そして別の機会にIhiが言った”Maori never die”というフレーズ。彼らの文化はシェアする、分かち合う性質を持つ、と話します。それによって彼らの文化はさらに強く、そして続いていく、マオリは死なない、という表現につながります。それはatuaとのつながり、先祖との繋がりが極めて具体的に意識にあることも関係していると思います。
We enjoyed the rice harvesting workshop of “The ABCs in Rice Paddies” with 15 participants on September 20-21, 2025, in the Kabanozawa village of Minamiuonuma City. Due to the unstable weather, we changed our plans and harvested rice on the 20th. On the 21st, amidst pouring rain, we observed a local farmer’s “rice preparation” work and learned about the current state of rice farming.
With only 35 millimeters of rainfall in July, less than 20% of the average, the rice paddies in Minamiuonuma were left cracked and in terrible condition. Rain finally came in early August, providing some relief, but temperatures remained over two degrees higher than average throughout the summer. The two pesticide-free paddies that we tended to through planting and weeding, following the basics of rice farming, have shorter stalks and fewer stems than last year.
On the 20th, rain was forecast for the evening, so we quickly finished lunch and headed to the fields to start harvesting. We began cutting the rice with sickles. The tricky part was bundling the cut rice. After listening to explanations from veterans who had participated several times before, we each struggled but managed to finish making rice bundles.
Occasionally, sunlight filters through the blue sky. A strong wind blows from the south, causing the rice stalks to sway like waves. During breaks, we were soothed by the sounds of insects like crickets while gazing at the rice fields stretching out before us.
Work progressed smoothly, and the first field was finished in about two hours. “We still have time, let’s do it,” said one participant. We started harvesting the second field. Everyone was getting the hang of it, and roles naturally divided: some cut, some bundled, some carried, and some hung the bundles on the drying racks. In just one hour, we neatly harvested half the field.
Heavy rain fell on the second day, starting in the early morning. We split up and rode in cars to visit the Tochikubo village, which was located about 300 meters higher in elevation. During a break in the rain, we toured the rice paddies and explored the beech forest.
At local farmer HIGUMA Keiichi’s workshop, the “adjustment” process was underway: removing moisture from the harvested rice, dehusking it, removing stones and other foreign objects, and sorting out small or discolored grains. “This year’s rice is beautiful,” he said, showing us the finished product.
Japan Agriculture’s purchase price for rice has risen from ¥20,000 last year to ¥33,000 this year in Minamiuonuma. Furthermore, an additional ¥4,000 seems to have been added in September. During the discussion session after the tour, veteran local farmer Kato Yoshiharu explained the current situation, stating: “The latest combine harvesters can cost as much as 25 million yen. Considering the price of machinery, farms of the previous scale simply can’t survive.”
In recent years, particularly, unstable weather patterns, including abnormal heat, droughts, and prolonged rains, have persisted, leading to ongoing instability in the quality and quantity of rice. Even if we aim to increase production, expanding the rice fields isn’t something we can easily do.
Mr. HIGUMA lamented, “I heard the minister came to Minamiuonuma City to inspect the drought situation, so I called city hall. They said no special budget measures were allocated. He just came to look.” Hearing this, the participants also felt the severity of the rice problem.
During a visit to a local supermarket, locally grown new-crop brown rice was being sold for 10,000 yen per 10kg bag. “At this price locally, it’s no wonder they charge 7,000 yen for 5kg in the Tokyo,” someone remarked.
A presenttion session for the Yap-Japan Cultural Exchange Program, conducted in March 2025, was held on the afternoon of July 5 in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. The session by the seven participants of the program, was attended by over 20 people, including family members, friends, and member of ECOPLUS, with some others watching online.
The meeting began with each participant presenting the daily activities of the 11-day stay on the island. They shared experiences such as arriving in Yap in the very early morning, resting briefly on the floor of school library, building toilets and showers together with villagers, digging up taro, the main staple food, and being surprised by the huge leaves of taros, grinding the coconut meat to make coconut milk for cooking, and being amazed by the countless fish in the crystal-clear waters in the lagoon. These vivid accounts of daily life were accompanied by photos.
Next, each participant shared their feelings about the program. One participant, who had previously been so obsessed with cleanliness that he couldn’t even sit on the airport floor, shared how he came to sit on the ground on Yap Island, surrounding a small lantern, to eat meals. Another shared how, even after returning to Japan, he couldn’t help but recognize the round objects they saw as the stone money in Yap. The participants spoke with big smiles on their faces, and the venue was filled with warm laughter.
