Novelist Hiroshi Tamai, a 79-year-old self-described "peasant writer," is proud that he persisted with his craft through the toughest years as a cattle farmer in Betsukai, eastern Hokkaido.

In the mid-1950s, the Japanese government sought young people to join a pilot project to cultivate the wild Konsen plateau and increase food output as Japan recovered from war.

With financial support from the World Bank, the project aimed to tame the wilderness with heavy machinery and create a model dairy district in Betsudai.