my own,rather than succeeding my parents. With the name Miura Family Farm, I began
as owner of the business where I would sell the farm produce I grew andraised.
Initially, I raised pigs, and from age 29 I began to grow rice. At about age
33, when I had acquired the technique of growing rice and was able to growtasty rice, I began to offer direct sales of rice. As I have a negative physicalreaction to pesticides, I had been growing pesticide-free vegetables, and fromage 32 or so I began to sell them directly at the cooperative.
Along with the direct sales of rice we had started to mill rice, so I quit
raising pigs, and my main crops became rice and vegetables. Until then, we
could only sell rice to JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperative), but from that year
we were allowed to sell our rice directly.
Habu: What year was that?

74

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

Miura: In about 1992, there was a revision of the Food Control Law, whichallowed this system. Since then, I have never sent my rice to JA, but havedeveloped my own supply partners to sell to them.
About two years after that, the Nouminren began direct sales of rice, so I
provided my sales routes to them. That is when we founded the Hamadori
Agricultural Products Supply Center, and began direct sales to the purchasers
I had cultivated.
At that time there were about 100 members of the Agricultural Products
Supply Center. As Miura Family Farm, other than direct sales as a member of
Nouminren, we developed sales routes centered on the greater Tokyo area tosell our farm products (mainly rice), separately from the Agricultural Products
Supply Center. From about age 40, I became the Hamadori Agricultural
Products Supply Center director, and operated the center as a half-timepermanent post, while growing and selling produce from Miura Family Farm.

Column: “My father, and my great grandfather on my mother’s side”(by J. Habu)
Mr. Miura’s father came to Fukushima to evacuate from the urban area
during World War II. He went to the farmland to obtain foodstuffs. When Mr.
Miura was in about fourth or fifth grade in elementary school, the entire family
decided to start farming, and they moved to Odaka. Their land was reclaimed
land, with swampy rice fields, where one could sink up to one’s hips. He says
“we harvested the rice stalks from a paddy field boat.” The farmland’s
condition was bad, so at first each stalk had to be placed by hand. Next theyused cows. When he was in elementary school, they had their first tiller, which75he operated. In this way they gradually worked the land.
His great grandfather on his mother’s side was actively involved intenancy disputes, as he gradually tilled farmland in poor condition and worked
to improve the upstream land area. When there was heavy rainfall, the fields
flooded, and when it continued to be sunny, salt would spew out, and pretty
crystals would glitter in the sun.
His father was born in Meguro in Tokyo, and raised in Sangenjaya. There
he had a tobacco shop. In Odaka, because he had no background in agriculture,
he used to go away to find work in the agricultural off-season (dekaseki) at atransport company. But, wanting to be at home, he started to raise pigs, became
the chair of the irrigation cooperative, and worked on river-improvement
construction.
The house of his great grandfather on his mother’s side was across theriver from the Miura house in Odaka. It was washed away in the tsunami. His
great grandfather, who had been engaged in tenancy struggles, was born in
Towa (now part of Nihonmatsu City). In the 1910s he moved to reclaimed landthat was being developed. His wife was from Ishikawa Town. His grandparents
on his father’s side had a sake shop on the border of Kawamata and Iino. Thismeans Mr. Miura’s ancestors were all from Nakadori area.
Mr. Miura’s great grandfather on his mother’s side first went to the Joban
coal mine, then he began farming on reclaimed land, and was involved intenancy struggles. Mr. Miura says he heard about the tenancy struggles manytimes from his great grandfather. Despite steadily improving the farmland, theMiura family suffered greatly from the nuclear power plant accident.
Many of the settlers in the reclaimed area were from elsewhere. They
settled in the four reclaimed areas of Niinuma reclaimed land in Soma, Yasawa
reclaimed land in Kashima, Idagawa reclaimed land, and one more (Yamashida76

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miurain Soma). Fields in the reclaimed land were near the sea where soil conditions
were bad. The settlers joined together for water control and exchanged
information as they tilled the land.
From the 1960s there was a plan to build the Namie Odaka nuclear power
plant, about two kilometers away from the Miura house in Odaka. The Miurafamily engaged in protest actions. In Mr. Miura’s 20s, the youth group put ona play in Namie called “Illusion of Critical Point.” He says the play was about
a nuclear power plant exploding and the area turning hazy.
Farming efforts in Shinchi and Odaka after the earthquake disaster
Miura: After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011,
the Miura Family Farm could not grow any rice or vegetables due to radioactive
contamination. While planning for our recovery from the earthquake andnuclear disasters with farmers who were members of the Agricultural Affairs
Association (Noji Kumiai), we formed the NPO Nomado in 2012 to resurrect
the region and its farming under a larger initiative.
After that, my son returned to Fukushima, and in order to set up a farmfor him to manage we borrowed farmland in Shinchi, Soma-gun, where we
had evacuated to. We took advantage of the funds from the national
reconstruction project, resumed farming by forming the agricultural
corporation-limited liability company Misaki Mirai, and then expanded
renewable energy efforts.
This year, the farm infrastructure project will start with construction of
farmland in our area of Idagawa, Odaka Ward, Minami-Soma City. If all goes
well, we are expecting to plant rice there next April, for the first time in 11
years.

77

Habu: Will you be doing that yourself? Or will your son be the main person
to farm?
Miura: I plan to farm 12 hectares. My son and my daughter and her husband
are now employees of Misaki Mirai, so those members plan to farm 50
hectares.
Habu: That’s something to look forward to.
Miura: I’m really excited about it.
Habu: You mentioned that you expanded your rice sales network in the Tokyo
area. Is that network the Nouminren network?
Miura: My network is made up of people related to those I knew from myschool days. Several of them wanted to eat our rice, and then the network
spread by word of mouth. I used to send rice by delivery to 30 or 40 people.
Habu: So it was a wide network of acquaintances.
Miura: Yes, they were friends of friends. But if I sold too much to them, thenI wouldn’t have enough to sell at the Agricultural Products Supply Center. So
it was a limited sales method. There wasn’t much meaning for me to expandthat sales method. But I had wanted to sell a certain amount of rice through myown marketing, so I set up that sales method.
Habu: In terms of land, that means you will farm 12 hectares in Odaka Ward,and your son and daughter will farm 50 hectares at their place. The total isabout 62 hectares.
Miura: It’s about 60 hectares.
Habu: Is that all rice?
Miura: No, with the basic infrastructure being put in, it depends on theconstruction what kind of farmland it will be. Before the earthquake disaster,
we could only grow rice there. It was reclaimed land, and the groundwaterlevel was high, and water would spring up, so we couldn’t grow anything78