The extraordinary rice shortage continues. The government is selling stored rice but still fundamental issues are not yet discussed and resolved. Learn about the origins of the rice world. We will review the current state of rice by “harvesting rice”, by hands in a 100% organic rice paddies.
The rice paddies for the program are which TAKANO Takako and OHMAE Junichi have been learning the traditional rice growing from elders living nearby since 2007. Without usage of chemical substances for nearly 20 years, we can observe many living creatures in the paddies such as pond snails, dragonflies, newts, loaches and others including listed species.
Suggested train schedule from Tokyo Joetsu Shinkansen Toki 309 Departing Tokyo at 08:52, arriving Echigo-Yuzawa at 10:20 Joetsu local line Departing Echigo-Yuzawa at 10:30, arriving Joetsu Kokusai Skiing Ground at 10:44
Contents and bringing Lectures and hands-on training on rice farming and the life and traditions of the rural community. The harvest occasion in the chemical-free rice paddies where we have been attentive since Spring. Bring your own lunch for Saturday, and water during activities. Clothings may get muddy. Insect repellent, a hat/cap. Rubber boots needed. More information will be provided for those whose participation is confirmed.
定員 Limit of participants. 15人程度。Up to around 15 participants.
参加費 Fee 一般：16,000円（プログラム費、1泊2食の宿泊費、2日目の昼食、保険を含む）。学生12,000円（同）。男女別相部屋です。ご家族連れは調整させていただきます。学生等で田んぼ脇の民家での寝袋泊も可、9,000円。宿泊なしの場合は、大人8,000円、小学生は1,000円。 16,000 JPY including program fee, accommodations with two meals, lunch on Sunday, insurance. Shared room. Students and other youth with sleeping bags can stay in a house next to the paddy with 9,000 JPY.
On the weekend of June 21-22, 2025, ECOPLUS conducted a weeding workshop in Minamiuonuma City, Niigata Prefecture, with nine participants ranging from babies to the elderly.
On Saturday, June 21, we visited the highest rice field in the city, located in the Tochikubo Village. The tour began with a visit to a reservoir into which spring water from the mountains flows, and the participants learned how the water travels through the terraced rice paddies one by one.
We also found the bubbling eggs of tree frogs on the branches of a 5-meter-high tree adjacent to the rice paddies.
We also observed the site of mowing, the slope between paddies, which is a significant challenge for rice cultivation in terraced rice paddies. We were amazed to see the huge slope, which was about three times taller than our height.
On Sunday, June 22, weeding was done under fine weather, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, but the soil in the rice paddies was slightly cool to the touch. We could clearly see the difference between the temperature of the soil and that of the hot spring-like temperature on the surface.
We spent a total of three hours fighting with the weeds that were growing around the roots of the rice seedlings, which had grown to a height of about 30 centimeters. 150 square meters of small rice field was beautifully cleaned. A rice ball lunch was served next to the rice paddy.
In the pesticide-free rice paddies, we were able to see many living creatures, including the Moreton’s damselfly and the red-bellied newt. Both are listed as endangered species 1A in the Kanto Plain and other areas.
Weeding of the pesticide-free rice fields will be necessary one or two more times until around July. They returned home with their voices saying, “I will come back to weed the fields on my own!” Thank you very much.
The extraordinary rice shortage continues. Where is the rice that left farmers’ hands more than six months ago, and who is profiting from more than double the price? Learn about the origins of the rice world. We will review the current state of rice by “weeding the rice field”, the most important part of 100% organic rice farming.
Rice planting; May 24-25 Weeding in the paddy; June 21-22 Harvesting; September 20-21 (Tentative; based on the climate condition, finalized in two months in advance)
The rice paddies, we will conduct the program, are which TAKANO Takako and OHMAE Junichi have been learning the traditional rice growing by elders living nearby since 2007. Since no chemical materials has been used for nearly 20 years, many creatures such as pond snails, dragonflies, newts, loaches and others including listed species.
Suggested train schedule from Tokyo Joetsu Shinkansen Toki 309 Departing Tokyo at 08:52, arriving Echigo-Yuzawa at 10:20 Joetsu local line Departing Echigo-Yuzawa at 10:30, arriving Joetsu Kokusai Skiing Ground at 10:44
Contents and bringing Lectures and hands-on training on rice farming and the life and traditions of the rural community. Emphasis is on weeding the chemical-free rice paddies. Bring your own lunch for Saturday, and water during activities. Clothings may get muddy. Insect repellent, a hat/cap. We recommend to come into the paddy with bare feet to feel the soil directly. Beach sandals are useful to wash your feet in a stream. More information will be provided for those whose participation is confirmed.
