Want to take a break from your daily work or studies for a while?Thinking about how you want to live your life?Want to encounter things you’ve never experienced before? Volunteering at ARI is a perfect opportunity for you! Why not
Next weekend marks ARI’s biggest event, Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration (HTC)!
We’ll share the key highlights from each respective committee! 👐
“HTC (Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration)” is a day to share gratitude through music and celebrations from 20 different countries!
Our committee is in charge of the worship and performance programs, and we’ve been preparing to create a heartwarming time for everyone. Come join us and celebrate together! (Messaged by Worship and Performance Committee, HAVANA)
▶ Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration (HTC), ARI’s largest annual event to give thanks for a bountiful harvest, is coming again this year!
We will entertain you with international cuisine, cultural stage performances and hands-on activities!
Dates: October 18 & 19 (Sat & Sun)
For more information: https://ari.ac.jp/en/htc-2025/
Next weekend marks ARI’s biggest event, Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration (HTC)!
We’ll share the key highlights from each respective committee! 👐
We take care of the decoration, games and interaction.
In terms of decoration, we are preparing it by collecting local resources, such as bamboos, cones, dry flowers, bamboo baskets, and origami.
We have many fun games, like: Flip bottle game, Water rally, Cookie eating game, Goat milking, Blind hit and paper fishing.
We also have a language cafe which is an activity where you can communicate and interact with people from different countries and also exchange culture by learning or communicating with and in their languages.
We are looking forward to meeting and interacting with you. Come and visit us! Let’s enjoy and have fun together!😊
(Messaged by Game and Decoration Committee, HALO HALO)
▶ Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration (HTC), ARI’s largest annual event to give thanks for a bountiful harvest, is coming again this year!
We will entertain you with international cuisine, cultural stage performances and hands-on activities!
Dates: October 18 & 19 (Sat & Sun)
For more information: https://ari.ac.jp/en/htc-2025/
As the community gears up for Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration (HTC), preparations are in full swing. At the same time, the selection process for next year’s participants is also underway.
Staff members are divided into several groups, holding repeated discussions based on materials and interviews prepared by the admissions team to select candidates one by one. ARI Participants all agree that ARI’s selection process was truly challenging, requiring them to answer numerous questions.
This process, demanding patience from both selectors and candidates, is the first step toward the success of the new academic year and the emergence of future rural community leaders.
HTC is now just 10days away!✨
On campus, the committees are getting excited and have been busy holding meetings and preparing for the celebration.
From today, we will start the countdown to HTC on SNS📢
We hope that you will join us getting excited in the following two weeks, through exploring what is going on at ARI!👏
▶ 🌾Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration (HTC), ARI’s largest annual event to give thanks for a bountiful harvest, is coming again this year!
We will entertain you with international cuisine, cultural stage performances and hands-on activities!
Dates: October 18 & 19 (Sat & Sun)
For more information: https://ari.ac.jp/en/htc-2025/
On a sunny autumn day, there was some smoke coming from the mountainside… Participants were practicing charcoal and wood vinegar making.
Even though the weather had cooled down, sweat was beading on their foreheads as they worked hard to build a fire.
Dragonflies are flying around in the fields managed by groups of the participants. Next to red beans and soybeans whose leaves have turned yellow, Chinese cabbage, radish, and mizuna are being planted, steadily preparing for the winter season.
One of the most important skills for a team leader of any organization is proper project planning. Considering all necessary resources — including time, money, and labor — and any possible risks that may occur. But even before that: what is the problem your community faces? How can you solve it? And in how much time?
Answering these questions, and making plans from start to finish, was the theme of a 3-part class taught by ARI staff. Using lessons inspired by those taught at the Japan International Cooperation Agency, ARI staff and participants together designed projects to help fix a simple problem: Low vegetable production in the community, one faced by virtually every participant’s home regions.
Divided into groups, participants performed SWOT analyses on this model community, devised a project goal to help achieve vegetable production, then wrote specific achievements and necessary tasks to help produce this project goal.
By creating a trial project to test their ideas, participants could see the importance of a thorough advance project planning session can achieve stronger results. By putting all ideas on the table at once, they can create projects with realistic goals, achievable benchmarks, and with fruitful results for all in their communities.
Once again this year, the rice paddies at the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) ripened to a beautiful golden color. Our entire community—participants, volunteers, and staff from countries across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Japan —came together for the annual rice harvest!