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

other than rice. But with the infrastructure construction, they deal with that,and all the drainage is done through a pipeline. Wastewater is also handled bypipes, so we plan to grow rice as well as soy beans, wheat, and vegetables. The
Fukushima Prefecture side that is covering the construction says we should be
able to grow many different crops. So I am hoping that will be the case. I do
want to grow a variety of crops.
The infrastructure construction is equipped with an underground watersupply and discharge facility. Fukushima Prefecture, which is doing theconstruction, says there are places where that can be done and those that can’t,so they can’t provide it everywhere. Even if it can only be done partially, water
discharge will still be possible. The greatest bottleneck for farming is water
management. For the farmland in Odaka, the irrigation water is by pipeline, sowater management can be done easily for irrigation water and waste water. For
rice growing season, I plan to set up a sensor to automatically adjust the waterlevel. Then it will be really easy to farm, even commuting from Shinchi Town.
Habu: That kind of technology has progressed, it seems.
Miura: Yes it has. I am also having advisory discussions with Prof. Nobuhiro
Kaneko of Fukushima University. I’m getting suggestions on growing
pesticide-free wheat, and using it for mulching to make pesticide-freesoybeans.
For rice farming, in the last ten years, we have a piece of equipment that
attaches to the back of the machine planter that can till the soil to get rid of
weeds. Using that, I think it will be possible to grow rice without chemical
pesticides. I feel that I am up to the challenge to do those kinds of experiments.
It is completely different from ten years ago.
Habu: Is it mainly rice that you are growing at your Shinchi farm?
Miura: We are growing rice and some vegetables in Shinchi. But the soil

79

conditions are not quite suitable, so it’s rather hard.
Habu: The Misaki Mirai website talks about eggs. What kind of scale is youregg production?
Miura: It is small scale. It’s like a hobby with just 50 chickens. We have 50
chicks, and 50 adults. Before the earthquake disaster, in Odaka we had 400
chickens, and sold the products. But now it’s at about a hobby level.
Habu: With 50 adult chickens, about how many eggs can you sell?
Miura: The egg-laying rate is about 70%, so per day, 50 x 0.7=35; about 35
eggs. We deliver some to individual customers, but most are sold at roadway
farmers’ markets along highways (michi no eki) and at direct sales locations.
Habu: Do you sell your rice mainly to the Tokyo area?
Miura: Nowadays, we sell mostly to care homes and to individual customers
in the Tokyo area. Locally, we take our rice to roadway farmers’ markets
along the highway and to direct sales locations. So it is selling well. There aresome people that buy rice on a regular basis. But we only have about 3
hectares, so we can’t guarantee the amount of rice. Unless we increase ourfields, we won’t be able to do interesting forms of rice sales.
Habu: Three hectares, is that about the size?
Miura: Yes, that’s about it. When we moved to Shinchi Town, the farmland
we were introduced to was what wasn’t being used, so the water conditions
were bad. Most of the land was like that, so it wasn’t efficient. Thinking we
could farm about 10 hectares, we put in facilities and machinery, but
unfortunately, I think it is difficult to expand in that area.
As I mentioned when we met before, there are quite a lot of rice fields
that have been gathered up by the members of our Agricultural Affairs
Corporation (Noji Kumiai Hojin), in other words by members of Nouminren.
Each village consults and decides on who should use the farmland. Naturally,80

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miurathe rice fields are secured by those people who have been living there and who
have the desire to expand their farms. That means it is hard for an organization
like Misaki Mirai to expand our rice fields.
Habu: Is that another reason for you to think that this is the time when you canreturn to Odaka?
Miura: Yes, it is a chance for us to do that.
Habu: Listening to your comments, I get the impression that the local network,
the connection you have with people you worked together with from before
the earthquake disaster, is important.
Miura: Yes it is. In Odaka, the situation is that there are hardly any people
engaged in farming any more. In our village, too, almost everyone has
relocated, or the area has been designated to ban building houses, because of
the tsunami. The overwhelming number of people plan on not returning to the
district, so I feel that the only way to solve the problem is for us to farm there.
We are in a hurry to make owner-renter relationship agreements by forming acooperative structure with landowners who have returned and farmers whowill farm by September of this year.
Habu: How many people intend to return to Odaka to farm?
Miura: Almost all farms are now operated as companies, so I think there
might be six or seven.
Habu: How many were there before the earthquake disaster?
Miura: I might be scolded for exaggerating, but there were countless farms.
We are now intending to farm 110 hectares under two corporations and myself
as an individual. The original land rights holders of the 110 hectare area were
186 people. Our structure of three management bodies will farm what had
been owned by 186 people. So, I don’t know how many farms there were
before the earthquake disaster. In the old days, the average land owned was 181hectare or so.
Habu: When you say 1 hectare, is that the area that was given to tenant farmers
by landlords after the end of the Second World War?
Miura: Yes. With land of about 1 hectare, one person could cultivate it and do
the work on it, with some cooperation called yui in the farm’s busy season.
When the land that they were farming in that way was emancipated for themto own, it turned out to be an average of 1 hectare.
Habu: When I was in Namie, I saw a tablet memorializing the return of the
farmers who had gone to “Manchuria” (historical region of Northeastern
China that suffered from Japanese invasion in the 20th century). In Odaka are
there examples of people who returned from such programs?
Miura: Yes there are. In the village of Otomi on the mountainside of Odaka
Ward, there were people who had returned from “Manchuria” who made aliving by reclaiming land in the mountain forests to farm fields and raise cows.
Not just Otomi, but along that mountain was a place like that. In Namie it is in
Tsushima. In that area as well, there were many people who had been
repatriated from colonizing “Manchuria” or Hokkaido. Actually, Sakhalin,rather than Hokkaido. There were quite a few who had been repatriated fromthat area.
Habu: My father also came back from “Manchuria” when he was a child. My
grandfather worked at the government Printing Bureau, and one year after the
war’s end, the family returned home under great hardship. I heard thateveryone was skin and bones.
Miura: One of my uncles was repatriated from “Manchuria”.
Solar power generation and solar sharing
Habu: When I visited before, you told me about solar power generation.

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Hiroshi Miura

Could you tell me about other new projects you are putting your energies into,
the corporate structure, and related circumstances?
Miura: As for new projects, recently I’m putting my energies into farming, sothey are centered on reviving farmland. A little earlier, I began to work on
solar sharing (the sharing of solar rays for both agricultural production andelectricity generation). We are generating electricity by solar power above,and below at my place we are cultivating blueberries.
We have also started direct delivery of electricity. We are selling theelectricity we generate at Nomado, my own place, and Misaki Mirai tobusinesses such as Beams, Karada Factory, and Rush. At present, our solar
sharing takes the form of selling electricity to a real estate company in Osaka.
In this way, our electricity, which we generate in collaboration with farming,is being used in forming networks of relationships where we can see eachother face to face.
Habu: At present, what is the ratio of farming and electricity that you are
involved in?
Miura: Personally, I am not doing much farming at all. So I would say about
80% is electricity.
Habu: Is that 80% as the Agricultural Affairs Corporation?
Miura: No, no, it is myself and the joint company Misaki Mirai. The
Agricultural Affairs Corporation was formed to receive the subsidy programfrom the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in order revive
farming and return the loan that was incurred from the loss of rice due todamage from the tsunami. Its profits are about ¥23–24 million. Sales at theHamadori Agricultural Produce Supply Center of the Agricultural Affairs
Corporation are currently about ¥150 million.
Habu: Is Nomado a different operation from those?

