Tokyo’s most fam­ous lux­ury shop­ping area, Ginza, sprouted a ground floor rice paddy open to the pub­lic. Cre­ated by a cha­ris­matic entre­pren­eur, the farm drew atten­tion to the value of Japan­ese rice and the pos­sib­il­it­ies of urban farming.

Ginza Farm | Photo by Jared Braiterman

Leav­ing a dentist’s office under sed­a­tion, I stumbled upon a rice paddy on a side street in Ginza in early July last year.

Ginza Farm’s founder Iimura Kazuki (飯村一樹) and his assist­ant were tend­ing the rice and two cute duck­lings. Shop clerks and con­struc­tion clerks stopped by to admire the rice in its mid-summer glory.

Ginza Farm occu­pies an empty lot, vacant between demoli­tion and con­struc­tion of a new building. At the end of the after­noon Iimura-san was drain­ing the rice paddy, and his assist­ant was col­lect­ing the duck­lings to take back to the office for the evening.

On the left is a beau­ti­ful table and benches, on the back and right side a huge photo mural of rural Japan­ese rice farms, and in front a bam­boo fence, some live bam­boo, vines, a black pine, and a few cucum­ber plants.

The ban­ner reads “100 rice farms make Japan healthy.”

Ginza Farm’s Iimura Kazuki | Photo by Jared Braiterman

The pro­ject is fun­ded by this group of Japan­ese rice farm­ers, with sup­port from a mas­ter car­penter named Hisano-san. Reg­u­lar com­munity events include “onigiri” (rice ball) parties, farmer’s mar­kets, and chop­stick mak­ing event that attract neigh­bors, chil­dren, and shop clerks. Iimura-san was very friendly, and even poin­ted out a frog that had some­how dis­covered the rice paddy.

Jared Braiter­man checks back on Ginza Rice Farm in sub­sequent posts, stay tuned for more. Have you noticed any unex­pec­ted green spaces in your city? What are your thoughts on urban farm­ing — whether sym­bolic, as here, or as a prac­tical food sup­ply solu­tion for our urban futures? Add your thoughts below to join the discussion.

Ducks provide nat­ural weed­ing and fer­til­izer; a small cucum­ber is form­ing; a frog some­how found this urban rice paddy | Pho­tos by Jared Braiterman