Yanagida, a village in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, has started a new rice-farming trust that combines actual agricultural experiences with a computer simulation game.

The participants in this system will visit Yanagida to experience rice planting in spring, weeding in summer, and harvesting in fall. Up until harvest time, they will play a "Rice Farming Game" at home on their computers while checking the growth of their actual rice through a monitoring system utilizing the Internet.

In the game, the hero, an amateur rice farmer, will struggle to grow rice, overcoming difficulties caused by natural hazards, plant diseases and pests. The game players learn about rice farming by enjoying virtual full-fledged wet-rice cultivation. The actual harvested rice will be distributed among all participants in proportion to their game scores, which makes this trust system quite an unconventional type of green tourism.

As is often the case with farm villages in Japan, Yanagida has been suffering from a declining agricultural workforce and an increasing proportion of fallow land. This project is expected to help pass down to the next generation well preserved rice paddies and agricultural techniques, as well as to help consumers to better understand farming and share the joy of producing crops.



Posted: 2003/10/05 06:15:25 AM
Japanese version

TAG Food/Water , Local government , NGO/Citizen , Other , System/Law