page_title: Women in agriculture in Japan
section_title: Modern farming
hierarchical_section_title: Women in agriculture in Japan / Modern farming
caption_attribution_description: English: Woman farming in Wajima, 2006.
context_page_description: Women have always been active in agriculture in Japan. Women farmers have, throughout Japan's history, outnumbered male farmers. Traditionally, women farmers in Japan did farm work and cared for other members of the family. Some held part-time jobs and then came home to do farm work. Most farmland in Japan is used by small family farms, though other types of agricultural collectives are appearing in the country. The Japanese government has been active in encouraging women to go into agriculture in the early 21st century.
context_section_description: Government data from 2011 showed women heading more than three-quarters of new agribusiness ventures. Many young people in Japan have become attracted to farming and the Japanese government is supporting programs to support new farmers. The government in 2014 began to encourage collaboration between companies and female farmers. Products developed included new trucks, outdoor toilets for women, and stain removers. The government has also encouraged women farmers to network with one another. However, as of 2010, there were few women with executive positions in agricultural cooperatives and women made up only 16% of all members.
  Urban farms such as Shiho Fujita's farm outside of Tokyo are part of a collective formed by young women who live in the city and work part-time on the farm. The Yamagata Girls Farm in Yamagata Prefecture encourages women to work in agriculture but insists that women "must wear make-up, they must wear functional but cute farm wear, and they must behave like well-bred young women". Urban women who are interested in farming are known as "farm gals", or nōgyaru.
caption: Woman farming in Wajima, 2006.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "FE110,X705", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "200", "Image YResolution": "200", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2006:04:21 08:20:48", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "836", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1542", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7171", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "41/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:04:19 15:48:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:04:19 15:48:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "317/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "59/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "900", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1416", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}