I left my desk job to take over my grandparents’ Wagyu farm in rural Japan. It changed how I define success.0

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• August 17, 2026

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Masashi Nakamura, 29, who is running Nakamura Farm, a small Wagyu farm in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. His words have been edited for length and clarity. I was working at a meat processing facility in Tasmania when my interest in Wagyu began. It was 2024, and I