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SuzukiTo begin with, I spent a year after graduating from college at ARI (Asian Rural Leadership Institute) in Tochigi, Japan. There, we were mostly self-sufficient in food, and I made and fixed various things with my friends. The DIY lifestyle, including entertainment, was very interesting. After returning to Tokyo, I was always looking for opportunities to live like that. A few years after ARI, I had a baby. The moment I held my child in my arms, I felt not "he is cute" but "I am in trouble as it is. I could imagine my wife kicking me to the curb if I said, "I'm going to quit my job and do what I love. That's why I startedgreenz.jpI was very hard to start up, but I managed to shape what I love into a job. Starting up the business was a lot of work, but we managed to make what we love into a job. And since we both agreed that we wanted to live interestingly in a place other than Tokyo, we decided to move to Isumi before our child started elementary school. So, while looking around for a place to live, we ended up in Isumi.

SuzukiFirst of all, the distance was perfect. I wanted to live within an hour and a half of Tokyo, in a place where Tokyo civilization, or rather capitalist civilization, had run out of steam and the power of the land or the power of life prevailed. Another requirement was that the land be inexpensive. If land is expensive, the only way to start something is to borrow money from the bank and do it as a business. In other words, I wanted to go to a place where people thought it had no economic value. I also wanted to be in a local community. I didn't want to go to a place that was closed. So I looked around and found that people in this area were open and there was an NPO that aimed to promote immigration. The proximity to Tokyo, the low cost of land, the power of nature, and the community were all important to me.

SuzukiWhen I moved to Isumi, I wanted to move toward the life I was leading at ARI, but, well, it didn't quite work out the way I wanted. I was just too far away from home for a few years. I decided, "This can't go on like this! I started living on a small scale and learning about permaculture, and that's when I met a great friend named Umi Sawyer. I went to the "Brocks Permaculture Farm" in the U.S. with Umi and stayed there for a while, and was overwhelmed by the richness created by nature. Food was so plentiful that I could hear the sound of fruit falling from the trees while sleeping in my tent. It seems that the biggest stress for the people living there is the fact that there is so much fruit that they can't keep up with all the preserves they make (laughs). The houses are made by themselves with natural materials. Since they are hardly dependent on the capitalist economy, they are free to spend their time as they please. So even if a disaster or economic crisis happens, they are fine and have great freedom in life.

However, living with a lot of gifts from nature and making everything by DIY with friends is very safe and happy. I wanted to create a place in Japan where people could learn this kind of lifestyle and culture, and then Umi moved to Isumi. Then, through Umi's friends, I found this land for the "Permaculture and Peace Dojo" project, and the landlord said that if it would be useful for the local community, he would be happy to have it, and so it began.

SuzukiWe are trying to do three things here. First, technology to connect with oneself. Many people, myself included, live in an advanced consumer society without thinking about what they want or how they want to live their lives.

SuzukiYou spend all your time on news sites and social networking sites. When you spend your days like that, you lose sight of what is really important in life, the important opportunities. I would like to make this a place where people can learn to connect with themselves through meditation and mindfulness.

SuzukiThe second is the technology to create a lifestyle. The third is the technology to create a society. Self-sufficiency is difficult when you do it alone, but it is not difficult when you do it with friends and in a network. If you create a local currency, you can reduce your expenses, reduce your environmental impact, and enjoy making new friends. If you keep chickens together, you can easily live a life of self-sufficiency in terms of eggs. You can also go on trips. If you create your own original Bon Odori dance and DIY festivals, you can connect the community and have a lot of fun. Anyone can produce a zine about the community. I would like to learn how to create such a society by practicing here. For this reason, we chose this location because it is close to the station and spacious enough for people to easily visit.

SuzukiYou would be surprised to know that we have a zero budget here. I think the only expense we are incurring is rent at the moment. It's the kind of money that would make it impossible to rent a one-room apartment without a bath if it were in the center of Tokyo. People who want to exercise participate in this kind of work, people who want to support with money like crowdfunding, and people who want to contribute in a different way. We are now experimenting to see what we can do by bringing together people from all walks of life.

