The Latest

Participants went to study tour to rural communities in Tohoku area

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 also enjoyed interacting with the local people through singing, dancing and eating together.

On the first day, the bus broke down and they were stuck on a highway for five hours, but everyone was protected and they were able to complete their six-day trip safely.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the people who warmly welcome our participants every year. Thank you very much!

ARI staffs visited graduates in Zambia and Malawi!

From 1-26 August, two ARI staff members travelled to Zambia and Malawi to visit a total of 23 graduates.

At the end of the trip, they attended an ECHO conference in Malawi.

ECHO is an organization that works in South-East Asia and East and West Africa to tackle hunger by helping small-scale farmers become self-sufficient by providing training opportunities in sustainable farming methods that are adapted to local conditions.

In connection with ECHO, AFARI (American Friends of ARI) organized and sponsored a gathering of ARI graduates at the conference, where they had the opportunity to reflect on and deepen their learning at ARI by interacting with other graduates and peers from the same region and learning new skills.
Many thanks to AFARI for also helping sponsor ARI’s travel costs.

Specific activities of graduates from Zambia and Malawi will be reported in the next post.

Please look forward to it!

Director’s Report: ARI Featured in Japan Times – Stories of Change Across the Globe

Director’s Report:
An article about ARI was featured in the Japan Times on September 2.
It is titled “Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm”
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2024/09/02/our-lives/asian-rural-insititute-tochigi-namibia-cambodia-germany/
The article describes what this year’s participant from Namibia (pictured) is learning, how the lives of the German volunteers of 2003 and the Cambodian graduates of 2010 have been changed by coming to ARI, and the significance of ARI’s training programs.
Medeleine Cuckson, the author of the article, is a British national who stayed at ARI for a three-week Christian group leadership training in July and is now working in Romania helping Ukrainian refugees.

Director’s Report: ARI’s 2023 Annual Report Released – A Journey of Learning and Sustainability

Director’s Report:
ARI’s Annual Report for 2023 FY was finally completed last month. It can be downloaded from ari.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cmyk-Annual-Report-JP-2023-online.pdf (available only in Japanese yet)
The picture on the cover is by Ms. Han Sakawa, a year-long volunteer of 2023. For the last week, the Participants were divided into two groups, one in the Shonai region and the other in the Kawanishi region of Yamagata Pref., and spent the last two days visiting a natural farm, Ureshipamosiri, in Towa-cho, Hanamaki, Iwate Pref. Mr. & Mrs. Sakawa, the couple who started the farm are Han’s parents, and Mr. Sakawa himself is a former ARI volunteer, too. Through their lectures and receiving ARI Participants to their farm ARI, they have shared with us their rich insights and experiences of the practice of “subsistence farming based on permaculture which is a design method for creating a sustainable human living sphere in harmony with the natural environment around us.”

Former ARI volunteers’ activities in Uganda were featured in the local newspaper, Shimotsuke Shinbun

On 16, 17 and 20 of August, Shimotsuke newspaper published a series of articles entitled ”JICA, From the Land of Africa – Report on a Visit to Uganda”.
The article was in three parts, covering support for infrastructure development, agriculture and education.
Miki Kanai (currently a JICA staff in Uganda), an ARI volunteer from 2020-21, was interviewed as one of those who had learned agriculture in Tochigi. She says, “I want to spread the cultivation of rice using organic fertilisers in Uganda where there are many farmers”.
Although not featured in the article, a graduate of the ARI in Uganda also got interview from the reporter.

Director’s Report: ARI Director Assists Visioning Process at Dokuritsu Gakuen High School

Director’s Report:
On August 23-24, I was invited by Dokuritsu Gakuen High School in Oguni-machi, Yamagata Prefecture, to help the faculty and staff learn about “visioning” (setting a vision of the school). ARI Participants visit the high school every year during ARI’s Rural Community Study Tour in Yamagata Prefecture, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to listen to the thoughts, wishes, dreams, and hopes of every member of the faculty and staff. I am grateful that I was able to touch even for a moment, the strength and depth of the foundation and spirit that has built Dokuritsu Gakuen High School (like the “corner pillar stone” placed at the entrance to the school) and the pure hearts of the faculty and staff who are working to realize it (like a river flowing through nature by the school)! (Photo: “The truth shall make you free,” John 8:32, written by a former staff member of the school that was displayed in the entrance hall.)

Director’s Report: Lecture on “Peace from the Soil” by ARI’s Director, Tomoko Arakawa

Director’s Report:
Thursday, August 22, I will be speaking at an event organized by the Maebashi Tomono Kai in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture. The title of the lecture is “Peace from the Soil”. The general public is welcome to attend, so please come if you are in the area!
Zenkoku Tomonokai was founded in 1930 by readers of “Fujin-no Tomo”, a magazine first published by Motoko Hani. The aim is to nurture mutual friendship through “Fujin-no Tomo” and to grow by making the most of each other’s abilities.
ARI and Tomono Kai share many values, and they have long supported ARI. I have also been invited to give a talk at many Tomono Kai in various places in Japan.

Director’s Report: Reporting Beyond the Headlines – Tomomi Ono’s Insightful Coverage of ARI

Director’s Report:
Ms. Tomomi Ono, an Asahi Shimbun reporter has written many articles about ARI since she was assigned to the Otawara (Northern Tochigi) Bureau in 2021, and she will be transferred to the Tokyo head office on September 1st.
Ono-san wrote about ARI’s events and covered a number of themes that touched the essence of ARI, such as radiation issues, organic farming, and servant leadership. She interviewed staff members many times and even attended classes. I am especially grateful to her for writing about me in the　“Hito (People)” section on the newspapers, to which I received many good responses!
She was also a big fan of ARI’s produce (and I’m sure you will continue to).
Come back again, Ono-san!