I got my seed rice (tanemomi, unhulled rice used for sowing) back in May.
That’s when my “Ozone Rice Project” began—and now, the story finally reaches its end.
It all started with a flyer handed out for an event designed to help people appreciate agriculture called “One Hundred Million People, One Pot of Rice”.
Twenty-one grains of seed rice were taped to that flyer. That tiny moment lit the spark.
The idea was to plant those seeds in a PET-bottle pot, keep it flooded like a mini paddy, and raise the rice.
Even on a condo balcony in Ozone, the rice would grow strong and I’d enjoy delicious home-grown rice.
That was the autumn I dreamed of when I started.
August: Panicles Emerge—And Plans Go Off Script
In early August, the panicles emerged (shussui, when rice heads out).
According to the flyer, harvest should come 40 days after heading.
But my rice heads didn’t look like they were putting on any weight.
“Maybe they’ll fill out if I wait a little longer…” I kept telling myself—
and then two and a half months blew past that 40-day mark.
At that point, I figured waiting any longer was pointless, so I finally declared harvest day.
Pre-Harvest Check: One Word—Light!
I touched the heads. Light.
There was no sense that anything had formed inside the husks (rice hulls).
Normally, when rice ripens, the heads grow heavy and bend downward.
Mine stayed ramrod straight, not even a hint of drooping.
I tried cutting the stalks. They were so thin I could snip them clean with scissors.
When you harvest rice, you’re supposed to pull a sickle with some force and feel that solid “zaku!” feedback.
But my rice? It had about as much presence as my hair—i.e., not much.
Even Gathered in My Hand… It Feels Like Zero
After finishing the cutting, I trimmed off just the heads and piled them up.
I picked up the whole bundle. Almost no weight.
Honestly, the weeds by the roadside feel like they set more seed than this.
Then I weighed it and got a truly shocking number:
Just 5 grams.
And that’s including the husks. At this point, even if I thresh them, I’m not sure anything will come out.
I’ve spent nearly half a year looking after this rice, and the result is an air-light 5 grams…
I don’t even feel like eating it—no, it’s not even enough to eat.
The original seed grains felt nice and hefty—I bet those 21 grains together weighed more than 5 grams.
I never imagined I’d reach harvest in the red.
Next Time, a Real Harvest
There are lots of possible reasons for failure: the brutal summer heat, nutrient-poor soil, and a caretaker (me) who may have been… less than diligent.
For the rice, those 5 grams were the best it could do in harsh conditions.
I actually feel sorry for the plants—and ending the project here would feel like losing.
If I’ve come this far, I want to enjoy even a little taste of a real autumn harvest.
So, time to study properly—how do you actually grow rice?
I’ve come to deeply respect the farmers who reliably bring us rice every year.
What a lesson.
All right, let’s go! Next year I’m going to prove you can grow rice in the big city of Ozone. I’m fired up.
