164 Terada, Yokohari, and Amemiya
slowly, in Kashiwa city even under the shadow of a shrinking economy. As such,
pre-developed land in front of a station remains vacant for a long time before
actual building construction starts. A private company in Kashiwa City runs the
community garden named “oak farm” using such temporary vacant property in
front of stations. Oak farm attracts a young generation of potential citizen farmers
who have recently moved into the newly developed area. Once they become
registered members of the farm through payment of a membership fee, the private
company supports their exploration into agro-activities by providing tools,
conveying knowledge, and giving technical advice. In this system, citizens are
able to enjoy the urban agro-activity experience even they do not have any prior
experience of farming (Yokohari, Amemiya, and Terada 2012).
Similar examples are increasing in recent years around Japan. Toho-Leo Co.,
a private company specializing in greenery, maintains rooftop gardens as rental
vegetable garden for urban citizens (Toho-Leo 2015). Another example of a
successful agro-activity starter project is My Farm, Inc., an entrepreneurial venture
company, providing intermediate connecting services between farmers who own
abandoned fields and urban citizens who want to start gardening or farming (My
Farm 2015). As discussed earlier, such agro-movements have profound effects on
changing the traditional values of the Japanese life-work relationship. Practitioners
of the half-farmer-half-X, or play-work hybrid, are beginning to publish books that
document their lifestyle, such as Country Life in Weekends by Miori Baba (half-
farmer, half-writer); Downshifters by Masaru Kohsaka (half-farmer, half-Japanese
bar owner); and Sixty-Percent Annual Income and Four-Days Weekend by Bill
Figure 11.3 Revitalization of Jiyu-hiroba through the Kashiniwa program
Photo by Toru Terada and Mayumi Hosoe