83

Miura: Yes, Nomado is under different management. It is an NPO offering
opportunities for social exchange for those affected by the disaster withsubsidy projects, activities encouraging people who have evacuated, andconsulting type activities for the recovery of farming. As for the rest, we are
increasing solar power generation, so we engage in activities using that
income.
Habu: Nomado is also engaged in solar power generation?
Miura: Yes. Whatever I’m involved in ends up being solar power generation.
The profits are close to ¥20 million annually.
Habu: I remember hearing from you that for solar power generation, if it is asmall scale of less than 50 kilowatts, it doesn’t conflict with regulations, so
profits are high.
Miura: That’s power generation under 50 kilowatts. All of ours are on thatscale.
Habu: I can’t picture how much 50 kilowatts is. How much is it?
Miura: Well, 50 kilowatts is …. You came to the Nomado office, didn’t you?
Habu: Yes, I visited there.
Miura: There were three buildings there, weren’t there?
Habu: Yes.
Miura: What was on top of those buildings is about 50 kilowatts.
Habu: I see. So you set up small-scale ones like that at various places?
Miura: Yes, that’s what we do. I think we are now at about 4 megawatts total.
That is the sum total of the electricity we generate from our cooperative
members, Nomado, and Agricultural Produce Supply Center.
Habu: How many solar units are there?
Miura: There are 33 at the Agricultural Products Supply Center. There areabout 10 alongside the mountain, called Kanaya-mura Mamori Solar. In

84

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Hiroshi Miura

addition, our place as an individual, and Misaki Mirai. There are also
cooperative members who have started their own.
Habu: Within Fukushima Prefecture, I think your place was early to start solar
power generation. Is that so?
Miura: We did start at the beginning, after the nuclear power plant accident.
The meaning of continuing to live here
Habu: When I speak with people overseas, they express the opinion that you
could move away from the contaminated area, and wonder why you don’t
move away. Have you received such questions?
Miura: Yes I have.
Habu: When you do, how do you answer them?
Miura: I’ve moved away to Shinchi now. If one goes further (northward),
there is the Onagawa nuclear power plant. Going southward, there is the Tokai
nuclear power plant. Even if one goes to Tokyo, there is the Hamaoka nuclear
power plant nearby.
At the time of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, theworst case assumption was that a radius of 300 kilometers would be destroyed.
And outside of that would be the high dosage contamination zone. That means,
under the worst case assumption, the only areas where we could live in Japan
would be Kyushu and the tip of Hokkaido. That is what academics assumed
when I was in my twenties. At the time of the nuclear power plant accident,
Mr. Yoshida, the director of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, said
in a video conference with TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), thatthey were cooling the plant down at the time in order not to have the damage
extend to a radius of 260 kilometers.
This means that no matter where we escape to evacuate, the risk would85

follow us. Conversely, the nuclear power plants that haven’t exploded are stillin dangerous conditions if earthquakes cause fissures. It seems to me that
wherever we escape to in Japan, we could face a nuclear power plant accident.
My thought is that, in that case, it is better to be involved with the nuclear
power plant that had the accident and turn that into a safe situation. If there
were a place to escape to, that would be good, but there isn’t anywhere we cango. After all, it is a certainty that in Japan there will be earthquakes andtsunamis.
Habu: Yes.
Miura: If nuclear power plants no longer existed, there might be a place toescape to, but if that isn’t the case…. An acquaintance who evacuated from
Odaka to Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku, has sued to oppose the re-starting of
the Ikata nuclear power plant. He is now very concerned because he didn’t
imagine that plant would re-start. When it is restarted, it faces the same
dangers. At least the Fukushima nuclear power plant won’t be restarted.
Recently, I spoke with the president of TEPCO, who made the promise to
decommission the Daini nuclear power plant. Decommissioning is a major
move, but first of all we must have it put into a safe condition in preparation
for decommissioning.
If Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes or reaches criticality
once more, the same condition would be faced no matter where one escapes to.
That being the case, it suits me better to engage with it and control it byourselves.
Habu: Is that what you selected to do upon thinking what you want to doabout the region and what you want to do about agriculture from a long-term
perspective?
Miura: Yes it is.

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Hiroshi Miura

Habu: In making that selection, is it important to have the regional network of
those who had been farming in the area for a long time and their knowledge
about the region’s vegetation?
Miura: Yes, I think so. I was in Odaka before, and now I live in Shinchi, andhave an office in Soma, and I work with the farmers in the area to resurrect
farming there. As I negotiate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries (MAFF) and with TEPCO, I can see what our cooperative members
deal with and think about what can be done to improve their conditions. Bybringing their first-hand information to the government and TEPCO, we canmove things forward.
I am now living where I have evacuated to. Generally, there is no waythat one could do these things at the evacuation site. I think it is only becauseof this network that I am able to be so thoroughly involved in reviving thisregion to which I have evacuated.
Protecting the region by consolidating farmland on a large scale
Miura: Although people are now individually consolidating farmland forlarge-scale farming, there is no guarantee that this will continue for a longtime. There are some who are young, but most are older than I am. This meansthat farmland is enlarged by people who are in their late 60s, and when they
become too old to work, there will be a different development.
Unless we do the work of enlarging farms to a certain extent, secure acertain level of earnings, and while those people are still active, include young
people in the farm management to raise new farm owners, if the current
situation continues, abandoned farmland will once again increase. In that
respect I think the next ten years will be a crucial time.
Habu: Is the government policy to create large-scale farms in each region?

