A Third-Grader Bought a 198-Yen Okra Seedling. His Dad Is the Only Customer.

What's going on

A father in Japan laid out the books on a very small enterprise. His son, eight years old and in third grade, spent 198 yen of his own allowance on a single okra seedling. The boy waters it. The boy harvests it. And then his father buys the okra off him at three pods for 100 yen, a rate no supermarket in the country would ever offer.

Nine pods in, that comes to 300 yen of revenue against a 198-yen seedling, so roughly 100 yen of profit. The profit was converted into something from a 100-yen shop more or less on the spot. The father's one-line verdict on that: and that's fine.

Okra is an easy summer crop here. It grows fast in a pot and keeps producing, so the barrier to entry was low. What people latched onto was the second half of the arrangement, the guaranteed buyer. A plant you water is a chore. A plant somebody pays you for has a cost, a cash flow, and a customer who is knowingly overpaying.

Comments

A mock business for a third-grader. He bought an okra seedling with his own allowance for 198 yen, and waters it himself. I buy the okra off him at 3 pods for 100 yen, which is way above market rate. He’s up to 9 pods now, so 300 yen in sales. About 100 yen of profit. He blew the profit at Daiso immediately, but that’s fine. (Daiso is a nationwide 100-yen shop chain.)

小3の模擬ビジネス。おこづかいでオクラの苗を198円で買い、水やりして育てる。収穫したオクラを、かなり割高だけど3本100円で父が買い取る。今回で9本目だから、売上300円。およそ100円の利益。その利益はすぐダイソーで使ってたけど、それでいい。

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This was all my wife’s idea. The husband here was just admiring the okra flowers.

すべて妻のアイデア。夫はオクラの花を眺めていただけです。

Overheard this and it stopped me. My third-grader was quizzing his first-grade brother on addition. Big bro: what’s 1+2? Little bro: 3! Big bro: 3+5? Little bro: uhh, 8! Big bro: gorilla + gorilla? Little bro: huh? what? Big bro: gorilla plus gorilla is a human. So then, human + human? Little bro: chimpanzee! Big bro: human plus human is the future. …okay that’s a hell of a line, kid.

聞いてて驚いた。小3長男が小1次男に足し算を出題。兄「1+2は？」弟「3！」兄「3+5は？」弟「えーっと、8！」兄「ゴリラ+ゴリラは？」弟「えっ？何なん？」兄「ゴリラ足すゴリラは、ヒト。じゃ、ヒト+ヒトは？」弟「チンパンジー！」兄「ヒト足すヒトは、未来やで」め、名言やん！

This feels really important. It works as food education too. Compared to the other third-graders around him, this kid probably has way more appreciation for where food comes from. Lovely thing to be doing. (Shokuiku, food education, is a formal part of the school curriculum in Japan.)

これ、すごく大切だと思う食育にも生かせると思う子のお子さんは周りの小３に比べたら、食べ物への感謝が人一倍強いんじゃないかなすてきな取り組みだ

He hates vegetables, but he’ll eat the ones he grew himself ^ ^

野菜きらいだけど自分でつくった野菜は食べますねー^ ^

Credit to the kid for not getting bored of it. Honestly, watering something every day doesn’t stick unless the parents are on top of it too. Reading this as a family with high literacy in a lot of areas. I’d have forgotten about it after three days.

子供が飽きずにやる事が偉い。そもそも水やりして育てるが続かない＝親もマメと言う訳です。色んなリテラシーが高い家族と見た。私なら３日後に忘れてる。

This is nice. Unlike helping with a chore that’s done in one go, you have to keep watering it and looking after it, and that’s the best part. It’ll probably get him thinking and looking things up to pull a bigger harvest, too.

これいいなぁ。一回で完結する家事の手伝いと違って継続的に水やり等の世話をしないといけないのが最高。沢山収穫するために知恵を働かせたり調べるようになる効果も期待できる。

You get vegetables and money literacy at the same time, that’s nice. I’d copy it at home but we’ve got no space…

野菜も育てられてマネリテも鍛えられるしいいですね我が家も真似したいところですが場所がない…

There’s a little empty lot out front, so we got lucky ^ ^

前に小さな空き地があってラッキーでした^ ^

He earns money, it doubles as his summer research project, and it lands on the dinner table. Three birds with one stone. (Japanese elementary schoolers are assigned jiyu-kenkyu over summer break, a research project on a topic of their own choosing.)

稼げて自由研究にもなり食卓にも出せる。一石三鳥ですね。

Apparently there’s a household that assigns each sibling a planter on a hydroponic rack, where the everyday harvest becomes pocket money and at New Year’s they hold a first auction. Thought that sounded great. (Japan’s fish markets open each year with a hatsu-seri, a first auction where a prize tuna can go for headline-making sums.)

