The pleasure of growing one's own rice By Shoichi Nasu
Publisher:The Yomiuri Shimbun - Publication Date: 27-06-2008

Unfortunately, this particular Sunday was rainy. I wished the sky would clear for lunchtime so people could enjoy the food the local residents had been preparing since early morning, including somen nagashi, in which people use chopsticks to eat somen noodles that flow down a long split bamboo container.

But the rain kept falling all day long.

I was in Yanase in the Ume district of Saiki, Oita Prefecture, to cover a story for The Yomiuri Shimbun. The occasion was a rice-planting event for townspeople who act as community farmers on designated days.

The initiative, known as onar-den (rice fields owner), began about 10 years ago. At that time, the Ume district was an administratively independent machi, or town. The town office was keen to tackle its dwindling population and revitalise the local communities. Onar-den was one scheme it came up with to address these issues. The town office produced advertisements asking families to participate in the project in cities in Oita and neighbouring prefectures.

Participating families pay 15,000 yen (US$140) and are then entitled to take part in the age-old process of rice-planting. Once the rice-planting has been carried out, local farmers take care of the rest of the work.

Families are asked to return in the autumn for the harvest. After the rice is cut and harvested, the local farmers then thresh and prepare the crop to make it suitable for consumption. Each family is entitled to receive 30kg of rice.

No doubt it is an educational experience for small children to learn how their everyday diet is produced from scratch. Japanese people of my generation or older were often told by their parents that rice was grown meticulously by hard-working farmers. As we sat at the dining table we were often reminded that rice should be eaten with gratitude and that not a single grain should go to waste. As I grew up in a rice-producing mountain village, I knew these facts only too well.

The townspeople of the Yanase community were mostly from Saiki and Oita. The about 70 people who had gathered on the day--including about 30 children--did not seem to mind being rained on while planting rice in the fields. As rice is planted nationwide throughout the rainy season it was a fitting day for the occasion.

One participant, Hiromichi Kamino, a 62-year-old construction firm president from Saiki, told me this was the second year he had come to Yanase. This year he had brought along his six grandchildren, as well as his second son and the son's wife.

"I love the rice here. It tastes good even when it's cold. Since last year our family has been enjoying the rice produced here every day," he said with a beaming smile.

I understand this sentiment. As I have lived and worked in Iwate Prefecture, one of the prefectures in the Tohoku region known for their production of high-quality rice, I know the difference between rice from the Kyushu and Tohoku regions. Due to the quality of the water and the substantial temperature differences, the community is able to produce exceptionally good rice.

After a hearty lunch, the satisfied families returned home with local speciality products as souvenirs of the day. I stayed overnight with Fumihide Yano, one of the farmers who provide rice fields for the planting project. He uses his home as a noka minshuku (farmhouse B&B), where guests stay overnight and are provided with meals--as if visiting one's own parental home. The cost is 5,000 yen ($47) per night with two meals included.

Indeed, I managed to relax as though I was at home. I had many glasses of shochu with 80-year-old Yano-san, his wife and friends. We also tucked into some delicious food, such as wild deer sashimi, sansai tempura (deep-fried edible wild plants) and takenoko (bamboo shoots) freshly taken from a nearby hill.

They are expecting me back again soon for more eating and drinking. All fun. No work.

Nasu is a senior writer for The Yomiuri Shimbun, Seibu, and a former editor of The Daily Yomiuri. His new column, "Out & About," will appear on the fourth Friday of every month.

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