87

Miura: The average age of the farming population is close to seventy now. I
mean, the average age of farming households that grow rice, in fact all farming
families, is about seventy years old. There are many farmers now, but thepolicy of the government is to decrease their numbers. This brings about thecurrent form of consolidating farmlands. The price of rice has plummetedfrom last year to this year to next year, but as the government wants thesepeople to give up farming, it will not support purchases of rice.
However, this policy also greatly impacts those who became large-scale
operators. How to support them has become one of our topics.
Habu: For our project that we are doing from Kyoto, I often work withresearchers in agroecology. They say that diversity is what is most important
to maintain agricultural ecology.
Miura: Yes, I agree.
Habu: Of course diversity in produce is important, but so is diversity invarieties of rice, which is ultimately connected to ecological diversity. Not
having diversity means that there is no backup plan, so if one crop fails, thenit all collapses. From that perspective, I would think that there are many
problems in focusing only on rice. What are your thoughts on that? Particularlyin the case of Japan where farming is done on land hemmed in by mountains,
we see many examples of the importance of crops other than rice. In the U.S.,
there is an advertisement for California rice that says, “We are children of theland of rice”. But we can’t necessarily say that Japan is a land of rice.
Miura: You could say that western Japan isn’t a land of rice, but the Tohoku
region is definitely a land of rice.
Habu: So you think for the Tohoku region, rice is the major crop. I often go to
Iwate Prefecture (in northern Tohoku), but I think it is a bit different in Iwate.
Miura: I went to university in Iwate, and Iwate is cold. There are places such88

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miuraas the Ou Mountain area where rice can’t be grown. Growing grains instead ofrice was a measure against damage from cold in that area. When the yamasechilly wind blows from the mountains, rice can’t be harvested, so they growgrains and other crops. But fundamentally rice was the currency in Japan, so it
is a land of rice, and water is plentiful. Rice fields are a facility for storingwater, and there is no continuous cropping hazard, so rice is the main crop.
In order to implement large-scale agriculture, it becomes necessary tomechanize. According to the present policy, farmers are forced to secure theirincome by mechanizing and growing rice, wheat, and soy beans in a large area
to increase their sales.
What the Japanese government means by highly profitable crops arethose that can be grown in vinyl greenhouses in a concentrated manner. Theyurge us to do this. They suggest that if we are going to farm, why not growprofitable vegetables in greenhouses. But that is unrelated to farming bymanaging large areas.
If all farmers turned to profitable, concentrated-style farming, Japan
would become full of untended land. With abundant rainfall, the trees andgrasses will grow with tremendous energy. That means areas to grow grains
will be lost. With this in mind, I think we must in the long run utilize wet ricepaddies, and grow other vegetables, fruit, and flowers to create an integrated
region. For that, as I said about water, we must protect our mountain andhillside forests. We must come up with agricultural management that includes
a comprehensive conservation of the country’s lands, without sacrificing
farmers. I think the aim is to create a system that allows farmers to farm
securely.

89Importance of rice farming
Habu: You mentioned that there is a surplus of rice. I eat a bowl of rice atlunch and at dinner, so I probably eat more rice than most other people. It istrue that young people don’t eat as much rice as before.
Miura: Yes, that’s true.
Habu: What can be done about that looking into the future?
Miura: It would be great if they would eat more (laughs). As I said earlier,
wheat and soy beans are hard to grow in wet fields. That is why it is necessary
to have more serious efforts to fund product development for rice. Without
that, we can’t respond to various demands. Rice does taste good, doesn’t it?
Habu: Yes, it is delicious.
Miura: Around the world, wheat, beans, and potatoes are staples. As a grain
and starch, rice tastes good so it is able to be eaten on its own. But wheat andother crops have to be mixed with other ingredients and baked to be tasty
enough to eat.
Habu: I agree with you completely.
Miura: That is why there has been a lot of product development for wheat.
For rice, too, it is not only delicious on its own, but we need to change thedirection of research toward processing it and thinking of other uses.
Japan’s self-sufficiency rate for grains is only about 30%. The other 70%
is imported. With surplus of rice as a staple, the suggestion is to grow a lot ofrice for animal feed.
Actually, I proposed that rice should be grown for animal feed when I
was in my thirties. That was because at our farm in Odaka we could only growrice.
When the Nouminren negotiated with MAFF, we were told to grow soybeans under the cultivated rice acreage-reduction policy. But as we couldn’t

90

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miuragrow anything other than rice in Odaka, we said if we can reduce acreage withrice, we would gladly cooperate. At that time, the MAFF officials had noconcept of reducing acreage with rice. They only thought that rice acreage
reduction could be done by growing crops other than rice. But as long as therice wasn’t for staple food, it would fulfill the goal. Rice has many other waysof being used.
In those days I was raising pigs and also chickens. So we could use therice for feed for pigs and chickens. Rice could be used in place of corn. I spoke
up saying “If we had such a system in place, we could do various things.” But
that was about the time that the WTO (World Trade Organization) had been
put in place. Under the WTO, policies that would stimulate agricultural
production would not be allowed, so I was told that when the activities of the
WTO calmed down, they would slide the proposal in. The policy itself wasformulated about a year after I had proposed the idea, and just before thegovernment changed to the Democratic Party of Japan administration, when
the WTO was at a lull, it was adopted.
That system is functioning now. In the Minami-Soma City area, about
70% is rice grown for feed. What we had talked about from that time turned
out to be a good plan. I have been saying all along that we need a subsidy
system so that farmers can continue production in a set manner. That is why
we have been negotiating quite often, though perhaps not as often as monthly.
In this way we have been engaged in allowing farmers to produce grains onlarge fields, managing the farmland to maintain it as much as possible, andformulating a system so that farmers can receive income.
One other item that I discuss when I talk to MAFF officials is my proposal
that, if solar panels or wind turbines are set up on farmland, there should be asystem to supply the money that is earned from the electricity generated by91

solar panels or wind turbines to those who are farming in the region.
At the Odaka farmland which is having agricultural infrastructure
constructed, I had a 50 hectare mega-solar system put in place (Photo 4.7).
From its profits, I made it so ¥70 million would go toward laying in basic
infrastructure for farmland for those who own land without them having to
pay for it. In addition, I set it up so that those who farm there will be able touse subsidies for twenty years. That is because the FIT (feed-in tariff system)
is twenty years.
I hope that that sort of thing can be done throughout the country, including
for those in forestry. Farmland isn’t on the mountain, and it is flat, so it doesn’tlead to destruction of nature of forest land. If people are interested, they can
use the method of solar sharing underneath to farm. I have repeatedly proposed
the implementation of a system that would back up those who protect farmingthat secures acreage or those who protect the mountain and hillside forests thatare the source of water supply by creating a renewable energy system for
agriculture.
Habu: You said farming could be done beneath solar panels, but it seems tome that raising crops beneath mega-solar panel systems would entail detailedtasks. Wouldn’t that be the case?
Miura: Rice is being grown. If you have the image of a regular field to growrice or vegetables, it may seem to require detailed work. But these panels are
3 meters high, so even a tractor can be driven underneath.
Habu: Is that so?
Miura: Of course. It is true that there are pillars which get in the way. But if
you think about the money that can be earned, avoiding the pillars to do farmwork isn’t such a penalty (Photo 4.8). For example, at our farm we are doing
solar sharing on 0.2 hectares. On top, 47.2 kilowatts of solar power is92