水耕栽培ラックに兄妹でプランターを割り当て、普段の収穫はお小遣いに、正月には初競りをするってお宅があるみたいでイイナ〜て思いました。

Wonderful thing to try…… If he’s growing it himself he’ll actually keep an eye on it, and he gets the hard part and the good part in miniature. Learning at that age that earning money is hard is a good experience too.

素晴らしい試みですね…… 自分で育てるならよく見守るだろうし、苦労や喜びをミニマルで体験できる。お金を稼ぐのは大変だとその年で知れるのもいい経験ですね。

Wonderful parenting. The results of your own work turn into money. That’s a genuinely valuable thing to go through.

素晴らしいご教育です。自分が働いた成果が、金銭となる。これは、本当に貴重な経験かと思います。

Really good education, I think. Put capital in, get it back out, spend it.

すごいよい教育だと思います。資本を投下して、回収して使う。

Very good real-world lesson ✨👏 Getting to simulate how labor and money work is seriously strong, and he picks up good experience and knowledge from it 😊

大変良い社会勉強ですね✨👏 労働とお金の仕組みを疑似体験できるのはめっちゃ強いし、とても良い体験と知識が身につきますね😊

Whoa, this is so good. Doing it properly is itself him being brought up properly. Slack off and it withers. But he’s also free to buy another seedling with whatever allowance is left. Nice.

うわ、めちゃいい。ちゃんとやるっていうのも、ちゃんと育ってはる。サボったら、枯れちゃう。でも残ったお小遣いでまた苗買うのも自由。いいね

This is what a household’s teaching power actually looks like.

家庭の教育力ってこういうことよね

This is wonderful education 👏 Bit of an exaggeration, but the mechanics of an economy are taking shape here. Kind of moved me 🥹

これは素晴らしい教育だと思う👏 ちょっと大袈裟だけど、経済の仕組みが形成されているなんか感動した🥹

Good as education, this. It gives him a reason to get inventive, he can start thinking about investing to raise the yield, and the vegetables taste good.

これ教育として良いなぁ。工夫する原動力にもなるし、収量アップの為の投資の考えもできるし、野菜は美味いし。

Good education, this. Once you want to turn a profit, you grow them properly.

いい教育だなこれ儲けたいとなると一所懸命育てるし

He learns how hard earning money is, and how good it feels when the number goes up despite that. Realistically, once you add in the soil, the tools and the water bill, it’s probably running at a loss, but no need to be that strict about it. If he still remembers it as an adult… I think he’ll look back and know it was a really good thing to have done.

お金を稼ぐことの大変さと大変だけど、お金が増えた事への嬉しさが学べるよね。実際は苗を植えるための土や道具や水道代を加算すると多分赤字だけども、そこまでシビアにする必要ないしな。大人になった時にも覚えてれば…めちゃいい体験したって思うと思う。

That’s elite training right there. Farming really is the future!! (He’ll also need to be taught the formula for producing customers who go absurdly easy on farmers 🧑‍🌾)

英才教育してる。やはりこれからは農業！！（「農家に激甘の顧客」を作るための法則も教え込まねば🧑‍🌾）

Ehh〰!! This is nice!! I wish I’d done it. Wish I’d known back then!! My kids have already moved out.

え〰！！これいいな！！やりたかったなぁ。あの頃に知りたかった！！子供ら自立したしなぁ。

This is nice 🤭 It’s cute, and I bet plenty of things grow out of it. If I’d known sooner we might have done it too.

これ良いなぁ🤭 可愛いし、きっと色んなものが育つ。もっと早くに知ってたらうちもやったかも。

This is nice. Mine can’t even be bothered to water the morning glory and mini tomato they bring home from school, but with this maybe it keeps going without a parent nagging them to water it… maybe. Thinking about what’s in season, and the fact that you can’t get your money back until it grows, both push you to keep at it. Sounds like a great real-world lesson. (Japanese elementary schools send kids home with a potted morning glory or tomato plant to look after over summer break.)

これいいな。学校から持ち帰った朝顔やミニトマトの水やりすら億劫がるけど、「これなら水やりしなさい」と親が叱らなくても続く…かな。季節の野菜を考えたり、育つまでは資金回収できない点も努力を継続することに繋がって、すごく社会勉強になりそう。

My take

Whether the kid finds this fun or a hassle is entirely up to the kid. Either way, all sorts of thoughts and experiences come out of it, and that sounds like an education.

#Heartwarming #Parenting #Food

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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