Micro farming in central Tokyo district more often associated with luxury brands offers breath of fresh air, novel retail experiences

The rice plants were a brilliant green thanks to the sweltering, midsummer sun. As I gazed at the paddy and looked at the plants seemingly oating in water, their leaves rippled in the cool breeze. e setting was far from bucolic, however, because I was on the roo op of a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district.

“Bugs have appeared,” murmured Shota Takao, 28, as he squatted over a plant and stared at some leaves. Takao, who works for the Tokyo branch of Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., was examining the rice to check the progress of growth.

Located 30 meters above ground on the roo op of the company’s Tokyo o ce, the paddy is where the company grows Hakutsuru Nishiki, a variety developed for daiginjo, a premium sake that uses highly polished rice grains. e sake, Hakutsuru Ginza Tenku Noen no Sake (Hakutsuru Ginza Sky Farmstead’s sake), is named a er the paddy and sold at only a few shops in Ginza, with just 40 bottles put on the market each year.

e roo op area is usually closed to visitors, but people who attend sake seminars in the building are sometimes given a tour. However, the coronavirus pandemic has meant many seminars have been canceled this year.

“I usually enjoy this view with participants a er evening seminars,” Takao said as he looked at the colorful neon signs that can be seen from the roo op.

e company o en invites foreign students and local elementary school students to help with rice planting and harvesting, but this year, company employees planted the rice seedlings themselves.

Ritsuko Nakamura, 57, an associate professor at Nihon University who has accompanied exchange students during a rice planting session before, said, “I remember a student from Britain was very excited when she entered the paddy barefoot.”

Nakamura added that her students enjoyed the scenery from the roo op. ere is a great view of the Kabukiza eatre located nearby, and Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree can be seen in the distance.

“Planting rice seedlings to make sake in this environment, where tradition and modernity coexist, is a valuable experience for exchange students,” she said.

Meanwhile, on the 11th oor of

Hakutsuru Ginza Tenku Noen no Sake, a daiginjo sake produced by Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co. is pictured. A 500-milliliter bottle sells for ¥10,000 before tax.

Itoya, a stationery shop located along Chuo-dori avenue, a hydroponic “vegetable factory” is cultivating such greens as arugula and frilled lettuce, some of which ends up in dishes served in the roo op restaurant on the 12th oor of the building.

e vegetable farm opened in June 2015 in the new building of the stationery store, which was founded in 1904.

During a tour of the store, I thought I heard birds chirping on each oor. On the 11th oor, I listened carefully in a quiet hallway, and I heard them as clearly as if I were in a forest. It was quite relaxing. “We play these sounds as background music,” the Itoya employee said in answer to my query.

Another green spot worth visiting in the area is Terrace Garden on the ninth oor of Mitsukoshi’s agship department store in Ginza. e rooftop garden has a total area of 1,600 square meters, including a lawn that is about 400 square meters. About 20 trees, including someiyoshino cherry trees, fragrant olive trees (kinmokusei), mimosas and maple trees, grow in a section facing Chuo-dori avenue.

ere is also a wooden deck with tables and benches. You can buy takeout snacks and sweets from the department store’s food courts and enjoy alfresco dining.

I moved from Mitsukoshi’s main building to the annex and went up to the 12th oor. rough a window near the elevator hall, I could see the lush green rice plants on the roo op of the Hakutsuru ’s building.

The Itoya stationery store cultivates vegetables on the 11th floor of its flagship in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Overleaf: Shota Takao, checks the rice growing on the roof of Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co.’s building in Ginza.