Out of Eden Walk: Record-breaking heat in Japan is hurting rice farms
The World
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It’s really hot in Japan this year. And that’s got people worried.
Last year was the country’s hottest year on record since 1898 — the entire globe’s hottest on record, as well.
National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek was in Japan last year, walking through rice fields as part of a long journey tracing human migration on foot, which he’s documenting in Out of Eden Walk.
Salopek and his photographer experienced the heat firsthand and witnessed how it affected the rice crop and the farming communities behind it.
Salopek joined The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler to share more.
Carolyn Beeler: Can you describe what it was like to be walking through those rice fields in Japan in that extreme heat?
Paul Salopek:Yeah, it was something else. After having kind of walked through extreme heat in South Korea, I was hoping for a little coolness in Japan. It didn’t happen. As you mentioned, it was the hottest year on record for Japan. And, in fact, it was the second hottest year on record, two years in a row. And it was like walking through a furnace and breathing through wet cotton balls, very humid and very, very steamy, blistering hot.
I can imagine it when you say it. I can’t quite picture, though, the rice fields. Can you tell me what they are supposed to look like when the weather is normal, and then what they looked like when you were walking through the Japanese rice paddy during the heat wave?
Well, generally they’re big panes of green or yellow, depending on what stage of the harvest or the growth cycle you’re in. So, just imagine, rice fields are kind of artificial, human-made wetlands. So, you see stands of green rice stems, sometimes with heads of rice hanging on them, and then there’s water that’s reflecting the sun, in a million, kind of, diamond glints. So, it’s actually very pretty. What was different this year, and I think it’s probably incremental in Japan, is that there are just, in terms of family rice patties, there are fewer and fewer. Some are dried up because the farmers are quitting.
You mentioned that you didn’t see a lot of people in the rice field. Was that because of the heat?
Yeah, well that does explain at least partly why some of them have gone fallow, these kind of dried up paddies. Partly, it’s Japan’s aging population and just fewer and fewer people around who want to work for the land, you know, it’s never an easy job. But the second is the heat. In fact, several farmers that I spoke with explicitly told me, saying, “Paul, this is a hard enough job already, but these record heat waves … I’m 78, I am 81, my body can’t take it anymore. This will be my last year doing this.”
Wow. And how were people coping? Can you tell me more about the people that you were meeting out there in the fields?
Well, they were covered up as, you know, they always cover up against the sun, but I think they said that they were working earlier and later in the day and taking off the middle parts of the day. You know, it’s kind of like living in the Saudi desert, as it will. These kind of same desert survival techniques that have come to a kind of green and humid Japan, it was a bit surreal.
For many families there, rice growing goes back generations. How much was it part of people’s identity and their sense of self?
Well, I think rice has been grown in this part of the world for thousands of years. In fact, rice crops are probably one of the original crops that we tamed as human beings going back, some scientists say 13,000 years. And if you do that for 13,000 years, you certainly develop a palette for it. And so, I think the Japanese are famous for being very … careful about what kind of rice they eat. They have their favorite rice, and rice is, you know, there’s so much that’s wrapped up, not just food, but construction materials, artwork, sandals, tatami mats. Rice provides a foundation for a lot of traditional Japanese life.
And the people that you were speaking to who mentioned that they were going to have to stop farming, I mean, did that feel like a loss to them in terms of their own personal identity?
You know, it varied. There were some farmers who looked at it to like a relief, and then one guy said, basically, “Hey, it’s up to the younger generation to toil bent over in this furnace-like weather. Good luck to them. I’m going to take a holiday for the rest of my life.”
Other farmers were like, yeah, this is kind of a tragedy. There’s kind of a breaking of a traditional system of knowledge that’s been going on for many, many generations. And who’s going to take it up? The real question is, what happens next? And several people said, well, all these small farms that are being slowly abandoned, partly because of global warming, will probably be consolidated into bigger mechanized farms, right? The kind of more industrial farming that much of the world knows.
Other farmers were like, yeah, this is kind of a tragedy. There’s kind of a breaking of a traditional system of knowledge that’s been going on for many, many generations. And who’s going to take it up? The real question is, what happens next? And several people said, well, all these small farms that are being slowly abandoned, partly because of global warming, will probably be consolidated into bigger mechanized farms, right? The kind of more industrial farming that much of the world knows.
You mentioned that farmers are shifting their working hours to adapt to the heat. Are they changing their actual growing practices?
Some are experimenting with different crops. I talked to a guy who said that he’s been trying, since rice farming is getting a bit dodgy because of the heat, he’s trying tropical fruits, but he said the soil isn’t appropriate. So, now they’re kind of trying to shift to different varieties of rice that might do better in the hot weather.
We’ve been talking about the farmers and the rice crop. I’m wondering, other folks you met when there was this extreme heat, how were they adapting or dealing with the heat? What kind of an impact was it having on people? Where were they trying to seek refuge, I guess?
Well, again, it goes back to kind of the surreality of walking through this part of Honshu, the main island of Japan, with so few people in it. I wish I could answer you, but I could find hardly anybody to ask this question. They were all indoors, right? So, me and my walking partner, photographer Soichiro Koryama, were like the only two crazy guys out in the heat with backpacks, slogging through the landscape. My project is based on talking to people, and I had trouble finding people.
Yeah, they were all inside seeking refuge.
Yeah, or also many of these villages were largely abandoned, right? Again, through the aging population, hyper urbanization, global warming, it was like just the last straw, literally. These kinds of people are not there anymore.
So, you are still in Japan, you’re continuing your walk. What is the next stop on your journey?
Well, I’ve got about 340 kilometers (approximately 200 miles) left. I’ll be crossing through a part of the Japanese Alps headed for the port of Yokohama. Then, hope to jump on a cargo ship and then steam over to North America. That’s the plan.
Wow, that’ll be a big sea-crossing for you.
It’s a major pivot in this whole project, leaving the old world for the first time in almost 13 years.
Parts of the interview have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Writer and National Geographic Explorer Paul Salopek has embarked on a 24,000-mile storytelling trek across the world called the “Out of Eden Walk.” The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonders of our world, has funded Salopek and the project since 2013. Explore the project here. Follow the journey on X at @PaulSalopek, @outofedenwalk and also at @InsideNatGeo.
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