Japan's 'Agricultural Self-Defense Force' Takes on a Mission in the Rice Fields

Japan Forward
2025.12.10

The voluntary group known as the "Agricultural Self-Defense Force" was launched in January 2025. It is informally dubbed the "fourth Self-Defense Force," following the land, sea, and air forces.

Now active in Tako Town, Chiba Prefecture, the five-member team is made up of active Ground Self-Defense Force personnel and company employees. The group aims to help retired SDF members transition into farming while also addressing Japan's serious agricultural labor shortage.

On November 15, in fields near Narita Airport in Tako Town, airplanes passed overhead every few minutes as the group worked in rice paddies. They were preparing for their first planting next spring. Wearing T-shirts printed with "Noei" ("Agricultural Defense") on the back, they tended the fields under the autumn sky.

Read more here.

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