SuzukiIt is 2,600 sq.m. in total. Since this is a relatively open area, we are thinking of turning it into an edible forest. An edible forest is a forest that can be seen, enjoyed, and eaten. Various edible fruit trees, nuts, and edible plants will grow in many layers from tall trees to medium-sized trees, vines, shrubs, grasses, and under the ground. The salacina pea that is growing at my feet right now is edible, but it is a plant that fixes nitrogen in the air in the ground, and even if you think it is a weed, all living things have meaning, and if you have the knowledge and wisdom to make use of it, you can do many things.

SuzukiIt is to keep out wild boars. Our neighbor has been renting this field for a long time, and when we came here, he said he was going to pull out the field, but we said no, let's do it together. We want to do permaculture with the local people. We want to create a relationship where we can make the most of each other's talents. The local grandparents can really do anything. They can cultivate land by themselves, make charcoal, and know how to plant and eat all kinds of plants. They know how to make delicious pickles and local cuisine. If we could get these local people to become teachers, it would be much more meaningful than if we were to do it on our own.

SuzukiThis is abundance. Even in the United States, such as at the Brocks farm, you can get more food than you can eat without going to the trouble of growing it. When you live in such a place, you have a lot of surplus, so you want to give it as a gift.

SuzukiWhen I am in Tokyo, I feel as if I am constantly driven by the fear that I am lacking something, that I do not have enough skills, that I do not have enough savings, that I am in danger of being fired from my job, or that I need to be independent. I say "Tokyo," but it is not only Tokyo, but also regional cities and even the countryside if they are part of such an economy. However, if you have land and can grow food, you can build a base for living there, and you can live while helping each other, even if your skills are not that great. I want everyone to know the feeling of self-sufficiency that I experienced, that you don't have to be anxious all the time to survive, and I want to be able to do it more.

SuzukiThat's right. I also live in a trailer house, but I am not good at minimalist living. But by actually living in a trailer house, I have been able to do what I really want to do. The bottom line is that my expenses are low. The house is cheap, first of all. We bought the trailer house for 4.8 million yen and the land for 1.5 million yen, which is about the rent for a room for two people in Tokyo. The water and utility bills are automatically cut in half, even if you don't save any money. Pocket Wi-Fi is sufficient for internet, and not buying things means no garbage. It is true that you have to be creative to live here, but it is an interesting and creative way to live.

SuzukiIt's just too hard to do anything by yourself. Even chopping wood is more fun when you do it together. Six families in the neighborhood make 30 sho (the equivalent of 30 bottles of soy sauce). We can actually eat the soy sauce, make friends with the neighbors, and have fun every time we go to work, which is good for the children's education. We all make soy sauce, rice paddies, and firewood together, and if the work is completed within the community, the load is reduced and the benefits are increased, so it is good for everyone.

SuzukiWe also use local currency to ask for small favors such as a ride to the station or to feed our chickens. I once took care of a dog for about 10 days, and it was a lot of fun. It was cheaper for the owner than leaving the dog at a pet hotel, and we got to experience owning a dog for the first time, and we became good friends with the person who took care of the dog. In short, we are entrusting a part of our lives to a service. The outside services of consumer civilization are convenient, but as a result of leaving more and more of our lives outside, we are left with no connections, no knowledge of life, no power, nothing to live by. We were the same way, but we usually realized this when our children were born. Raising a child is really hard. It's hard work, and if you don't do it as a community, it's not going to happen. I would like to say to those who are struggling with child-rearing, come to Haisumi (laughs).

SuzukiI think it is difficult to convey permaculture to the local people, so I tell them that this is a "school for living. I am speaking on behalf of the project now, but there are a great many people involved in this project, so I hope to create a place where everyone can learn together.