Japan’s image in the eyes of agorists may yet be one of mindless, collectivistic obedience to authority, and the endless concrete jungles of mega-metropolises like Tokyo, but that would be a mistaken perception in many ways. With the land’s ineffably profound ties to nature, the growing desire of residents to create their own communities in light of the coronavirus scam — and even small pockets of people creating their own money — agorism in Japan, and the formation of independent communities and networks of like-minded individuals, should be an encouraging sign for agorists everywhere.

Japan’s Deep Unity With Nature

Japan is a place where people are tied to nature in a profound way. The culture of the green archipelago is largely founded on nature worship itself via the Shinto religion, farming, close observance and celebration of the seasons (historically even “micro-seasons”) and a unity between humans and natural processes.

Even in hyper-populated city centers such as Tokyo this connection can be found. Organic produce shipped in from the countryside has been highly sought after, fresh fish markets are one of the main attractions, and relaxation of the body at spas, public baths, and professional massage businesses is viewed almost as a necessity to life itself. Balancing the infamous toxic Japanese work culture which often leads to suicide or literal “death by overwork,” is a relative acceptance of sex, the naked body and its natural processes, and a lack of the typical Western “Catholic guilt” about such things.

Permaculture Mochizuki

Further, once one does venture out to the countryside, a new movement is occurring in younger people as Japan’s massive graying population continues to slow down and pass on to the other side: a movement of organic farming, agorism (even if not named as such), and mutual cooperation and trading.

Sharing and trading produce and helping one’s community are nothing new for Japan. In fact, this is a deeply ingrained, foundational part of the collectivistic culture, even in those who have never really questioned statism itself. However, in the midst of the coronavirus scam being perpetrated on the world, new ideas are emerging about creating unvaccinated communities, permaculture farming, and building new, agoristic societies. Facebook groups about creating such villages are popping up, foodies are researching the corrupt nature of the state more extensively, people are taking classes on farming and self-sufficiency, and some are even making their own money.

To delve more into what is actually happening on the ground in the land of the rising sun, and get a finger on the pulse of things, I reached out to my anarchist pal Nick Sikorski, a professional permaculturalist at Permaculture Mochizuki and entrepreneur in Nagano, Japan, to ask what he sees as he teaches classes on permaculture, and observes his rural community in light of the encroaching corona-scam control grid.

Nick Sikorski

Nick Sikorski on Self-Sufficiency and Agorism in Japan

Graham Smith (GS): How long have you been in permaculture?

Nick Sikorski (NS): I got my PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate) back in 2015 so I’ve technically been a permaculture designer since then, but it wasn’t until 2017 that I got something bigger than a balcony garden to play with. I spent three years on my own farm, getting to know the fields, streams and surrounding forest and started teaching small courses just a year and a half ago.

GS: Are people more interested in farming in light of corona restrictions and the potential threat of forced vaccinations?

NS: I’m not altogether sure how many people are focused on farming per se, but there is certainly an influx into the countryside of people from the big cities seeking to get out of what they see as a toxic environment. However, I get the impression that the ones who have taken the time to actually think ahead and foresee government policies such as forced vaccination left quite some time ago: those who are leaving now probably failed to see the writing on the wall until now because they weren’t interested in such things as organic food, seed saving, natural medicine, alternative education, etc. Those who were, and who did make at least a first step to leave the cities some time over the past few years are certainly much more interested in thinking about the next step.

I broached the subject on the first day of this year’s small cereal production course, half-expecting to be met with an uncomfortable silence, but everyone seemed to know exactly what I was talking about: the need to form communities and networks — perhaps not altogether underground but at least semi-discreet — as a way of being able to continue to find food, tools, medicine and other necessary things even if being unvaccinated meant not being able to enter shops or use public transport. Farming — more 百姓 hyakusho [independent, “common people” farming] than 農家 noka [large-scale, industrial farming], mind — is a natural extension of that, with no-till, organic, small-scale being the preferred versions.

GS: You often compare the so-called coronavirus vaccine to chemicals in food products. Can you elaborate on that comparison? How do the Japanese feel?

