Japan may have ramped up its COVID-19 vaccination efforts, but with the デルタ株 (deruta kabu, delta variant) on the rise, an already-long pandemic looks like it’s not going to end anytime soon. You’ve done the Netflix binges, you’ve done the baking and now it’s summer ... so, how about some 園芸 (engei, gardening)?
If you’re serious about 園芸 in Japan, then you’ll need to learn a lot of new vocabulary — from 種 (tane, seed) to 肥料 (hiryō, fertilizer) to 収穫 (shūkaku, harvest).
In recent years, the rise of 農業体験農園 (nōgyō taiken nōen, community farms) have provided city-dwellers the chance to share land and grow their own vegetables. Sharing a single lot requires a small fee, usually around a few thousand yen per month. Lists of urban community farms can be found online on sites such as National Farming Experience Farms.