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

generated, while underneath we grow blueberries in planter pots. Our aim is tohave earnings of ¥2 million above, and ¥4 million below. If you can earn
¥6 million on 0.2 hectares, it should be worth it even if the work is cumbersome.
Habu: The additional ¥2 million is certainly large.
Miura: Isn’t it? Even if half of that goes to repaying the loan, that amount ofmoney is a decent standard for one person to secure as earnings. Besides that,on the large-scale rice field, we plan to implement smart agriculture, using arobot tractor, rice planting machine, and combine outfitted with GPS. We will
also use drones. In this way, in addition to the large acreage, we can add on
small acreage areas as well.
As to machinery, in Fukushima Prefecture we have a system under therevival initiative called Acceleration Subsidy in which the city buys machines
and equipment and leases them to farmers for free. We are using that system.
It did take a lot of convincing, though.
For the 50 hectares at Misaki Mirai, we are thinking of a format of halffarming, half-X in addition to large-scale operation. Someone might beinterested in farming, but has their own different work, be it in IT or textiles.
But they still want to try farming. Nowadays there are many on-line meetings,
and work can be done through the internet. So it is possible for the person tolive in Minami-Soma City, and, as they work through the internet, farm inorder to stay in shape. In such a case, they can use the machinery lent toMisaki Mirai.
We are now growing organic cotton in Odaka, and people come on
exchanges from many places (Photo 4.9). I want to make it a model district
where various dreams can be fulfilled in total. And right nearby will be the
Urajiri Jomon Park.
Our farmland in Odaka was initially an inlet called Idagawa-ura, so it was

93part of the sea. From this year, the city is building a Jomon Park for the next
four years, right nearby. The view from this park will be the inlet’s landscapefrom the Jomon period. Right in the middle of this is the mega-solar structure,and beyond that stand wind turbines. Behind is the hydrogen gas plant that the
government built. It will be like an exhibit of renewable energy systems. If we
can show various experimental farming techniques there, it will be interesting,
and we will create a brand-new form of agriculture.
Habu: Is it the Minami-Soma City board of education that will build theJomon Park?
Miura: Yes it is. When I went to them to ask that they use care in cutting theovergrown trees on the side facing the inlet, they said “we understand”(laughs). They asked us to offer our produce for agricultural produce sales andexchanges, and other projects they plan on presenting at the Jomon Park.
It is important to create those new networks. As we are just 12 kilometersfrom the nuclear power plant, it takes new people who are willing to live there,
rather than those who lived there in the past. I feel that with the newcomers, it
may be possible to do some interesting projects.
Farmland, mountains and forests
Habu: You mentioned that for water it is important to protect the mountains
and forests. When thinking about the region’s agriculture, I think the mountains
and forests that are behind the farmland cannot be cut off from farmland,
whether it be vegetable fields or rice fields. When considering the managementof the region’s landscape, especially the mountains covered with forests, I
would think that decontamination is difficult. Does that become an issue?
Miura: It is not that decontamination is difficult, it’s that it can’t be done.
Cesium remains 3 to 10 centimeters in the topsoil. To decontaminate that part94

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miurameans cutting down the trees. Then we have the danger of landslides. It is sucha huge area that decontamination in total, instead of just a portion, would
result in disastrous natural destruction. As it is impossible to do, decontamination
will not be done.
However, as to the water that flows from the mountainside, we think wemust continue always to measure its levels of contaminants. The water thatcomes to our rice fields is from the Ogaki Dam, just before Tsushima in Namie
Town. The mud at the bottom of the lake contains a lot of radioactive
substances. Under normal conditions, the water that flows out is from the top
layer, so we can control how to use it as long as we measure the level ofradioactive substances.
When we have typhoons or large amounts of rainfall, water must be
released from the bottom opening of the dam. The mud on the bottom flows
out along with the water, and at those times, we must make an effort not to usethat water. If radioactive substances flow out, we must secure a management
method that stipulates use of water only after the upper layer is stabilized.
Habu: About managing mountain and hilly forests, in our fieldwork in Iwate,
we often hear that forests must be thinned for them to remain healthy. From
what you say, you are shifting to concentrated large-scale operation with asmall number of people for fields. Is the same situation occurring for forest
management?
Miura: Recently there was a television broadcast about the danger oflandslides in the mountain forest of Futaba-gun. As thinning and managementof the forest was not done, the trees have grown large, spreading their branches,and sunlight was not able to reach the ground. When sunlight does not reachthe ground, the plants that should grow on the ground are unable to grow, theirroots cannot spread, and the soil becomes loose. The dirt that has sheared off95

has a high possibility of flowing down in a heavy rainfall, resulting in an
extremely grave situation. If Futaba-gun is that way, our location must be in asimilar situation.
A few years after the nuclear plant explosion, in 2013 or 2014, Nouminren
and the Forestry Agency held discussions. At that time the Forestry Agency
said that as it would take 200 years for radioactivity to return to the previous
level, the work of the agency was to leave a forest that would be in goodcondition 200 years from now. The method would be to limit the labor hoursof the Forestry Agency workers who would be thinning trees, and to keep theradioactivity level low by spreading chips on the forest floor. However,recruiting workers who will go to high radioactivity level areas where they are
exposed to radioactivity is not a simple process. That means what the Forestry
Agency said was unfeasible.
Habu: When they said it would take 200 years, is that 200 years until theradioactivity level is reduced?
Miura: Not it’s not that. It isn’t to reduce it. When eight times the half-life
period passes, the radioactivity level will revert to about the same level as
before the blast.
Habu: Until they revert it to the previous level?
Miura: Until it reverts, not that they revert it.
Habu: So just leaving it there?
Miura: Yes, that is it. The natural condition needs to be maintained. The halflife of iodine is eight days, so after two months it will revert to the previous
level. But the half-life in terms of physics for Cesium 137 and Strontium isabout 30 years, so 30×8=240, a bit over 200 years. Although the radioactivity
level decreases, management of the inside of the forest will not be easy duringthat 200 years. And, if we don’t farm on our land, there is no motivation for96

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miuramanaging the forest.
Habu: Yes.
Miura: Unless the mountain is managed, no doubt our land will be damaged.
If it isn’t being farmed when the damage is incurred, there is nothing to be
done. If it is being farmed, I think there is the motivation to manage the forest
in some way.
Taking that into account, the government needs to continue to pay
attention to forest management. This is why we consider our efforts on theseissues to be important. As we justify our demands that the government will dosomething if we don’t get any water because the soil in the mountains has
become too loose, we want to take it toward the direction of the government
managing the forests.
Currently, in Tsushima, along Route 114, a section has started to be
decontaminated, under the framework of reconstruction. In Futaba, too,decontamination has begun in the difficult to return district. It is necessary toincrease locations to be decontaminated under the government’s responsibility,
however gradually, without giving up. For that reason, unless we are careful in
our farming, which is connected by water to the mountain forests, it cannot bea motivator for decontamination. That is my thinking.
Habu: That is a very persuasive argument.
Toward organic farming that can be done with ease
Habu: Our time is limited, but may I continue asking some questions?
Miura: Please, go ahead.
Habu: At Miura Family Farm you grew a variety of crops without using
pesticides, isn’t that so?
Miura: Other than rice that was the case. Rice was planted in such a large

