Tetsuwan DASH / DASH Village Rice Farming
Illustration: WhyTrend

If you follow Japanese idol culture or variety TV, 'Tetsuwan DASH!!' (literally 'Iron-Armed DASH!!') is one of the most enduring shows on Nippon TV.

Its DASH Village segment — where the veteran idol group TOKIO actually farms rice in Fukushima — has been running since 2001, making it a rare piece of Japanese pop culture that blends genuine agricultural heritage with celebrity entertainment. On May 17, 2026, the show aired its 26th year of rice cultivation, and the hashtag DASH hashtag trended on Japanese X throughout the broadcast. The episode centered on three storylines: TOKIO's Joshima Shigeru building a trailer house from scratch to sell rice on the road; SixTONES idol Morimoto Shintaro (in his fifth year of farming) and Naniwa Danshi idol Fujiwara Joichiro (second year) competing in rival paddies; and the launch of 'DASH My Dream 2026,' a project to deliver the show's original rice variety — 'Shin-Otoko-Mai' — directly to viewers.

The rice itself has a story. TOKIO developed an original variety called 'Otoko-Mai' by crossing two heritage strains (Takane Minori and Hime no Mochi). It was later crossbred with a disease-resistant Fukushima variety called 'Fuku Mirai' to create 'Shin-Otoko-Mai' (New Otoko-Mai), which is now grown on terraced paddies at the foot of Mt.

Adatara in Otama Village. The Fukushima connection is not incidental. DASH Village originally operated in Namie Town, Fukushima, but was forced to suspend operations after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

The show relocated and continued as 'Traveling DASH Village,' eventually settling in Otama Village. For many Japanese viewers, the show's continued presence in Fukushima carries emotional weight as a symbol of recovery and solidarity. The idol rivalry angle is a newer draw.

Morimoto Shintaro (SixTONES) and Fujiwara Joichiro (Naniwa Danshi) have been competing on the show for years, and their dynamic — described by fans as 'like Tom and Jerry' — brings a younger audience into a show that might otherwise skew toward longtime TOKIO fans.

What to watch next: The May 24 episode will feature a triple-bill of DASH Coast, 100-Person Canteen, and DASH Island — three of the show's other major ongoing projects — in a single one-hour broadcast. The 'DASH My Dream 2026' rice delivery project is also expected to develop further as the farming season progresses.