Creating a New Relationship with the Environment Through Food: Learning from Community Development Initiatives in Kaneyama Township in Yamagata Prefecture, Northeast Japan

Abstract

Kaneyama Township in Yamagata Prefecture, Northeast Japan, neither grew buckwheat nor had a culture of buckwheat in its past. It is not the case that the natural environment of this township was ever basically unsuitable for growing buckwheat; rather, the crop was not grown because no economic or practical rationale had ever been found to do so. However, the buckwheat in this area has now been found to have unique value through exchange between local residents and urban residents. This chapter will look at how buckwheat has been positioned as a local food in these community development initiatives. We will consider the possibilities for creating a new relationship with the environment through food. We may be able to visualize how what is taken to be a “relationship with the environment” is not some latent or inherent presence, but rather a product of human activity and intervention over time.