- Title: Japanese grow their own produce to fight soaring food prices
- Date: 31st January 2025
- Summary: KAWASAKI, JAPAN (JANUARY 27, 2025) (REUTERS) LETTUCE PLANTERS ON WINDOWSILL AT NAKATA'S HOME LETTUCE LEAF BEING HELD UP NAKATA LIFTING TRAY OF LETTUCE PLANT FROM WINDOWSILL / PLACING TRAY ON TABLE NAKATA LOOKING AT LETTUCE PLANT VARIOUS OF NAKATA POURING WATER INTO PLANTER (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 33-YEAR-OLD, RINA NAKATA, SAYING: "Since we started producing (vegetables) we'
- Embargoed: 14th February 2025 00:59
- Keywords: Japan YouTube consumers cost of living economy gardening grow your own influencer money prices saving vegetables
- Location: KAWASAKI, JAPAN
- City: KAWASAKI, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Human-Led Feature,Human-Led Stories
- Reuters ID: LVA003697429012025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The price of cabbage made headlines in Japan this month after climbing to 1,000 yen ($6.43) in Tokyo, roughly equivalent to an hourly wage.
The staple crop is just one of the everyday items pushing the cost of living up in a country where prices, and wages, have remained stagnant for decades.
"I didn't start out with my family's finances in mind, but when I think of how much it helps with the household budget now that prices are going up, I'm glad I got into this hobby," said 37-year-old home gardener Kazuki Nakata.
Nakata began growing vegetables at home in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, when he was looking for a new hobby in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as inflation has taken hold in Japan, his family has noticed the financial benefits of growing their own.
"Since we started producing (vegetables) we've been eating at home more, it's like we can pick these today so let's have them before they go bad, we've got these vegetables so let's make this recipe, that kind of thing. So the cost of living has changed, but the cost of our food has also changed a lot," said Nakata's wife, 33 year-old Rina.
Nakata quit his job at an electronics retailer in 2023 to focus on the 47 types of vegetables he currently grows all over his house. Everything from lettuce, onions and daikon radishes thrive in empty plastic bottles, drink cans and even the basket of his bicycle.
With vegetable prices where they are, Nakata says the effort is paying off. The YouTube channel where he posts videos about growing vegetables at home gained around 4,500 new subscribers in the second half of January alone.
"Whenever I upload a video there are loads of positive comments saying things like 'Wow' or 'I want to try this too,' but I also get comments like 'This is really important now that vegetables are so expensive,' so I get the feeling that everyone is becoming aware of the issue," he said.
As agricultural products become dearer, the average intake of vegetables among Japanese adults touched an all-time low in November, the most recent government data shows.
The Nakata family is bucking the trend, however. They say they're eating more fresh vegetables than ever.
"I feel like the taste of vegetables you've grown from seeds is so many times better than normal. These vegetables are grown with love, so they're different," Nakata said before finishing off a plate of freshly-harvested spring onions.
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