Do you know that there are fields on the roof of TSUTAYA O-EAST live house in Maruyama Town in the middle of Shibuya? Takashi Ogura who smiles and talks about shibuya-made vegetables creates that it is surely possible to produce rich vegetables, as it is a town where love hotels and clubs are densely populated. While I was an editor, my main business was surprised by the deliciousness of the organic vegetables encountered by chance, and I started to make vegetables by myself. In this key person, I listened to Mr. Ogura, who passed a year in the field at Shibuya, about the charm of growing vegetables in the big city · Shibuya from the kikake which is interested in agriculture. The future form of urban and agriculture, the possibility of local communities through agriculture.

I thought from the earthquake "I want to raise myself what I eat."

_ Please tell me about meeting "agriculture" in the first place.

I quit the publisher and became free, and I was editing the in-flight magazine "Tsubasa no kingdom" of ANA. In that work, there was a project to cover the village with beautiful original scenery of Yamagata · Iidome-cho over a year. However, since it is not fun to supervise the change of rural seasons superficially, it is a story to try something fixed point observation. Well, it is the rice which is the most basic of ours. In other words, I thought that the daily living of rice farmers would be the axis of fixed point observation in rural areas. So we asked the farmer who cooperated for the interview "I want you to help me make rice with you", and prepared a small paddy field for us. It was my first encounter with "agriculture" that got the opportunity to challenge rice making with the traditional way of hand-planting, hand cutting. I entered the paddy with bare feet, I feel a sense of being covered with mud for the first time in a while. At first I was astonished a bit, but after a couple of seconds I feel warmth. I remember it was very pleasant. Originally longing for nature was so strong that the experiences "I spent one year in rice fields" may have opened up my new circuit.

_ What is the best motivation to start agriculture after a couple of years?

It is an encounter with Takashi Ishii, who is doing Weekend farmers with me. He is a farmer growing vegetables in Sagami Lake by natural cultivation. Fujino Town around Sagami Lake, especially Fujino Town is a land with a lot of immigrants from Tokyo where Steiner Education etc. is popular, but there is a lot of immigrants from Tokyo, there, from Takuji Tsuchiya who is one of the launching members of Fujino Electric Power working on "solar power generation" By introduction, I got acquainted with Oil well. When I had him eat spinach for the first time in his field, surprised by the taste very much. It's thick, the taste is diverse, and it was completely different from the spinach I had eaten. Then I asked him, "Can I come and help the field once in a while?", I began to attend Sagami Lake about once a week. It is about 1 hour one way by car, but sewing between work on weekdays, if I have a little free time, I feel like going to the field and weeding up (laugh).

_ What was the one that driven Mr. Ogura towards that time (2012)?

I think there were probably two. One was the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, so it is a sense of fear when water and vegetables are bought from supermarkets and convenience stores. When I saw the sight that was made with nothing garan, I got instinctively that consciousness "I want to raise what I eat by myself". The other is the comfort of having a day in the field. To be able to taste the dizzying comfort and happiness just like being soaked in the soil, soaked in hot springs. I guess there is also compatibility with Mr. Ishii. Although I am "interested", I do not have knowledge in agriculture I think that it was great for me that I got acquainted with the oil well you accepted amateurs who were pleasantly accepted.

Mr. Oil well is a junior in terms of age, is it a relationship called a teacher? .

It is a master who has taught me many things about agriculture. He raises vegetables without using pesticides or chemical fertilizers, but because he does not take organic JAS, he can not describe "organic vegetables" when selling at supermarkets. In short, it is being traded at the same price as cheap vegetables, made with pesticides. I thought that it was strange that such people would not be able to eat rice though they knew him and knew the current state and worked so hard with this passion. Well then I made something, made something some idea, made an event, so I could make use of those specialty areas that I wanted to do something with him. Seniors and juniors, rather than teachers, I think that it is a relationship that can help each other.

_ In addition to Lake Sagami, why did you start farming even on the rooftop of Shibuya from the year before last?

Live house "TSUTAYA O-EAST" located in Shibuya-Maruyama Town

I and Mr. Ishii got together as Weekend farmers and started harvest festivals and various events in the fields of Lake Sagami. From the thought that I want more people to know the taste of vegetables that do not use pesticides or fertilizers, I called friends and acquaintances from the city, but if Shibuya television John Shigeo Mr. do it. Shibuya Television is a company that also deals with the management of live houses in Shibuya, such as O-EAST, O-WEST, etc. although "I can not do something in Shibuya", I was sending various ideas. When I asked, "What's going on over a live house?", "There is nothing but an outdoor machine". "Well, how about doing it if you make a field there?"

_ Have you had the idea of ​​using the rooftop as a field before?

