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
“Food can make you happy just by looking at it.”
This is what Peace from Food means to Thi Thi, a member of the ARI team from Myanmar, working in FEAST (Food Education and Sustainable Table).
Thi Thi’s drawings of vegetables and flowers reflect her hometown’s rich food culture and her heartfelt appreciation for the beauty of cuisine.
“The cook’s feelings reflect directly in the taste of the food.”
Her message connects you, your food, and your loved ones. “First, it’s important that you, yourself, feel it’s delicious. Because that connects to the joy of the person who eats it.”
The kitchen is a place where creativity and culture are shared, and where peace is born.
Small acts of kindness through food become the power to build peace in the future.
Inteviewed & Written by Konoha Yamanaka (ARI Volunteer)
Click here to read the series of articles
“Peace from Food” Cooking for Peace Vol. 1 ← Now, you’re here.
“Peace from Food” Cooking for Peace Vol. 2
Recently, we held a community event at the ARI, visiting a river and waterfall together.
It was a beautiful day to refresh our minds and bodies in the embrace of nature, surrounded by friends and shared moments.
In the midst of our busy daily lives, we are grateful for the opportunity to slow down and connect—with nature and with each other.
As the hot days continue, we hope you’re staying well and taking good care of yourselves.
Mina Yamashita of RAKUDA, a bakery in Kuroiso, Nasushiobara City is a supporter of ARI, and has a message for you this week. What is food for her?
“Food is … Circulation”
When I think about what food means to me, the first thing that comes to mind is that it is what makes my body. And when it leaves the body, it returns to nature. I want to choose foods that are pleasant to eat, both for what goes into my body and what returns to nature.
What is RAKUDA?
I bake bread with homemade natural yeast, domestic wheat, and as many organic ingredients as possible.
When making my bread, I do my best to make sure that this is what makes the bodies of the people who eat it…!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rakuda.pan/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rakuda.b/
Peace from Food Donation Campaign
Starting Friday, August 1, 2025!
▶ Campaign website: https://ari.ac.jp/donate/peace2025/en?ari=news
From August 1, we are hosting our “Peace from Food” Donation Campaign.
Throughout the month of August, we are sharing voices from our community members and supporters on Instagram and Facebook Stories, centered around the theme “What does food mean to you?”
All past stories can also be viewed on our Instagram Highlights.
For the future of children
Nilani is a pioneering social worker in Sri Lanka. Born and raised in a poor family, she received a scholarship and studied at Sri Lanka’s first social welfare school. After teaching at her school and other educational institutions, she worked with Save the Children, where she interacted with a wide range of people.
On December 26, 2004, an event occurred that would dramatically change her life. While on a business trip with her family to the coastal region, she encountered the massive tsunami caused by the Sumatra earthquake, losing her five-year-old son. Despite her profound grief, she established the Siddhartha Child Development Foundation (SCDF). This initiative, which aims to provide children with a safe environment where they can fully develop their potential and live joyfully, has now reached its 20th anniversary.
There is a village in Gangeyaya, Hasalaka, located in Central province, that Nilani now passionately visits every three months. To reach this village, she must take a bus and then an auto rickshaw, followed by a 5-kilometer walk. The total journey takes eight hours one way. The poor access to this village, located beyond a road so bad that auto rickshaw drivers refuse to go there, greatly hampers the villagers’ lives.
In most households, mothers work in the Middle East, while fathers and older brothers work in the military. Left behind, grandparents alone cannot adequately educate the children, and many drop out before reaching high school.
One of the few jobs available in the village is brick-making, but the wages paid are meager. Furthermore, contractors will sell contracts to use their land for making bricks, resulting in the loss of fertile topsoil. By the time the brick-makers are finished stripping the earth for materials, the soil has died, and become impossible to start a farm.
Farmers also face dangers caused by elephants. Elephants living in the jungle adjacent to the village often venture into residential areas in search of fruit and water. If they discover rice inside a house, they destroy it, and in severe cases, family members may lose their lives.
One of the reasons Nilani continues to be involved with this village is the presence of Chandra, an SCDF volunteer worker whom she cares for like her own daughter. Her family is the poorest in the village, but she has a beautiful heart and works tirelessly for others, putting her own problems aside.
In July, Nilani visited that village again and stayed for a week, conducting programs for children and elderly people and visiting their houses. When she comes, many villagers gather to talk to her. When Nilani arrives, one girl runs up to her to embrace. This young girl was born with developmental disabilities, but thanks to the intervention of Chandra, she can now read, write, and speak well. She proudly shows off her pumpkin garden at home to Nilani, thriving despite the smaller rainfall this year. Since graduating from ARI in 2018, Nilani has been actively incorporating agriculture into her children’s programs, and in this village, she is going to have a project with the children in September to make compost and grow seedlings for the October rainy season, and will ask children to make their own plans for individual kitchen gardens.
