The Magical Rootlets Web

An upclose look at the farmers, rice fields, and produce of the Western Shizuoka/Enshu region of Japan.

HERE WE GO:
Introduction to the Region: Enshu's Geographic Profile, Maps and the Like
A Bit about Rice----In the Off-Season----Planting ----Working the Fields (Typhoon No.11)
The Harvest----Organic Rice with Ducks and Fish----Green Tea Fields
Enshu Personalities----Enshu Tidbits
Resume/Curriculum Vitae

Loads of fun for the whole family. (including your dog and dead aunt)

HERE'S THE STORY:

It began in a bar, as good things often do, in the basement of Act Tower in Hamamatsu City, Japan. My girlfriend at the time introduced me over squid and beers to Masamitsu Togawa, a local community leader with the all important initial connections in the ultra conservative and elderly rural Enshu community. Mr. Togawa's group, Shinji Shumeikai, had been working with The Rodale Institute on trying to produce a regenerative and environmentally friendly system of rice production for some time, and they were more than willing to accept a blue-eyed and able-bodied volunteer. Through Mr. Togawa and Shinji Shumeikai I met Mrs. Ohashii, and it is on her paddy in Iwata City that I mainly helped. To look at just one paddy however, doesn't do justice to the region. What follows then, is an overview of some of the various people I met, places I went, and things I learned while muddying up the company car between the summer of 2000 and the winter of 2001.