A little beer garden operated by Kirin was made after Parco Part 2 of the park street was dismantled a while ago. At that time, I found a vacant lot that is being cloaked, I thought that this would be a field. That remained in my head all the while. Just in the middle of Shibuya I thought that it was not easy to make the ground, so when I heard this story I came with a pin. If you listen to music often, you say that vegetables become delicious or clean. Because Maruyama Town is a town where love hotels and clubs are densely populated, it is certainly possible to have very thick vegetables (laugh). Mr. Ishii well said that it is interesting. The most meaningful thing that we do agriculture in Shibuya is that we can share and share how to grow vegetables to customers who came. If you have good access Shibuya is easier than having you come to Sagamiko Lake, and you can teach how to grow vegetables, while actually doing the field. There was also a thought that some people could feel that they could do it in Shibuya if it could do so.

Lawn and field spreading on the roof of the live house. It is said that because it is now in winter, it grows leaves as a vegetable center.

Because it is urban, it is inconvenient, because it is a rooftop, it can not be done.

_ What kind of preparation did you actually do to start the field in Shibuya?

First of all, we asked the contractor how much weight we can put on the planter, soil, earth, water, ... on the rooftop, and calculated the structure. In order to alleviate the burden as much as possible, I bought pumice stone, or made all such arrangements myself. A planter with 1.5 meters by 3.5 meal meters and a depth of 40 centimeters was ordered specially, but since it was dare to make it with wood, measures should be taken to prevent water and corrosion .... Speaking of preparation, is it that much? Speaking of difficulties, it is a work that carries soil to the rooftop. I went round-trip for a full day, but this was very painful.

_ Currently, are you two of Mr. Ogura and Mr. Ishii who are taking care of the fields in Shibuya?

Basically I and I are doing it. I am about two or three times a week or so, Mr. Oil well came about once a week, we came in the morning and weeding and insect repellent. Even so, organic agriculture does not take much trouble than I thought. We do not do any watering at all and we all have only Rainwater. I think that it is because the soil can securely keep water because it is probably doing soil making by them without using chemical fertilizers.

_ I have been agriculture for the first time in Shibuya for more than a year, what kind of vegetables are made for every season?

In winter you like carrots, carrots, spinach etc. From now on it is mizuna, leaf mustard, salad leaf, rucola, baby leaf etc. leaf. Summer is tomato, corn. Soybean or lettuce in autumn .... Especially last year's tomato was able to harvest so much that it was really top-notch. I played two types of medium balls called Fellow Tomatoes and Santio, but it is different from the one with high sugar content as sold at so-called Supermarket, but it is wild-like taste and the skin is thick. I crushed the tomatoes, put a little salt and boiled the pot to make a tomato juice, it was very easy and delicious tasty.

Because it is a rooftop, did it work, did not it seem to have failed?

There are mountains and rivers in the country field nearby. In the case of the rooftop, since the surroundings are all asphalt and concrete, the field and nature are completely separated, so it is different from the so-called ordinary field. However, if you make a planter, many microorganisms have grown in the earth, and one world is born within it. Now that vegetables are growing up with that small planter, that is, there is a small natural environment over there. As I think about it, it is rooftop, so I can not do this I feel unexpected that it can not be done. By the way, two years ago, carrots and spinach were totally useless, but this year we are growing well this time. I think that it was probably the biggest thing that made earth good. Last year I made PET bottles using PET bottles. I think that it is inconvenient because it is urban, and I understood well that there is not such a thing unexpectedly. Another thing that I felt fun was that there were crops that Shibuya could do better than Sagami Lake. Last year, all secret beans were hung by Hakubishin in Sagami Lake. Because there is animal harm beyond. Of course, also in the fields of Shibuya, there are also damages unique to the city, for example, rats crawl up to the roof through the water pipes. Footprints that walked on stray are also left in bonbons and fields. Shibuya also has a lot of crow damage. Two years ago I brought up tomato with no guard, but when I got a little sprout, I ate hard and gotten scattered (laugh).

_ Like the Sagami lake in the fields of Shibuya, are you doing harvest festivals and events?

Planting rice in a PET bottle with cut top, challenging rice production. It is said that more rice has been produced in autumn than I thought.

Since it is really done only by themselves, when it comes to saying "I want to do the corn festival soon", "I like good, nice, then, let's do some harvest festival in about a month". Rather than a business sense, I instinctively feel sweating in the field instinctively doing it. A year ago a carrot could be harvested somewhat, and when it was somewhat edible it opened the first event to let you see that "crops are growing up." Last year we did a harvest festival of rice made with PET bottles in the corn festival in the summer and autumn and we acted on everything we harvested. Participants are those who live in Shibuya, families, those who work, others are photographers, designers, artists, musicians of acquaintances, people who usually do not get together very often I will. About 200 people at a time in many events.

_ How is the participant 's response?

First of all, I laugh. On the day of the event I am doing more decorations, but as I come up to the rooftop, "It really has fields" laughs. But everyone will eat "delicious, delicious", so I am very happy. Such events will give a little look at a relationship, then you will return home. But almost everyone else will stay long, it looks like it's comfortable (laugh).

A state of "corn festival" held last July. People from the community and a lot of friends gathered and said that it became a constant smile event.

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