Farming is Fun!

I've been watching the newest releases of the show "Moyashimon" (も やしもん) streaming from Japan. Basically, it is about two boys from the country who go to an agricultural college in Tokyo. Kei is the son of the sake brewery and Tadayasu is the son of a "tane koji" store (種 麹屋). Basically tane koji are the basis of fermentation. So obviously the two families of the boys have had a long standing close relationship. The interesting thing is that Tadayasu has the ability to see microbes. Being that this is Japan, the microbes are represented as merchandisable characters. (I really want to get my own plushy of Aspergillus Oryza from the Fuji TV station) Tadayasu uses his special powers to recognize different microbes in various useful situations and hijinks ensue.

The obvious aspect of this show is the propaganda promotion of the agriculture industry in Japan. One of the lines in episode 4 was basically, "There are 3.5 million farmers in Japan, of that, 2 million are above the age of 65. So ganbatte (try your best?), you are Japan's future." These are lines that cut deep into the general problem of the Japanese agriculture industry. Like Americans, farm life is quickly fading away. Less and less of the younger generation want to be farmers. It's thankless, and ugly work that pays next to nothing. Then again, I grew up in Richmond so I have no real say about life on the farm. I heard a rooster for the first time when I was 22. I do know that there are less and less people living out in the country. All of the villages out in the countryside in Japan are shrinking. So much so that they are merging with neighboring villages just to have enough in taxes and such. The problem is that most of the young people from the age of 16 move to the city to go to highschool and then college. They usually find successful lives in the city and never come back. Very few people choose to come back to their hometown to raise a family, and even less would come back to be a farmer. Japan has been working very hard at making farming an appealing career choice. Tadayasu's powers turn the boring part of agricultural research into a rather exciting magical power. I could see this show appealing to many of the existentially lost youth of Japan living dead end jobs in the city. This would remind them that they could come home and live the "simple life" of a farmer. Never mind the back breaking labor, constant anxiety over the weather, gossiping neighbors and corrupt mayors.