Arugula and Endives Are Being Farmed Under Japan's Subway System

Ah, a calming trip to the farm.

Usually one would not include long, winding sewers, the stench of human excrement and melted trash, or the groan of subterranean alligators and mole people. These are certainly not the hallmarks of a pastoral retreat to see where fresh produce is grown.

Unless, that is, you happen to be visiting the Tokyo subway system today. That's right—Tokyo is growing lettuce underground, deep in the bowels of the Tokyo Metro.

Masahiko Kakutani is the main farmer working behind "Tokyo Salad," a farm that is unorthodox even by the standards of urban farming elsewhere. You see, Tokyo Salad is actually a hygienic hydroponics farm of sorts, located directly underneath Tokyo's vastly jumbled subway system. Kakutani and the rest of the intrepid growers are part of a new endeavor of the Tokyo Metro, the company in charge of running 179 of the metropolis's subway stations.

So, just what exactly are these C.H.U.D. wannabes actually growing?

"We're currently growing romaine, red mustard, riccola [sic], Lollo Rosso, endive, and chicory," Kakutani told PRI. That comes to an impressive total of four kinds of baby leaf and six kinds total of lettuce. Hanging fluorescent bulbs provide fake sunlight for the flora while they receive nutrients from a water solution they float atop. When asked exactly what was in the solution, Kakutani had this to say: "I can't tell you everything we put in. That's our trade secret." But Kakutani admits that you could expect to find "zinc, phosphorous, potassium—the components that are in the soil."

READ: A Farm That Floats on Water Could Help Solve Global Food Shortage

While Toyko Metro began experimenting with hydroponic farming last January, the venture currently sells the lettuce varieties only to The Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel and a local Italian restaurant. Of course, that doesn't mean they aren't looking for new outlets to expand to. Kakutani says they just might have their eyes set on bigger sights and that, just maybe, "we'll make salads or smoothies." A salad vending machine? It's possible.

Tokyo's first subway farming is being done by a novice: Kakutani is actually head of strategy in the business development department of the company that runs the subway, and he's never farmed before. His mission is to think up new business ideas—and that he did. Subway farming, especially post-Fukushima, seemed like an opportunity that shouldn't be passed up, Kakutani says. That nuclear disaster still has plenty of people worried about the safety of the food produced in the area near the nuclear plant. According to Kakutani, "people's consciousness about the safety of their food went up. As Tokyo Metro, one of our principles is safety and peace of mind. So we thought we could do the same for food."

And safety is a big concern, especially when you are farming underground. Kakutani wears a white coat, mask, and cap before he enters the hydroponic farm. An air shower, where one is required to spin three times, completes the sterilization process. In the underground farm, plants are grown on shelves and irrigation takes place through a system of tiny pipes. No soil is required. No bugs or pesticides cause any problems.

This certainly isn't the only unusual place that hydroponic plants have been grown. From the world's largest indoor vertical farm in the Garden State to an abandoned bomb shelter, inventive growers the world over are using hydroponics in an attempt to make farming better in every sense.

The subway, though, has a certain je ne c'est quoi to it that we don't expect to find in our salads. Let's just hope that the place we call "outside" is still available for farming for a few more years to come.