Traditional Japan Preview

This is a placeholder for the Traditional Japan entry. I am not posting a legit blog entry for this topic yet, as I am heading out to the Nagoya area this weekend to harvest rice, and I think that'd be a fantastic experience to write about for this entry. In the meantime, I guess I can write about how I ended up with this opportunity.

At my home university, UAlbany, I became friends with a Japanese foreign exchange student named Yuka. At some point, she mentioned that her grandparents ran a farm outside of Nagoya, and that if I ever needed a job, I could probably go work for them. Pondering the possibility of working on a farm in Japan led me to decide that I'd like to make a career out of it.
Before coming to Kansai Gaidai, I visited Yuka at her home in Nagoya. I jokingly brought up the possibility of taking over her grandparents' farm when they retired, to which she replied, "well, the rice harvest is in mid-October. You should come out and help us, and see if you like it."
So, this weekend, I'm bussing out to Nagoya, from which Yuka and I will make the trek out to... Actually, I have no idea where we're going.

Yuka says that her grandparents have someone harvest the field with a large piece of machinery (I assume it will be something along the lines of a combine) that misses certain spots whenever it turns around to do another row. Someone has to get those spots by hand and sickle, and probably bundle them up, as well. It'll take at least all weekend, but I'm only going to be at the farm on the 19th. (Bussing back to Kyoto Station the morning of the 20th. Hopefully I'll be back in time for class, Professor!)

There have been some interesting reactions from the Japanese people I've told about this impending adventure. My Spoken Japanese sensei says that more and more young people are considering becoming farmers because working at a desk, wearing a tie, and kissing up to someone twice as old as them is becoming a less attractive choice for an increasingly independent generation. On the other hand, most of the people in my age bracket say that agriculture is the last thing on their list of potential careers. Yuka said that she feels bad about the decline of the small-scale farming industry here, but that Japanese society's measure of success holds it in fairly low regard, and that she doesn't think she'll end up any more involved with her grandparents' business than she is now.

In any case, this will hopefully give me a taste of the nouka (farmer) lifestyle. Maybe I'll fall in love with it, maybe I'll decide it's not for me. Either way, it'll be good exercise and a good time.