A program to protect terraced paddy fields in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, by selling memberships to "own" paddies or plant rice has reached its capacity of 200 for the first time.
The record was achieved thanks to efforts targeting the Tokyo metropolitan area to spread information about the nationally designated scenic spot, known as Shiroyone no Senmaida.
"We want to maintain memberships to continue preserving the scenery of Senmaida," an official of the city's tourism board said.
The city government began to call for volunteers to join the program in fiscal 2007 as a way to help preserve the landscape. Facing the Sea of Japan, there are 1,004 muddy paddies -- large and small -- on steep slopes about 50 meters high. The scenic spot attracts many tourists from inside and outside the prefecture.
The paddies had been increasingly abandoned as farmers grew older. Now, with an annual membership fee of 20,000, yen people can "own" rice fields that bear their name on a pole. Trust members who pay an annual fee of 10,000 yen do not "own" a field but can participate in rice planting. Corporate members can have their company's name on a pole and listed on the Shiroyone no Senmaida website for an annual fee of 50,000 yen.
Under the guidance of Shiroyone Senmaida Aikokai, a local volunteer group that promotes rice planting in the paddies, members from all categories take part in plowing, planting, weeding and other cultivation work several times a year.
According to the city's tourism board, the program started with 57 people. The membership rose substantially in 2015 thanks to increased interest in the paddy fields following the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line and the broadcast of "Mare," an NHK morning drama set in Wajima. There were 193 members in fiscal 2019.
Since fiscal 2019, the city has been stepping up efforts to disseminate information in the Tokyo metropolitan area about the scenic spot. One public relations campaign on a building in Tokyo's Ginza district uses the phrase "Shiroyone no Senmaida is in serious trouble." Thanks to these efforts, membership in the program has reached a record high of 200 this fiscal year. They include 105 people living in the Kanto region.
To prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, a regular rice-planting event that members from all over the country planned to attend was canceled. On Sunday, volunteers from the city itself will conduct rice planting instead, taking turns to work in the morning and afternoon to prevent crowding.
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