97acreage that we did use herbicides. I flung out the herbicide in the bag, andwhile it spread out over the water in the fields, I would run away (laughs).
I am so affected by chemical pesticides and herbicides, that I can’t go to
the rice fields when they are being used. We used call ducks where we can toweed, and weeded by hand to the extent we could. I pushed the weeder to do
this. Other than herbicide for the rice fields, the vegetables are grown without
pesticides. For the chickens, after a while, we fed them mostly feed rice, and
non-GMO soybeans and fish meal from nearby seas which we mix ourselves,and collected soil from the mountain to culture microorganisms to make feed
for them. There was a time when we started raising goats. This type of
combination livestock and crops operation is the kind of farming that I had
envisioned.
The focus now is on SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). Japan has
finally announced a policy to increase organic farming to one quarter of thetotal cultivated acreage by 2050. I think it would be interesting to experiment
for about ten more years to test organic farming that doesn’t use pesticides ona fixed large-scale operation. We need to test something that we could do onthat much land including mechanization.
I was recently looking into machinery to use and found that a manufacturer
is making the kind of addition that we welded onto our rice planting machineten years ago. For example, K Company (agricultural machinery manufacturer)
is doing smart agriculture in China. It made me realize that what we hadsought ten years ago with people who were aiming to do organic farming has
really become possible by including the machinery manufacturers. That makesme think that organic produce can be grown through organic farming withoutthat much hardship. With that as the vision, reconfiguring machines andfarmland can be done and it is perfectly possible to expand those methods.

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4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

By making careful progress in agriculture for the next ten years, if thatcan become the model, I think we can propose to machinery manufacturersthat we would like this kind of machine to be developed. This is the way I
would like to engage in large-scale organic operations and organic farmingthat can be done with ease.
History and regional characteristics of Hamadori
Habu: I see. Is the idea for the possibility of large-scale agriculture because it
can be done in Hamadori?
Miura: Yes, because the land is very flat.
Habu: Could I ask some more about the local history of this region?
Miura: Do you mean including Shinchi? When I took a trip recently to themuseum in Aizu, I saw the kind of wooden boat that was displayed in our
middle school. That rice field boat was used in the early part of rice harvestingseason to cut rice stalks and catch fish in the inlet. In short, this area was ashallow sea. The map at the museum shows that the area from Shinchi Town
to Namie was all a shallow sea, which was reclaimed in the 1920s to make ricepaddies.
The area here, at the Nomado office below the mountain, is called
Niinuma Kantaku (Niinuma reclaimed land). This area is flat, with a history of
increased production of food items grown by settlers brought into the reclaimed
land.
At Shinchi and Soma City, the impact of the nuclear power plant accident
was relatively low, but their method of engaging in intensive agriculture has
differed. Shinchi is within commuting distance of Sendai, so the number ofpeople farming as their sole occupation has decreased, and intensive farming
started early on. There are members of our cooperative in their 30s who farm99

at the scale of 80 hectares, and two who farm 60 hectares. That is the current
situation. Ultimately I expect it to be consolidated into about ten farmers.
In Soma City, the speed of intensifying is slow, with the larger acreage ofour cooperative members being about 20 hectares. With a simple calculationof ¥100,000 for 0.1 hectares, 20 hectares would amount to earnings of ¥20
million, 60 hectares would yield earnings of ¥60 million. But, taking into
account expenses, there isn’t that much profit from ¥20 million. With profit of¥60 million, more can be done, and labor costs can be paid.
Under these conditions, to operate a farm on a corporate basis, it isdifficult without having 50 to 60 hectares. As flat land is available, I think
Soma will gradually take that format (Photo 4.10).
As to Minami-Soma City, for three years after the nuclear power plant
accident, it was impossible to farm. Now, even in the farthest seaside area of
Kashima, they are reconstructing all of the rice fields. With no farming done
for three years, the older people have retired. With that situation, as time isallowed for reconstructing rice fields, with the assumption that people in their
20s and 30s will come in to become farm operators, it is going ahead withdeciding who will farm where.
Habu: Were the three years counted from 2011?
Miura: Three years from 2011. This was related to the liability compensationfrom TEPCO. In the 20 kilometer zone, particularly in Odaka Ward, households
received ¥100,000 per month as evacuation compensation. In addition,compensation was received for the house, land, and lost profits from farming.
For Haramachi Ward, there was an order to evacuate for six months outside
the 20 kilometer zone, so for an added year, each person received ¥1.8 million.
But outside that area, beyond the 30 kilometer zone, there was only a one-timeamount of ¥80,000 and ¥40,000, for a total of ¥120,000.

100

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi MiuraAs the compensation amounts per person were so different depending on
the district, the local government assemblies were all up in arms. We put in our
demand for a uniform compensation for agriculture, to give all farmers¥59,000 per 0.1 hectares as compensation for not growing rice, to the mayor
to obtain agreement from the national government and TEPCO.
Habu: That amount seems low to me.
Miura: But, if there is ¥100,000 in earnings (for 0.1 hectares), and the profit
rate is 30%, the profit is ¥30,000. So it is more than that. In effect, there are
fixed expenses such as depreciation costs, so the amount would guarantee that.
But the variable costs, expenses that depend on the volume of rice shipped out,
would not be covered. With that calculation, the amount came to ¥59,000. For
farmers, this amount is greater than the amount of money normally left over.
Habu: Is that so.
Miura: If you have 2 hectares, it is 20 times that amount, so it is over
¥1 million.
The young people had evacuated due to the nuclear power plant accident.
Agricultural work was difficult to continue with just old people, but (after
three years), we were determined to start again.
For old people who had not farmed in three years, farm work had become
no longer part of their daily lives. Until then, they were farming with the senseof doing it each year expecting to do it again the next year. But, for three years,
not farming had become the norm. Besides, the acreage that was farmed on the
fourth year was 7%.
That year’s regional agriculture recovery discussion meeting, which met
to decide on agricultural policies for Minami-Soma City, was attended by
MAFF’s section chief for grains. When he saw the 7% figure, he asked at themeeting, can’t something be done about this, but there were no proposals

