Traditional rice cultivation practices in modern Japan face a nationwide decline, resulting from rapid socio-economic changes encouraging more uniform, efficient, and large-scale agricultural systems. Not only is this a threat to Japan’s cultural heritage, but also its rich wetland biodiversity and ecosystem health.

An experimental rice-based demonstration farm is proposed in Yabu City, Hyogo Prefecture. Whilst the area was designated as a National Strategic Special Zone (2013) to restructure farming practices, implemented reforms failed to accommodate local farmers, instead further promoting industrial methods and aggressively dismantling notions of place in Yabu.

The project aims to frame Japan’s traditional past in the dystopic present: showcasing natural agriculture as a way of life which also inherently protects and supports surrounding ecosystems. Playing with notions of Furusato, a collective nostalgia unique to Japan, the project stages, re-enacts, and transforms pieces of land, creating an active museum rehabilitating the landscape. Overall, the scheme serves as a testbed where the landscape becomes a modality to question notions of farming from past to present.