Ecoplus conducted “the camp in the deep snow” from Mar 21 to 24, 2023, in Shimizu village, in Niigata, Japan. Unfortunately we could not set the period including weekend, we had only four university students but they acquired a lot of knowledges and skills from the local people and enjoyed self build simple life on the snow for four days.
Although we had less snow than normal years In this winter, we had more than 1 meter of snow in Shimizu area. The weather conditions was dry and warm in early days, but later part we had not snow but rain.
In this camp, we slept in tents on the snow. We cooked on the snow making fire on the snow. We kept melting snow in a big pot on fire for drinking and cooking water. Students learnt how to use shovels for cutting snow to make objects such as tables and sitting place.
In the night of Mar 22, we had very clear sky without any clouds and the moon. So stars were sharp and bright filling all direction. Students laid on the snow for stargazing and they were excited to observe bright meteors.
In these convenient daily life environments, only with one action, we can get hot water, bright lights, and flash toilet instantly. Apart from such “convenient life,” we need to prepare fire wood, make fire, melt snow and play with its own creative ideas. Through such actions one by one, the faces of students changed clearly.
Local people kindly joined the program and vividly talked about the history, the nature, mountains, animals and life of the area. One of students commented that the life would be more free rather than just following a fixed path thought be “successful.“
ECOPLUS conduced an “on-line tour” in Minamiuonuma on Jan 30, 2022. That is one of four tours which were organized by a tour company called “KNOTWORLD” with the budget of Niigata prefecture government.
For the tour, we had more than 30 participants from all over Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa. From 11 a.m. the tour was started under the theme of “snow” guided by TAKANO Takako, executive director of ECOPLUS.
At the beginning, snow cover rice field of Tochikubo village was introduced. The place is 300 meters higher than town center. So the snow was reaching to 3 meters. Then, the camera moved to the house of Mr. FUEKI Akira, who has been growing non-chemical organic rice. He explained the harvest of the last season was good because of well weather condition.
The sun-dried non-chemical organic rice was delivered to the participants in advance so that they prepared cooked rice for this “tour.” Tasting the rice together, comment filed was filled with voices, like “Texture is soft,” “Sweet,” “Well sticky,” and “Grains are powerful.”
笛木さん宅では、その後、屋根からの除雪の様子などを紹介、「雪の中での暮らし」を感じてもらいました。
Mr. FUEKI also showed us how to manage a lot of snow fallen on the roof using traditional wooden slide. Participants learned the ways of living in deep snow.
In the later part of the tour, we visited Shiozawa Tsumugi Textile Museum. The area has more than 1,200 years of history of fabric. In old days, hemp closes and later silk ones were weaved. Mr. NAGUMO Masanori, the curator, explained the process from getting strings from fiber of outer skin of hemp plant to weaving with very traditional weaving mechanism.
Although it was a very short and on-line tour, participants asked many questions and comments through out the program and many are enjoying eating rice during this lunch time period while joining the tour.
It was the first time for ECOPLUS to organize the virtual tour. We learned a lot about online techniques, skills and tips for such unpredictable time caused by COVID-19. We really appreciate the kind support and collaboration by all participants and related persons today.
Ecoplus conducted day camp programs on March 6 and 6, 2021, at Shimizu village in Niigata, Japan. In the two days, 20 elementary school kids joined. During the program, they identified several animal tracks, dug snow caves, enjoyed flying snow sledging and were keeping laughing all the time.
On March 6, although it was sleeting, children were excited to come into the forest. They learned the different shapes of buds of plants and observed the foot prints of hares. Many of those experienced to use local snow shoes called “Kanji” during the walk.
After the lunch, it was the time to play on the snow. Some of those started to dig the snow using shovels. Their trials turned to a project to make snow caves. One of those was quite big enough to accommodate some children sitting inside. They also made a snow wall using snow blocks pulling outside from the cave, then their secret base was established. The walls between each one were also melted during the playing. The bright laughing voices were echoed in the tiny aged village.
On March 7, the weather condition was a bit better. With the clearer visibility, some of images of living creatures were identified. A naturalist, Mr. FUKASAWA, identified a “KAMOSHIKA,” or a Japanese serow, but it hided in somewhere. Then, a deer was spotted on the mountain ridge next to the village. Children enjoyed observing the deer with big antlers clearly with a powerful mononocular.
Children left the positive comments, like “it was nice to have new friends,” “It was fun to take lunch in our snow cave,” or “Sledging was very exciting.”
All of the participants are from this “snow country” and many of those said they were enjoying skiing. However they also said that they did not do sledding not so much, nor making snow caves next to their houses. It may be connected to the situation that many of new houses in the area are surrounded by concrete paved ground with running water for melting the snow. The children in the snow country look like losing the opportunity to play with snow in their daily lives.
“Kanjiki,” or Japanese snow shoes, were also unfamiliar for those. The tradition in the area is also fading away. The reactions from the participants showed the value to learn the nature and life in the place and to have the face-to-face dialogues with others through experiences.
