Summer Harvest
from the farm.
Potatoes, seasonal vegetables and herbs grown naturally in our satoyama fields, harvested and shared between the MILL and Tokyo.
Active
The MILL · Satoyama Labo · Fujino, Kanagawa
where ideas
take root.
A regenerative land and community project in the mountains of Fujino. Part working farm, part studio, part living laboratory — the MILL is where imageMILL’s practice meets the ground.
Scroll
里
Sato · Village
山
Yama · Mountain
再
Sai · Regenerate
土
Tsuchi · Soil
森
Mori · Forest
共
Tomo · Together
Fujino, Kanagawa · est. 2023
What is The MILL
regeneration isn’t
a metaphor —
we live it.
In the mountains of Fujino, Kanagawa — an hour from Tokyo — we are restoring a historic silk farm into a regenerative land and community project. The MILL is a working farm, a natural building experiment, a gathering place, and the living laboratory that grounds everything imageMILL does as an agency.
We grow food. We restore soil. We run workshops. We invite practitioners, artists, farmers, and thinkers to come and work, learn, and rest here. The MILL is not finished — it never will be. It is a process, not a product.
“The land teaches us things about regeneration that no consultancy framework ever could.”
2ha
Land under restoration
Former silk farm. Tea field, vegetable plots, forest edge, bamboo grove, and a traditional farmhouse undergoing natural building renovation.
1hr
From central Tokyo
Fujino, Sagamihara — at the edge of Okutama, deep enough to be genuinely rural, close enough to be used regularly by city-based collaborators.
∞
Living experiments
Renge cover cropping. Danshaku and May Queen potatoes. Ume, yuzu, tea. White clover and marigold companion planting. Biochar trials. Natural plaster walls.
BCorp
Certified · Accountability as discipline
The MILL is not a retreat centre or an eco-tourism project. It is imageMILL’s operational backbone — how we prove what we preach.
Three dimensions
the MILL operates
on three interlocking levels.
01 · Land
working
farm & soil.
Organic vegetable production following Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farming principles. Cover cropping with renge and white clover. Tea and yuzu cultivation. Ume orchard. Biochar kiln. Companion planting. The land is the curriculum.
02 · Community
gathering
place & school.
Regenerative change-making workshops. Forest therapy and shinrin-yoku programmes. Seasonal gatherings. Art space and mini cinema. A zero-waste café built around what we grow. A programme for practitioners who want to go deeper.
03 · Studio
living
laboratory.
The MILL is where imageMILL tests the ideas we bring to clients. Natural building. Material experimentation. Storytelling residencies. The WAwaken editorial practice. The YURIMARU documentary. Every project here feeds back into the agency’s work.
Fujino, Kanagawa
相模原市緑区藤野 · 標高約350m
The place
a satoyama
at the edge of things.
Fujino sits in the satoyama zone — the in-between landscape of Japanese tradition, neither wilderness nor city. Forested hills. Terraced fields. Small farms. Clear water. The kind of place that requires you to be present.
The former silk farm we are restoring dates to the Meiji period. The main farmhouse is undergoing a multi-year natural building renovation using traditional Japanese techniques: earthen plaster walls, timber framing, handmade tiles. It will take as long as it takes.
- 35 minutes by train from Hachioji, 1 hour from Shinjuku
- Elevation approximately 350m — cool summers, cold winters
- Adjacent to Okutama-Chichibu wilderness corridor
- Active farming community — established farmer networks
- New farmer accreditation in progress (2025–2026)
Right now · Summer 2026
what’s happening
at the MILL.
The MILL is a living place. These are some of the things we are growing, making, learning and testing right now.
The Kominka
earth walls taking shape.
Earth, timber, bamboo and traditional craft are bringing the 120-year-old farmhouse back to life, one layer at a time.
In progress · Delayed
SATO_LAB
learning by doing.
Summer workshops bring craftspeople, makers and curious minds together. The work itself becomes the classroom.
Developing
Regenerative Business
from purpose to practice.
Developing new workshops for leadership teams to explore purpose, systems thinking and regenerative business through the 7Cs.
Developing
“A place that is still becoming —
that is the whole point of it.”
The MILL · Fujino, Kanagawa
The dedicated site
visit
themill.jp
The full MILL site covers the project in depth — farming practice, building progress, programme calendar, field notes, and how to visit or get involved. Built separately as its own place.
Go to themill.jp
Site launching 2026 · coming soon
Work with us
sponsor,
collaborate, or visit.
We are actively seeking partners — organisations who want to connect their brand, research, or community work to a living regenerative project. Sponsorship packages available. Day visits and residencies by arrangement.