101made. After the meeting, he walked over to my place and asked, “Mr. Miura,
what can be done to resume working the farmland?” I told him to please give
us funding, for just one year, to give us motivation.
At the next meeting, the grains section chief suggested that for places
starting new farming, they would give ¥35,000 per 0.1 hectares for just thefirst year. There would be no funds for the second year. That amount of ¥35,000
would come in after rice is grown and sold. With that, the large-scale farmers
who had some machinery began to farm rice on new fields. When they started
on this, that area would become rice fields. Seeing rice growing in the fields,
the farmers who used to grow rice in that area would feel stirrings of wanting
to grow rice again. Those who had large-scale farms could obtain money ifthey farmed on new fields, so they would do more. In that way, the farmed
acreage returned to 50% in the second year, and 65% in the third year.
Habu: Unless one uses one’s mind in a different way, unless you have an
overall perspective, that kind of suggestion can’t be made.
Miura: I think so. We were disheartened, so we didn’t have the will to do
anything. I myself felt that way, so we needed a strong motivating factor. We
needed to have a carrot hanging in front of us. It’s a rather quiet place, so I
thought it would be hard to get people excited, and we had the nuclear power
plant accident as an excuse not to farm. In order to break out of that state, I
thought we needed money to be able to see something concrete. It came to me
that it might go well if we did it this way, and I proposed it, and I’m glad it
worked out as I had hoped.
In that way, in Minami-Soma City, the return to farmlands in the entire
district has come close to the end. My farmland is probably about the last to
have infrastructure put in place. The infrastructure construction has progressedfrom areas that are farthest from the nuclear power plant. My place is at the102

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miuraborder of Namie, so it is the last to be done in Minami-Soma City. After myplace is done, it will be Futaba and other places. Things have progressed quite
a bit in Namie as well.
What impact does the perspective on gender have
Habu: From my experience of talking to farmers in other parts of Tohoku(northeastern Japan), it seemed that engaging in large-scale, dynamic farming
was done mostly by men. Are there women in Minami-Soma and Hamadori
who are active in reviving farming and looking toward the future?
Miura: I would say it is mostly men here as well. There is a woman who is
growing red peppers in town. That is because wild boars won’t eat red peppers.
She gives seedlings to various places, and gathers them up to make it a productand sells them at the roadway farmers’ market store. Her approach is to havepeople who have been supportive buy the peppers. She is a year older than I
am, so in my generation.
As for young women, at K Farm next to where I am planning to farm (inMinami-Soma), each year they hire one student who has graduated fromagricultural high school. There are three now, and one is a young woman. In
Kashima Ward, a large-scale operation was started by a married couple, where
the leadership is now filled by a woman. So I don’t think it is a matter ofdifference between gender. As I said earlier, under Minami-Soma’s conditions,for example, it is clear that farming 30 hectares will yield ¥30 million inearnings. And that is desired in the region. Machinery is given as a present toearn ¥30 million. When people realize that they can make a profit with that, it
is definitely possible for anyone to own a farm. Up until now, that wasn’t
possible.
There are young women who are farming around the country, but they are103

very few. When you try to do something new, you often get put down bypeople around you, like I was when I was young. I think doing something new
didn’t succeed in the past because it didn’t fit with the surrounding society orwith men’s conventional common awareness.
If a farm managed by a corporation is put in place, men can be hired forphysical labor work that they are more suited to do. They can be employed andtasked to do that sort of work.
What surprised me the most when I bought a tractor was the touch panel.
The driver uses the steering wheel, but turning on the engine and controllingthe machine are done by using a touch panel. We are going to borrow a robot
tractor for free next March, and that will be operated all by touch panel andbuttons. Antennas will be raised and we will use GPS, so the image of farming
will be vastly different from that of the past, and the management attitude will
also change.
With all these changes, I think women can do well in farm management.
This was not possible in the world of farming villages of the past. But in alarge-scale corporate farm, it will be absolutely possible to have women who
can do it and those who want to can become owners. I think we are on the cuspof a generational change.
Habu: That is interesting. Does it seem that in Hamadori it will be easier toaccept changes than Nakadori?
Miura: Hamadori, or more accurately Minami-Soma, is no longer anagricultural society. Odaka is especially so, as it doesn’t have anyone there. It
no longer is a place where farming is done in a village with many houses
which are the center of life. People come from other areas to farm. They arelike me, as I now come 50 kilometers to prepare to farm. When I was comingfrom Haramachi it was 20 kilometers.

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4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

As I previously said, the most difficult tasks in farming are managing
water and cutting weeds. As for water management, sensors are interlinked at
the input and output points, with a system to input water when the water levelis low. If it rains a lot, the water in the fields will automatically be released.
For cutting weeds, I am having the rice fields enlarged. I am requestingthat they make one field average 2 hectares under the basic infrastructure
project. The land isn’t exactly square, so they say the average will be 1.6
hectares. We will be working large fields, so I have asked to build weed-cutting
roads around the plots. Rather than making raised footpaths between the fields,
they will all be roads.
With that, we will have a system that can complete the weed-cutting witha tractor. There may be strength required to change out machine parts, but thatcan be done by workers, brothers, or husbands. The rest of the operation canbe done by anyone, as it doesn’t need strength.
Drones will also be used. They are controlled from far away, so it will nolonger be like past times when we labored hard. As long as the person has amanagement sensibility, it doesn’t matter whether the farmer is a man or
woman.
This is because, unlike other places, Minami-Soma is no longer a farming
village.
Habu: With that kind of agriculture being considered, will it be easier for
young people to get into farming?
Miura: Well, unless young people enter into farming work we won’t be able
to continue. My friend who is on the board of education started with fivepeople year before last. He is now 60 years old, their average age was 65 when
they started, so now it is 67. We must make farming really attractive, haveyoung people participate in the management, train them for 5 to 6 years, and105

have them become owners. In Minami-Soma this is a pressing need, and weare all working on this with this in mind. I really think these times are ripe for
rapid change.
In Nakadori, the form is village-operated farming located in farming
villages, with a much deeper connection between those who engage in farming
and the village than in our area. In village-operated farming, tasks like weed
cutting and digging and clearing waterways are done by everyone coming out.
In Shinchi we constructed the infrastructure and enlarged our operations.
No one wants to dig up or cut weeds, and we are at the limit of the farmer
being able to cut weeds. Until now, we said you can come out or not, but fromthis year there will be a notice to pay up. Those who own the farmland will pay
money to those who do the work. Those who are farming will hire workers
with that money for weeding and clearing waterways. That is the way it willbe.
No doubt in Minami-Soma it will become the same. Under our agreementwith Fukushima Prefecture, we had been jointly weeding the river’s levees
and along the prefectural roads. In our current negotiations with the prefecture,
we are saying we will no longer do the weeding, as we start construction. We
are starting the effort to decrease the area to be weeded by paving the top andputting vinyl sheeting around.
What had been done by the residents will now be done by the prefecturewith a budget attached. For that to happen, unless we first speak up, theprefecture won’t start to do it. Just like improvement in the mountain foreststhat we talked about, we need to motivate the government to put funds in thebudget to make them do it, and then improve it. We need to have them improve
the farming villages, and the agricultural resources, and set up a new system
so that farmers can do a decent job.

