The program begins when you turn yourself from just a consumer who eats rice someone else produced, to a Virtual farmer who grows rice for you rself through the Internet.

Y ou do the planting, mowing and harvesting. For nearly 7 months, you'll take care of your own rice field. Then in the Fall of 1996, we'll send you your rice harvest and bottles of sake (rice wine) made from your paddy. you will savor the taste of your own rice and sake made from them. It really is truly unique, isn't it?

I t is the first Internet experiment in Japan where you can participate in the process of rice production in real time. We believe it is a very meaningful project because people today are losing touch with what a lovely and involved process rice farming is. A lot has to happen before the rice seedling in the paddy makes it to your table.

T he rice field is in Tatsuno city, Hyogo prefecture in Japan, a beautiful farm village where the Ibi river runs nearby. The Virtual Tambo committee has been looking for a suitable location for the project since last year. Then Sakumoto-san who owns a rice field in Tatsuno city volunteered to let us use his field.

Y ou can see what's going on in the rice field 24 hours a day on this page through a camera that's set in the field. Also, how the rice crop is growing will be reported on an on-going basis on this page.

K onishi-shuzo brewery famous for their sake brand Shirayuki gave us a hearty OK to brew sake for us. The Internet technical support is provided by ASAHI-Net.

For further information, go to"What can you do on Virtual Tambo".