定員 Limit of participants. 15人程度。Up to around 15 participants.
参加費 Fee 一般：16,000円（プログラム費、1泊2食の宿泊費、2日目の昼食、保険を含む）。学生12,000円（同）。男女別相部屋です。ご家族連れは調整させていただきます。学生等で田んぼ脇の民家での寝袋泊も可、9,000円。宿泊なしの場合は、大人8,000円、小学生は1,000円。 16,000 JPY including program fee, accommodations with two meals, lunch on Sunday, insurance. Shared room. Students and other youth with sleeping bags can stay in a house next to the paddy with 9,000 JPY.
Ecoplus held Yap Japan Cultural Exchange Program on Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia, from March 9 to 18, 2025. The program, which began in 1992 and has continued almost every year, was suspended from 2020 to 2023 due to the COVID-19. It resumed in spring 2024 on a smaller scale, and this time, the program was the first full-scale event in five years.
The participants were four male and three female high school and college students, plus one participant from the previous year as a volunteer staff member.
We stayed in the village of Dechmur in the Tamil municiparity of Yap, for the second time since 2018. Our base of activities was the women’s house. It is a one-story concrete building that serves as a shelter during typhoons.
On the 9th, the day we arrived, the villagers instructed us to weave sleeping mats out of palm fronds. We set up posts on the ground, passed thin bamboo across it, and inserted dead palm fronds to make a toilet and shower room. The villagers had already built a cooking house. A living space similar to the local living environment was created, with the meeting place used as a sleeping place and the outside hut used for the daily life.
The first experience to cut a coconut
Weaving mats and hats
Digging a toilet hole
Use skin of a tree to tie
Toilet on the left and shower room on the right side.
Bathroom completed
The staple food is taro. We were also taught how to dig the taros out from under the huge leaves. Three years after planting the small taros, it is time to harvest them: first the leaves are cut off, then a wooden point about 5 centimeters in diameter, with the tip shaved in the shape of a knife, is inserted into the root to cut the roots, which can then be pulled out. They are wrapped in the removed leaves and taken home in a basket woven from palm fronds.
Where a taro is dug up, seedlings are planted. This way you dig up one taro and have three or four ready for the next one. That way we can prepare the next meal properly,” an elderly woman told us.
Huge leaves of Taro
Cutting roots, dug up the root.
Replant seedings for next harvest
Clean up the taro
Cooked taro
The cooking of taros is also done using dried coconut shells as the first fuel, then thicker wood, and continues for an hour and a half, using banana leaves as the middle lid to keep the heat in. All this work requires meticulous preparation, and the food is prepared through a careful process.
To drink the juice of the young coconut, one climbs a tree that is several to ten meters high, drops the fruit, which has grown to the size of a rugby ball, carries it to the base, and cuts off the thick shell with a large hatchet. The way they cut the rind varies depending on the situation, such as when they are serving it to elders or guests, or when they want to drink it themselves right away. Gradually, the participants understood and mastered these detailed techniques.
The highlight of the program was the 3-day/2-night homestay. Each participant was invited to live with a family as a member of their household. Upon their return, the participants blended into the circle of people and were full of smiles.
The villagers graciously allowed us to immerse ourselves in their daily lives, not as tourists, but from the same perspective, feeling the present and thinking about the future. During our time there, participants never touched a smartphone and spent time without social networking sites.
Reflecting upon their return to Japan, participants said, “I thought there were things I didn’t need in my life in Japan. I thought it would be more interesting to create something instead of looking at Instagram in my spare time.” “I could understand the culture and traditions of the local people by being a part of their lives.” ” I felt that because of the time and effort they put into their daily lives, there was an abundance of appreciation for their food and everything else.”
The main theme of the program is “What is true happiness? Away from the digital-soaked days of chasing “convenience,” we experienced a dense and attentive lifestyle where people talk seeing each eyeballs. The participants seemed to have found a gateway to a new sense of values as they experienced a lifestyle of intimate contact with people and their eyes, which was the case in Japan only a few generations ago.
The participants will reflect on their myriad experiences and write their reflections into a report that will be delivered at a public presentation scheduled on July 5.
