News

Director’s Report:On October 4th, I was invited as a speaker for the Chapel Assembly Hour at Keiwa Gakuen University in Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture, to give a lecture titled “Peace from the Soil. The audience consisted mainly of about 100 first-year students (plus online attendees). Keiwa Gakuen University is a Christian liberal arts university with about 700 students. Their vision is “contributing to the local and global community by educating citizens with an international outlook who will serve others and lead a sustainable society.” I strongly felt that the university … Read more

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

Director’s Report:On Tuesday (Oct.1), on a beautiful autumn day with the sky high in the sky, all community members at ARI worked together to harvest rice. It has been about 4 months since the rice was planted in early June. After surviving arecord-breaking heat wave, and receiving much love and care from the farm staff, theParticipants, and the volunteers, all the rice plants were harvested. The total area of ARI’s rice fields is about 1.8 hectares. Already 90% of the rice has been harvested by machine, and only about one-tenth … Read more

Last Monday, ARI had a special program to celebrate its anniversary day. In the morning, a commemorative service was held at Oikos chapel and through Mrs. Shinko Takami, wife of our founder, Rev. Toshihiro Takami, we learned of the many wonderful character encountered and God’s guidance in their lives. Some former staffs from the neighborhood also gathered at the service, and it was a time to realize that ARI is today based on the efforts and prayers of our predecessors, and that we have been part of that flow.After the … Read more

Director’s Report:A research project team on Dignity Education led by Associate Professor and Chaplain Jeffrey Mensendiak of Oberlin University visited ARI for three days from September 9. (Dr. Emi Hasegawa, Dr. Akiko Asai, and Dr. Misako Takizawa are the other team members.)Rev. Mensendiak, who translated a book on dignity (Dr. Donna Hicks’ book “Leading with Dignity”) into Japanese, developed his own dignity workshop, and has been conducting the workshop for ARI participants for the past 4 years. This year, in addition to the workshop to the ARI participants, a workshop … Read more

On 26 – 31 August, participants went on a study tour around Yamagata, where they split into two groups and visited JA, city halls, farmers and schools in two areas, Okitama and Shonai. These regions have a long history of local leadership and government involvement in promoting producer- and consumer-friendly organic farming. Participants learned various things, from predecessors’ philosophy to systems of JA to protect farmers, as well as gender issues for women in agriculture. In between observations and sharing sessions, participants helped each other  to cook and clean, and … Read more