Profile

Hi, I’m Tommy.　I live in Japan.

I’d like to briefly share my story and what I’m trying to do through this project.

One day, I suddenly became seriously ill.
My skin became severely inflamed all over my body, and for about six months I couldn’t even go out into the sunlight.It was so itchy that even lying down was painful During that time, even living a normal daily life became extremely difficult.

This experience forced me to rethink my lifestyle, especially my diet.
Little by little, my condition began to improve, but at the same time I started asking myself a deeper question:

How should a person live their life?

Several doctors told me that a full recovery could take 7 years, or even 10 years.
Even now, I am still in the process of recovering, but thankfully my body has improved enough that I can finally work outside again.

Seeing my situation, my mother kindly rented a small piece of farmland near our home.
That was the beginning of everything.

I started growing vegetables in a small garden, and through that experience I discovered the joy of growing food and the richness of living close to nature.

Eventually, I started thinking seriously about becoming a farmer.

However, in reality, it was not easy.
Even borrowing farmland was extremely difficult.

I visited farmers and presented my ideas about the kind of agriculture and future I wanted to create.
But the responses I received were harsh.

“Just work a normal job and give up farming.”
“If you want to change agriculture, become a politician.”
“No one will buy crops from you.”

Still, I couldn’t give up.

I believed that if I didn’t take action, nothing would ever change.

So I traveled to rural areas and saw the current situation with my own eyes.

What I saw was:

• Collapsing satoyama landscapes
• Increasing nuisance wildlife damage
• Declining rural communities
• Expanding abandoned farmland
• Empty houses left behind

I wanted to change this situation somehow.
I wanted to improve the future of rural areas, even just a little.

But at the same time, I felt completely powerless.

Still, I also felt something else.

There is still potential here.

Eventually, that feeling grew stronger, and I was finally able to obtain farmland, forest land, and an abandoned house.

But this was only the beginning.
Many challenges still lie ahead.

This may be a small step, but it is the first step.

From here, Tommy’s rural revitalization project begins.

I still have a lot to learn and many things I don’t know yet, but I will keep moving forward.

If you’re interested in this journey,
I’d be grateful if you could follow along and support the project.