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\\ New Years Breakfast Japanese-Style Feast at ARI //

Happy New Year! Even after the Class of 2024 has gone home, ARI staff and volunteers continue working and living on the campus. Including for New Years! To celebrate, community members prepared traditional Japanese New Years food, Osechi. Designed to celebrate the new year and wish for good harvests in the coming seasons, each item on the plate has its own meaning. Even in a smaller gathering like now, ARI community members enjoyed feast and fellowship to welcome the new year. We look forward to a healthy and fruitful 2025, … Read more

\\🎉 The ARI participants of the class of 2024 have graduated!! 🎊//

On Saturday, December 14, the 52nd commencement ceremony was successfully held and the participants graduated. The first group of Asian graduates will return to their respective countries on December 16, and the second group of African graduates will return to their respective countries on December 17. Knowing that they will not see each other again, they bid farewell to each other and return to their communities around the world, encouraging each other about their respective works in which they will serve. Please remember these graduates as they continue to work … Read more

Cheese and Whey Festival, ARI is opening a stall.

Cheese and Whey Festival (@cheese.and.whey_festival) – Instagram photos and videos Cheese studios and popular restaurants from all over Japan will gather in Nasu. We are going to present you 2 days of tasty cheese and whey festival! Cheese and Whey Festival vol.2Dates: November 3 (Sun.) and 4 (Mon.)Time: 9:00 – 16:00 (Food will be served from 10:00)Admission: FreeLocation: @goodnews_nasu Cheese and Whey Festival vol. 2,” an event to enjoy cheese and whey in its entirety, which attracted about 4,000 visitors last year, will be held! | Press Release by Cheese … Read more

October issue of Japanese Newsletter Asia-no-Tsuchi. The topic is “Climate Change and Climate Justice”.

While participants are busy preparing for Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration, we are pleased to present the October issue of Japanese Newsletter Asia-no-Tsuchi. The topic is “Climate Change and Climate Justice”. Dr. Yoshiyuki Nagata of the University of the Sacred Heart, a leading expert on climate change and ARI board member, wrote the preface to this issue. In a special feature titled “Farmers Fighting Climate Change,” we interviewed Japanese graduates, former staff members, and lecturers who are working in agriculture in Japan about the current state of climate change and their efforts … Read more

Acknowledging Former Director Rev. Ueda’s Recent Passing

Bishop Rev. Jintaro Ueda, who served as ARI’s director from 1994 to 2000 and board member from 1994 to 2008, passed away on Monday, April 8, 2024. He was 83 years old. Current director Tomoko Arakawa reflects on her memories of Rev. Ueda: “He was my first director when I joined ARI as a staff member. He had a great deal of international experience, spoke fluent English, and was very knowledgeable about the church situation in Asia and Africa. He also loved music and played the piano very well. He … Read more

Tomoko Arakawa, Director of ARI, writes an editorial for Shimotsuke Shimbun, “Considering Japan’s Food Self-Sufficiency”

Tomoko Arakawa, our Director, has joined the writing team of a local newspaper, Shimotsuke Shimbun Sunday Editorial Board for the six months from this February. The first time she wrote an editorial titled “Toward a Society Where Foreigners and Japanese Can Live Together in Harmony.” The subject of this time’s issue was “Thinking about Japan’s Food Self-Sufficiency. Food is life. Why don’t you first calculate your own food self-sufficiency ratio today? You will discover many things by knowing the security of your own life. – Excerpt from “Considering Japan’s Food … Read more