By early June, rice farmers Seiichi and Sanae Yamaguchi have finished planting for the year, a ritual they have repeated every spring for most of their lives. Thanks to modern machinery, they are still farming into their early 70s.
Yet the same technology that has extended the couple鈥檚 working lives has also reduced the need for younger family members to remain on the farm, a dynamic playing out across Japan. Over time, it may leave farms like theirs without a successor.
The Yamaguchis live and work in Yaita, a city in Tochigi Prefecture about 30 kilometers east of the tourist destination of Nikko. Unlike its famous neighbor, Yaita is defined more by agriculture and manufacturing than tourism.
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