The small seedlings we planted in the spring grew strong under the summer sun, bearing a rich and plentiful harvest.
Under a brilliant clear autumn sky, we all got muddy together, carefully cutting each stalk by hand with sickles.
Songs and dances in many languages filled the air, and the paddies were overflowing with smiles and vibrant energy.
This rice was lovingly grown by our community, completely free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Each and every grain is filled with the warmth of the sun and the heart of everyone who nurtured it.
This year, too, our participants come from many different countries—some where rice is a staple food, and others where it is not.
However, the experience of growing your own food with your own hands is a special one for everyone. Sharing this common understanding, we harvested each and every stalk with a deep sense of gratitude.
May our spirit be passed on to the future community that will be nourished by this rice.
We give thanks for the blessings of nature and for this shared work of building peace.
Environmental pollution caused by economic development, and the role of leaders who confront such issues, is one of the key topics in the ARI training.
On September 18th, the participants went on an observation trip to sites related to the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident, the first major environmental pollution disaster in Japan.
They visited various locations over a wide area, including the former villages of Matsuki and Yanaka, which were abandoned due to air pollution and the making of a basin. They also visited the area of Morita in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, where vast farmland was damaged by the collapse of a dumping site in Ashio.
Their guide was Mr. Tatsuo Sakahara, who served as the secretary-general of the citizen group “Tanaka Shozo College” until 2022. He has also been teaching about the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident and Tanaka Shozo at ARI for over 40 years.
The participants observed and listened attentively, reflecting on their own local environments and communities.
“True civilization does not despoil the mountains, nor the rivers, nor destroy villages, nor kill people.”
These are words of Tanaka Shozo, who dedicated his life to resolving the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident. These words resonated deeply inside the participants throughout the day.
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This is where the community gathers to share meals and fellowship together. More than just a dining hall, it also serves as a venue for events, meetings, and learning activities. Koinonia is a Greek word meaning “fellowship” or “sharing.”
At peak times, meals are prepared for as many as 100 people at once. Students, staff, and volunteers all take part in cooking and meal preparation. The kitchen is not only a place for preparing food but also a space for learning, serving others, and building relationships within the community.
Participants attend classes in these classrooms throughout the training program. The library contains a wide range of English and Japanese books, audiovisual materials, and magazines covering agriculture, social issues, community development, and many other fields of study.
Participants and volunteers live in separate dormitories for men and women. The dormitory includes shared lounges, kitchens, showers, and laundry facilities. Wi-Fi is not available.
The poultry facilities include free-range chicken coops and a brooding house. More than 400 chickens are raised, producing over 80,000 eggs and approximately one ton of chicken meat each year.
Participants learn a variety of pig farming techniques through hands-on practice. Both deep-litter and concrete-floor systems are used, and manure is recycled into biogas and fertilizer.
Goat milk (over 200 liters annually) and meat are used for food, while manure is used as fertilizer. During the day, the goats roam freely in the pasture.
The forests surrounding the campus are managed through selective thinning for firewood and charcoal production. Leaves and other organic materials are collected for use in agriculture.
On 2.5 hectares of farmland, approximately 100 varieties of vegetables and crops are grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The entire community helps manage the fields as part of its commitment to learning and self-sufficiency.
Rice is cultivated in paddies both on and off campus. Various organic rice-growing methods are studied and practiced, including weed control and fertilization using ducks.
The workshop is a space for repair and recycling activities. It contains machinery, welding equipment, woodworking tools, and a variety of materials.
Livestock feed is produced here using both manual and mechanical methods. Continuous efforts are made to improve feed quality and sustainability.
The first floor houses the reception area and administrative offices, while the second floor contains staff offices and the Director’s office. The Farm Shop (Agricultural Training Room) is located adjacent to the building.
The shop offers ARI-grown produce, processed foods, books, and handicrafts from the home countries of ARI graduates.
The facility serves as the hub of agricultural activities at ARI. It includes classrooms, storage for tools and farming materials, and facilities for drying and storing crops.
Originally a 100-year-old traditional farmhouse, the chapel has been renovated into a place of worship. Daily morning gatherings are held here, along with meditation, dialogue sessions, gospel choir practice, and other community activities. Oikos is a Greek word meaning “home.”
This facility is used for producing and storing processed foods such as cookies and jam. The ground floor also contains a poultry processing facility.
Fish are raised for both food and agricultural purposes.
