Farm Experiences in Disaster-Hit Japanese Area Attracting Children

Ishinomaki, Miyagi Pref., July 10 (Jiji Press)–Agricultural and fishery experience programs being offered by a facility in a northeastern Japan district severely damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 are attracting children. Since its opening in the Ogatsucho district of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, 11 years ago, Moriumius has received a total of some 15,000 elementary and junior high school students, with many becoming repeat customers. Housed in a former elementary school building, the facility is located on an upland overlooking Ogatsu Bay, with mountains nearby. Program participants cook locally caught fish and heat bathwater with firewood collected in forests, tasting the “circular lifestyle” that the facility values. Moriumius came out of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, said Gentaro Yui, a 51-year-old executive of the facility’s operator. Soon after the disaster, Yui and some friends worked as volunteers in affected areas. Spending weekdays in Tokyo working and weekends in Ogatsucho, he came up with the idea of creating a facility where children could stay together and learn about the environment amid abundant nature. At the time he was working at a facility where children experience various vocations. Events such as rice farming were popular. Yui felt that urban children enjoy first-hand experiences with nature. He also thought that if such a facility gathers children from all over the country as an educational base, it would help revive the local community. Yui and others raised funds through crowdfunding and an overseas foundation supporting disaster-hit areas. In April 2013, they acquired the former elementary school building with a history of more than 100 years. Renovation work took about two years and three months, with more than 5,000 people taking part, including local residents and volunteers. Moriumius opened in July 2015. In mid-May this year, nine program participants stayed overnight at the facility. The youngest was a second grader, the oldest a second-year junior high school student. They fed silver salmon at a fish farm and gave leftovers to chickens that the facility keeps. They also made rice bowls topped with sliced raw fish, cutting up silver salmon and cooking rice with firewood. “I was able to experience things you don’t do when you take a trip,” Wataru Yamashita, a 7-year-old second grader from Tokyo, said smiling. “I want to come again.” Kei Nagase, a 10-year-old resident of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, had come back to Moriumius for the first time in three years. “I can play both in forests and in the sea. It’s fun,” Nagase said. “I love this place,” the fifth grader said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]