Nilani’s latest pleasure is growing plants in her home on the second floor. She started it as a way to teach her children how to make the most of limited space, but it has grown into a passion and reminds her of simple joys and sorrows she had as a child, such as when a plant gets sick. When Nilani returns home after a day of her important work, she feels tired, but with an energized mind.
I asked Nilani what food means to her. She replied with a Buddhist teaching, “the most important thing for all living things.” She always speaks to her children in the words of Chief Seattle: “If this earth, which has been handed down from our ancestors, is damaged, human beings cannot survive. So we must take care of our own lands.”
Inteviewed & Written by Makiko Abe
Click here to read the series of articles
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 1
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 2
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 3
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 4
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates -spin off-
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 5 ← Now, you’re here.
This August 12, one of our graduates deeply involved in global peace-building visited the campus to speak about this important work.
Thomas Mathew, a graduate from India, travels to Japan almost every year to attend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6th and the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 9th. Peace activities are a critical pillar of his work. His passionate commitment to peace activities was sparked by his training at ARI in 1988. During the Western Japan Study Tour, he visited Hiroshima, where he encountered the history of the atomic bomb and listened to a “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors, which sparked his concern about India’s nuclear possession. “Nuclear weapons are different from other weapons. They have the power to totally eliminate humanity and nature.”
After returning to India, he dreamed of creating dialogue between hibakusha and his region, so that his people could hear their stories. After a short time, he successfully brought several hibakusha to his community in1990 August and it is still going on. Since then, he has also worked to raise awareness of the dangers of nuclear weapons, including photo exhibitions, seminars and producing a documentary about the serious impact on the environment and humans after India’s nuclear tests in May 1998.
During his session at ARI, he described the work he does now: “Social services in the community you belong to and where you were raised is very important. However, no matter how much economic growth there is, it will not last long without peace. That is why doing both social services and peace activities is my mission.”
When one participant asked if he could truly imagine a world without nuclear weapons, he replied, “This is my dream. Dreams need to be fulfilled. We work. Educate the younger generation. Listen to hibakushas. One day, that day will come true.”
After his lecture, the author asked him to write his answer to “what does food mean to you?” on the Peace from Food campaign sticker.
His answer was, “Food is peace.”
Read more about Thomas Mathew’s work in volume 2 of our series, Peace from Food, in the article series linked below.
Peace from Food Donation Campaign
August 1, 2025 (Friday) – September 20, 2025 (Saturday)
▶ Visit our campaign website: ari.ac.jp/donate/peace2025
Written by Yuko Emura
Click here to read the series of articles
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 1
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 2
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 3
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 4
“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates -spin off- ← Now, you’re here.
Participants visited Hidamari Farm, a local organic farm and experiential learning NGO.
Hidamari Farm grows just enough produce to support the 100 members of its CSA (teikei) group, ensuring their soil will be usable for generations.
Chickens live free-range without stress, eating weeds and pests under the fruit trees, and lay their eggs at a sustainable rate.
Through connecting with students across Japan, the farm provides a first chance for many urban youth to touch soil and experience nature.
Managed by a 2013 graduate (2014 GI), Yohei Hamanaka, he shared the importance of cultivating agriculture within the context of community relationships, and his way of engaging with nature. He demonstrated a method of making a living through protecting the earth and soil upon which we all live.
Tomoko Arakawa, Managing Director of the Asian Rural Institute, appeared on a Japanese radio program, the TBS Radio “Nobuhiko Shima – Jinsei Hyakkei”.
🎙 Broadcast Schedule
You can also listen on Radiko for 7 days after the broadcast when you are in Japan: https://radiko.jp/r_seasons/10002464
📻 Program URL: https://www.tbsradio.jp/articles/98893/
Tomoko spoke about international cooperation, rural leader training, and the journey of the Asian Rural Institute.
We hope you’ll tune in!
“Peace from Food” Donation Campaign
Starting Friday, August 1, 2025!
▶ Campaign website: ari.ac.jp/donate/peace2025
From August 1, the Asian Rural Institute is running the “Peace from Food” Donation Campaign.
Throughout the month of August, we are sharing voices from our community members and supporters on Instagram and Facebook Stories, centered around the theme “What does food mean to you?”
All past stories can also be viewed on our Instagram Highlights.
Once a week, as a special feature, we will also share messages from supporters of ARI.
Week 2: DUARI (Doshisha University Asian Rural Institute), Kyoto
This week, we share a “Food is …” message from Ryosuke Taniguchi, a member of DUARI at Doshisha University.
We also invite you to explore other “Food is …” messages shared by other DUARI members.
“Food is … Choice”
What I eat.
Where I eat.
With whom I eat.
The choices I make each day shape who I am today.
What is DUARI?
DUARI is a project under the International Residential Study Group, a student group at Doshisha University in Kyoto.
With the motto “Living together with ARI – take & give,” DUARI engages in various activities such as public outreach for ARI, sending volunteer teams twice a year in spring and summer, and organizing gatherings in Kyoto to learn more about ARI.
Watch all our online events again!
Join the ARI life with family and friends!
We're looking for on-campus volunteers
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.
