Explore everyday life in Japan
Despite all of its bright lights, technology, and manufacturing jobs, at its heart, Japan is still an agricultural society, or at least, it seems that way to me. I suppose the same could be said about any country, really. After all, we all need to eat, and food production plays a central role in many economies. What I mean when I talk about Japan, though, is that, even as young people flock to the larger cities, the family garden and the food of one’s hometown still holds a very prominent place in the lives of many Japanese people.
Beyond the countryside, which is predominantly dedicated to rice production and the growing of teas, fruits, and vegetables, Japan has many urban centers of varying size. One thing that surprised me when I first came to Japan is just how common gardens are in the smaller cities of Japan. As you walk through these urban areas, sometimes not even one kilometer from city centers, you will find empty lots dedicated to growing rice, onions, cabbages, sweet potatoes, and flowers, etc. These plots of land are sometimes sandwiched between businesses, sometimes they are squeezed between large apartment buildings, and sometimes they are just settled between houses. Regardless of where they are, they are in use practically all year round.
Even in the megalopolis of Tokyo you can find urban gardens that are shared and maintained by many families. Not only that, there are agricultural centers as well, sometimes with catchy names like ‘Agri Park’ where urbanites and school children can go to have agricultural experiences—milking cows, digging up potatoes, planting and harvesting crops of all kinds. Though I suspect that this is slowly changing, it seems to me that Japan still has a very close relationship to and appreciation of the production of its food.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.