nogyaru
Nogyaru are young girls who do farming. “No” means field, and “gyaru” means girl.
It started from one girl, whose name is Shiho Fujita. Her grandfather was a farmer. Shiho helped him when she was little, and she really enjoyed it, but he died, and his fields were abandoned. She was very sad about it. She started to think what she could do.
At the time, she heard there were lots of abandoned fields in Japan, because young people are not interested in farming anymore. She thought this is exactly the same as her situation. So Shiho started farming herself, and she designed rubber boots and work clothes, which are pink, or the other colors young girls like. In 2009 she gave lots of opportunities for farming to other young people. She arranged a farming tour to Akita, in the north of Japan. Lots of young girls participated in the tour, and they wore clothes Shiho designed. Some girls brought their children too. They distributed rice balls, made of rice which they had harvested themselves, at Shibuya station in Tokyo.
Now, nogyaru sells the rice under the “Shibuya-mai” brand. The price for 5kg is 2,700 Yen. It’s chemical free rice. They planted herbs around the rice fields. The herbs protect the rice from harmful insects. The reason why it’s called “Shibuya-mai” is that Shibuya is the mecca of nogyaru.
Shiho Fujita is pretty, and always wear cool clothes. That caught young people’s attention. Now, many young girls are interested in farming.