The UNU Farmers’ Market

Every weekend, farmers from the Kanto plain area come to Tokyo’s designer fashion district—not for the high-quality goods, but to sell their own. The fresh fruit and flowers, rice, and organic vegetables go quickly in a testament to a larger, government-backed initiative to increase Japan’s self-sufficiency. Roswitha Lasser and Terao Kurosaki, advisors to the United Nations University and founders of the market, are more concerned with initiating a dialogue between growers and consumers, and educating people about the benefits of eating right. Lasser and Kurosaki are looking to expand the fair to weekdays, and to increase the related cultural and educational events it hosts, all of which live up to the market’s motto of “water, sun, and earth.”