He came from the French countryside to support Japanese agriculture.(Part 7)

Japanese → フランスの田舎から日本の農業支援にやってきましたが・・・大丈夫でしょうか？

Young French people came all the way from the city at the foot of the Pyrenees in the south of France to engage in Japanese agriculture. The house where he was born and raised was a tourist livestock industry with a kettle and sheep, and he had been helping the family business since he was a child. He graduated from a local agricultural high school and received a three-month Japanese language education curriculum before coming to Japan. He can speak rudimentary Japanese and doesn’t seem to care much about communication. He is full of energy, but there seems to be something to be worried about. What is it? Is he all right?

Needs and Seeds in Japan

When considering the future labor force in Japan, the main industries of labor shortage are primary industries (agriculture, fisheries, forestry), construction work sites, nursing care to support the elderly, and workers, workers and craftsmen in traditional Japanese industries. In his case, he has graduated from an agricultural high school, so the needs are matched by primary industry agriculture.

And, it is before it is likely to be added at least that the family business was a livestock industry. But will he be able to do this alone in Japan? Whether it’s simple labor, thinking, to be independent, to get full-fledged money, or to be trusted in person, there are some barriers.

These barriers can take a long time, so the ability and motivation to overcome them is required.

Small grazing industry

There are various types even if it is said agriculture in one bite.

Among them, the livestock industry in this island country is under a unique situation. The local livestock industry in Japan, where he was involved, is a small scale of grazing of “20 cows”. It is a unique breeding system that the old couple has built up for more than 30 years. They’re looking for a successor but they can’t find it. And, it seems to have borrowed the power of the foreigner unavoidably. It looks easy, but there are actually difficult aspects.

However, it seems to be easy to seem to be difficult.

His day’s work is as follows:

He gets up around four in the morning to prepare for the beef’s breakfast. After that, it moves to the pasture one kilometer away in the group. This is hard.

The cow dung and the dirty straw of the cow shed are removed and cleaned, and the new straw is paved.

In the meantime, he sometimes goes to the pasture to see the cow on his bicycle.

Every day when the weather is nice, he brushs a few heads at a time.

Prepare the cow for dinner.

In the evening, go to the pasture and return 20 cows to the barn.

Check the physical condition of 20 cows one by one. However, if the weather changes suddenly, the rainy day continues for a few days, or if there is a cow in poor health, it is already serious.

There are several times a month.

Barrier 1; Environmental adaptability

There are four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter in Japan, and there are various changes and correspondences in respect of person’s life or the pasture of the cow, and it is necessary to acquire these in the spot. In short, it is often not understood if it experiences once and it sees. Outside of summer, it can be hotter than 40°, or less than 0°C in winter. If you are alert, you may have heat stroke, or your hands and feet may become numb and stop moving. From a Japanese point of view, it seems easy to do that, but there are also aspects that foreigners feel very harsh. For example, according to the weather forecast, it should be “sunny and sometimes cloudy” today, but it rains suddenly after lunch and you may be wondering if you’ll pick up a cow. It may stop immediately like rain on the street. It takes about an hour to get the cattle back from the pasture, so it’s a question of whether or not they should go right away. In some cases, it is also necessary to bring the wings to cover the cow. Cows, like humans, catch colds when they rain for a long time.

If you catch a cold, it’s going to be hard. So if at least one year has passed, you won’t be able to determine if this job is suitable for you. It’s common, but in about three months, this is not suitable for me, and the reason is that there are many cases where people change jobs or run away.

Such a person does not serve wherever it goes.

For a year, preferably a few years, we need to calmly think about whether this job is appropriate.

Barrier 2; There is power (vitality).

The power here refers to physical strength, but it is more of perseverance and mental strength. You are working in a new world about your new profession. At first, you won’t be able to speak. There are many things you don’t understand. You may be confused without a complete manual.

It will not be able to be worked. However, it is necessary to have the belief and patience to work hard in the workplace for at least one year. You are to read and write kanji while you work during that time. When you are able to communicate on your job, you will surely find something good for you. The Japanese are watching your behavior closely.

It is not because it is not able to work independently immediately from the next day because the contract was made. Fortunately, he came from France, and he didn’t seem to have any resistance to the smell of animals, the handling of feces, or the adhesion to his clothes. If you have any experience with such an event, there is no problem, but depending on the person, you may have already escaped on the third day. It’s very easy to ask why you ran away.

Barrier 3; if possible, it is better to have a dexterity of the minions. Or can you suggest improvements, wisdom, and ingenuity?

This barrier is the most important. If you can go beyond this barrier, you will be able to do your job and business on one level, which will benefit you both in terms of trust and money. Now, what is this barrier 3? It is the ability to think.

How can you embody that ability?

Here are three ideas he came up with a year later and what he did.

First of all, he persuaded the manager, but he never dreamed that he would make a simple proposal in Japanese, not French or English, and succeed in advanced communication using Kanji.

High-level communication is important, otherwise you can’t do advanced business-based work.

Idea 1; Monitoring cattle in pastures

Until then, several times a day, he had gone to see it by bicycle for about 10 minutes each way. With just one 360-degree field of view surveillance camera, he’s no longer going to see it unless there’s something wrong with him.

Idea 2; Utilization of fallow fields

It took nearly an hour to take the cattle to the pasture, because they had been going through a crank-shaped road before then. It was also dangerous because there were some general roads, not agricultural roads. On the way, there were some “fallow fields” that were not used for rice farming, and he found that he could go to the pasture sought in about 30 minutes. This fallow field was a wasteland and had no use. By increasing the number of grasses that cows eat, new applications can now be applied for grazing purposes. It is the owner of the fallow field that was pleased. This is the edge, and the place of the communication with the region was completed. It’s a very good thing.

Idea 3; breeding non-cattle animals

When a cow is an adult cow, it takes five to six years of cycle. Meanwhile, the expense only increases, and there is no income. A pig can take a few years of cycles. We built a pig house next to the barn and started to keep 10 pigs. The food was divided from a nearby restaurant and other discarded ingredients. Most of them are for pigs, but we can now feed some cows. In the restaurant, the pork menu increased and many people started to use it.

Barrier 4; Advanced communication may be required.

In everyday life, it is enough to be able to speak or understand simple rudimentary Japanese.

However, it is often difficult if it is not possible to read and write the Chinese character that the elementary school student in Japan learns freely when the discussion and the proposal etc. which thrust a little though it is this simple grazing are done. When I checked his Japanese ability, I found that I could read simple conversations and kanji for about one year of elementary school, but I could only write hiragana. That is, it is level 2. This will be manageable in everyday life, but when it comes to business-like even in the grazing industry, level 4 or higher is required. In other words, it is essential to read and write about 1,000 kanji that you will learn in six years of elementary school.

This is something you want to learn in a few years.

The so-called Foreign Support Office encouraged students to go to the grazing place after mastering elementary-level Kanji in the “Introduction to Kanji Lessons” and “Kanji Acquisition Class”.

He took three months to try to learn kanji and set off.

At the end

One day, more than three years after I sent him to my grazing post, I got a phone call from him. It was a story of wanting it to come to see once with the surprise in fluent Japanese. When I arrived there, I was surprised. Cattle 50, pigs 100, and pasture swelled to three times, and fallow fields were also set up in 10 places. He was also active in the youth group in the region, and she was introduced. It’s wonderful, and it’s great.