NS: I often compare the pharmaceutical, agricultural and food industries because they are so closely related and because the natural laws governing all three are the same (it’s also a way of side-stepping the “you’re not a doctor so what do you know?!” argument) so that, in my opinion, anyone with a sound, basic understanding of one should be able to comprehend the basic laws of the other two, particularly if you ascribe to the natural versions (alternative medicine, organic farming, natural healthy food, etc). One comparison I often make is that between herd-vaccination, Roundup, and junk food: mandating vaccines (I’m being charitable and assuming they actually work here) robs healthy people of their natural immunity, exposes them to the risks of allergic reactions and denies society the benefits of a natural, strong, healthy herd immunity, all the while encouraging the virus to develop novel strains; using Roundup — the most infamous version of the glyphosate herbicide — will, over time, kill off all the benevolent-but-unfashionable plants we commonly call weeds, and simultaneously favour the really nasty, tenacious ones, eventually making them totally resistant to the poisons originally sold to eradicate them.

And then there’s junk food, perhaps the most pervasive poison of all in modern Western societies: it kills off our natural gut bacteria rendering us incapable of eating natural foods (just try giving raw milk, natural wine or raw vegetables pulled straight from a healthy garden to someone raised on McDonald’s) and pulling us down into a vicious spiral of addiction and health issues. In reality, however, the comparisons are much closer, and the financial and political ties between the different industries are inseparable so that you really don’t have to be an expert of any kind to smell a rat.

Image: Permaculture Mochizuki

As for the Japanese and how they feel, I only really have any knowledge of two distinct and opposed groups: the elder generation who get all their information from the TV or from big newspapers, who farm chemically and actively support one political party or such and who are vaccinated; and then the other group, usually in their 30s, 40s or 50s at a push, who have moved to Nagano from elsewhere in Japan, who either farm organically or buy almost of their food from organic farmers, who don’t pay any attention to newspapers or the TV, either don’t vote at all or do support some minor hippy-ish candidate, and who aren’t vaccinated and have no intention of doing so.

The first group have no awareness of chemicals in food or else don’t see it as a problem and are no more able to imagine there being a problem with vaccines and mask mandates than they are with chemical farming, and for the same reason: that is all they know (their parents may have farmed organically before them, but they never have). The second group are very aware of there being problems in the food and farming industries, in politics and in public health, again for the same reason:

Because they have seen both the bad and the good, they know what is being done by the majority and what is being done by the minority, they know that doing better and living healthier and happier isn’t just not impossible, it’s perfectly possible and also much, much nicer.

GS: Are parallel economies and independent communities possible in Japan?

NS: Some forms already do exist. To my knowledge, the Kamogawa area of Chiba uses a local currency called 安房マネー “awamoney,” and apparently there is a transition town group in Ueda who encourage local businesses to use something similar.

A number of eco-villages also exist as loose-knit associations of like-minded people, but it is what is possible that is most encouraging here in Japan and in particular in Nagano where there is great potential for forming small communities both within and without “normal” society. For example, here in Mochizuki there is, on one hand, a significant number of small, independent, organic farmers who despite operating in different locations (albeit all within a 10km radius) all currently exchange, share and interact, hanging out in a few select local businesses, and on the other, a plethora of small valleys surrounded by woodland with only one way in and one way out (other than a trek over the hills that is) which are ideally suited to hosting communities of like-minded people coming together around a common place of agricultural production.

The possibilities — with almost unlimited wood for fuel, fresh water for drinking, land for farming, deer for trapping… — are endless, with there being no necessity for barriers, watch-towers and moats! As for the people themselves, Japanese conventional society being what it is, alternative Japanese are pretty easy to spot and, as such, are often just ignored and shunned — rather than attacked — by normies, making raising questions of forming communities much easier, and limiting the danger of being pestered by the authorities. The only real problem is that so few of them are equipped to handle hard physical labour and an independent work ethic: the norm here is to get someone, an “expert” usually, to do all the tasks that in Europe or America people do themselves. But considering the people who come to my courses, that is improving greatly.

***

What are your thoughts on Japan’s growing agorist movement? Tell the Nexus what you think in the comments.