Contemporary · Japan
加藤義松 / Yoshimatsu Kato
Originator of the 'experience farm' (Nerima model); chair of the national experience-farm association
An urban farmer who built a way for citizens to be taught to grow vegetables.
Yoshimatsu Kato is a farmer in Nerima, Tokyo. In 1996 he opened Japan's first 'experience farm,' the 'Midori to No no Taikenjuku.' Unlike conventional allotments that simply rent out plots, here the farmer-owner directly teaches users to grow vegetables from sowing to harvest — the so-called 'Nerima model.'
Users can take part with tools, seedlings and guidance provided, while farmers keep their land in cultivation and earn income. Praised as a model reconciling farmland conservation with citizen participation, it spread to over 100 sites in Tokyo and around 500 nationwide.
As chair of the national experience-farm association, Kato continues to show a new form of urban farming — 'cultivating together with citizens' — as an answer to challenges such as a shortage of farmers and the conversion of farmland.
Key contributions
- Opened Japan's first experience farm, 'Midori to No no Taikenjuku' (1996)
- Established the farmer-led 'Nerima model,' spread to ~500 sites nationwide
- Showed a model reconciling farmland conservation with citizen participation