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4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

In Hamadori, at least in Minami-Soma and Shinchi, we are progressingin that vein. In Nakadori, it will probably be a different format which willcontinue for a while with receiving money and everyone cutting weeds.
A message to people in Tokyo and to young people
Habu: As we close, I would like to ask you what you most want to tell people,
especially those in Tokyo, as a message about the future. I think there aremany people who are concerned about Fukushima, and want to give somekind of support, but don’t know what to do.
Miura: We offer tours of the zone within 20 kilometers. Many of them don’tknow what they can do. In particular, this year there were many more people
for whom it was the first time. As I guide people who don’t know what they
can do, I introduced them to Idagawa in Odaka Ward where I am involved,
talked to them about what we want to do, explained to them about ournegotiations with TEPCO and the national government, and our intention tochange this into a livable area. I have been doing that for a while.
My place is a model, where in our exchange meetings four people from
Mujirushi Ryohin (Muji) have come, some people working on organic cotton
have come, and four or five people who are in architectural work have come.
People in companies we are affiliated with invite them to come. When theycome and see this area for the first time, they are surprised.
When the farmland in Odaka is ready, we will be able to offer various
proposals. If we do solar sharing, we can offer blueberry picking. In Kanaya,
an area in the mountain, we have built a facility where we can have exchanges.
In these ways we are steadily preparing to receive people. As to why we aredoing this, it is because we want people to come here.
Habu: Is that aimed at young people?

107

Miura: Yes, if possible, for young people. I would like those people to think
about what the nuclear power plant accident has brought about. Its bad aspects,
and shall we say its good aspects, that it has become a model for a new format
of farming, and a model for renewable energy as well. Having mega-solar
equipment filling the area between Soma and Odaka becomes a good textbook
to think about Japan’s future, including such projects. If some challengers
work together with us nearby, it would be beneficial in thinking about Japan’s
future and engaging in many activities.
Having people come to our locality and working together with us will
become a great encouragement for us. I await their participation.
Reference
Goto, Y., N. Goto, and J. Habu, 2018. The Fukushima nuclear disaster and theresilience of local societies: new attempts to promote small-scale economies in Fukushima Prefecture. In Weaving the Knowledge of Mountains,
Rivers and the Ocean: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Ecoliteracy in Tohoku, Northern Japan, edited by J. Habu, T. Sasaki, and M.
Fukunaga, pp. 163-188. Tokai University Press, Hiratsuka, Japan (in Japanese).

108

4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

Photo 4.1 Hiroshi Miura at Café
NomadoPhoto 4.2 Poster about the radiation contamination
testing at the rice section of the Nomado
Farmers’ Market

Photo 4.3 Nomado Newsletter of November 2015109

Photo 4.4 Tsunami damage on the rice paddy field of Miura
Family Farm at Idagawa, Odaka, Minami-Soma City

Photo 4.5 Inside of Nomado Farmers’ Market

1104. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture
Hiroshi Miura

Photo 4.6 Nomado Farmers’ Market operated by the Hamadori
Co-op Agricultural Products Supply Center

Photo 4.7 
Solar power panels at Idagawa, Odaka
Ward, Minami-Soma City

Photo 4.8 Solar sharing and blueberry cultivation at
Idagawa, Odaka Ward, Minami-Soma City

111

Photo 4.9 Cotton harvesting at Idagawa, Odaka Ward,
Minami-Soma City

Photo 4.10 Rice harvesting at Misaki Mirai Farm, Shinchi
Town, Soma City

112

List of Contributors
Goto, Nobuyo: Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan
Goto, Yasuo: Fukushima University, Fukushima, Japan
Habu, Junko: Research Institute of Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan andthe University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley CA USA
Koda, Jun: Sasaki Farm Café, Fukushima, Japan
Miura, Hiroshi: Miura Family Farm, Odaka, Fukushima, Japan, andHamadori Co-op Agricultural Product Center, Soma, Fukushima, Japan
Nemoto, Satoshi: Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers Movement
Association (Fukushima-ken Nouminren), Fukushima, Japan
Sasaki, Kenzo (1947-2022): Sasaki Farm, Fukushima, Japan
Sasaki, Takehiro: Fukushima Prefecture Family Farmers Movement
Association (Fukushima-ken Nouminren), Fukushima, Japan113

Resilient Local Communities, Vol. 8. Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the Resilience of Local Communities: Voices from Nakadori and
Hamadori, Fukushima.
Date: March 23, 2024
Editors: Junko Habu, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN)
with Yasuyo Goto and Nobuyo Goto
Published by: RIHN Unit of the NIHU (National Institutes for the Humanities)
Multidisciplinary Collaborative Project (Research Institute for Humanity andNature, 457-4, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047 Japan)
Printed by: Hokuto Print Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan
This booklet is the English version of Resilient na Chiiki Shakai, Vol. 5: No no
Keikan to Agroecology kara mita Chiiki no Resilience: Fukushima-ken
Nakadori to Hamadori ni okeru Arata na Kokoromi (2021). The translation of
the full text for Chapters 2 to 4 was carried out by Beth Cary. Chapter 1
presents a condensed version of the original text prepared by Junko Habu.

レジリエントな地域社会 Vol.8
Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the
Resilience of Local Communities:
Voices from Nakadori and Hamadori, Fukushima.
発行日／ 2024 年 3 月 23 日
編者／羽生淳子・後藤康夫・後藤宣代

発行／〒 603-8047 京都市北区上賀茂本山 457－4 総合地球環境学研究所

印

刷／株式会社北斗プリント社

人間文化研究機構広領域連携型基幹研究プロジェクト地球研ユニット

ISBN: 978-4-910834-37-5

ISBN: 978-4-910834-37-5

Resilient Local Communities
Vol.8 March 2024
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Agricultural Landscapes, Agroecology, and the
Resilience of Local Communities: Voices from Nakadori and
Hamadori, Fukushima    2Junko Habu, Yasuo Goto and Nobuyo Goto
2. R
 ound Table Discussion: Sustainability of a Small-Scale Milk Plant,
Wasabi Production, and the Forest as an Energy Source: Farmingand Landscape of Abukuma River System, Fukushima City, as
Seen from Sasaki Farm and Sasaki Farm Café   11Kenzo Sasaki, Jun Koda and Takehiro Sasaki
3. The Meaning of Living in Our Local Community: Launching of
Adatara Food and Agriculture Schoolfarm, Nihonmatsu City   38

Satoshi Nemoto
4. Protect the Region, Do Not Abandon the Land: New Initiatives in
Hamadori, Fukushima Prefecture   72

Hiroshi Miura
List of Contributors 113