“Wild Man” Masayuki Okano, Turf, and Honda

J-League Club Solves Regional Problems with Turf Production

Gainare Tottori, a professional J3 League soccer club in Japan, is contributing to the local community through the Shibafull [full of turf] Project by producing and selling high-quality turf. A vital partner in this initiative is Honda’s Miimo robotic lawn mower.

Gainare Tottori is taking the initiative in greening public facilities and schools, using turf grown on abandoned farmland, which is a regional issue. Proceeds from sales fund the football club’s activities.

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Managing Stadium Turf with MIMO

The club chose Miimo to make turf mowing, a very time-consuming task, easier. Gainare Tottori staff manage the club’s home stadium, the All Gainare Yajin Stadium, to reduce costs.

Masaki Tsukano, team manager, looks back on the time when they started managing the stadium: “Experts told us that it was impossible for amateurs [to maintain a stadium], but through trial and error, we accumulated know-how and improved.”

He continued, “If we could utilize our turf management know-how to produce turf and market it as ‘Gainare’s turf,’ it would become a hot topic and the club would benefit. However, turf production and management requires a lot of manpower and money. In particular, a good lawn cannot be grown without frequent mowing. So, when I was looking for the best way to mow this turf, I happened to see an article about Honda launching an autonomous robotic lawn mower,” describing his encounter with Miimo.

Tsukano is a former member of Honda’s football club. “When I explained the project’s purpose, they [Honda] were happy to cooperate, saying that it would help promote Miimo,” recalled Tsukano.

“Miimo helps strengthen the roots and stems of vigorously reproducing turf, and the clippings are returned to the soil as nutrients, resulting in a fluffy, high-quality turf,” says Tsukano, who has continued to use Miimo for turf production and management of his home stadium, and has felt the benefits.

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Wild Man’s Success Borne of Strong Turf

Masayuki Okano, General Manager of Gainare Tottori also known as the “Wild Man,” talks about his love of turf: “When I was a player, I used to sprint across the pitch stomping on the turf with my spikes, so I got the nickname ‘Turf killer.’”

Okano first stepped on a natural grass pitch when he was a young. “I was impressed by how well I played when we played on natural turf in the finals. The ball doesn’t go where I want it to on a bumpy dirt field, but on grass, I could control the ball perfectly. Schools and parks need turf to improve the level of sports in Japan.”

Turf from the Shibafull Project is used for school grounds. “When a dirt field is turned into grass, children can run and play ball without worrying about getting injured. It also prevents heat stroke because the sun’s rays are not reflected as much,” Okano shares his passion of the Shibafull Project’s contribution to children’s health.

By word of mouth, an increasing number of elementary and junior high schools have realized that Miimo can help to greatly reduce the work and cost needed to manage their new turf, and more and more are turning to Miimo. Shibafull Project had started by producing 2,000 m2 of turf, but has now expanded to 50,000 m2 (about the size of the Tokyo Dome stadium).

Why Honda Supports the Shibafull Project

Honda cooperated with the Shibafuru Project because, in addition to the appeal of increasing Miimo awareness, Gainare Tottori was trying to solve a regional issue. The goal of the project was to revive abandoned farmland, expanding due to a declining and aging regional population, and to improve and expand the grass environment, which would create new opportunities to use Miimo and other Honda products and contribute to society.

Through this project, Honda conducts verification tests to utilize Miimo, a robotic lawn mower for the home, for turf management in a wide range of applications, including soccer stadiums and public facilities, and will use the data obtained for future products.

Postscript

We were honestly surprised to learn that the turf at Gainare’s Yajin Stadium is managed by SC Tottori staff, who now even manage turf production, on track to building a business.

Abandoned farmland is a major issue in Japan, and SC Tottori’s activities may provide a vital clue to this problem.

Seeing the cleanly mowed turf, we can hardly wait for the day when children will run around barefooted, with smiles on their faces. Okano’s passion, that the spread of natural grass playing fields throughout Japan will improve the level of all sports, including soccer, poses a challenge, yet provides hope.