The 6th Session of Village Revitalization Volunteering

This is a report of the Village Revitalization Volunteering 3-da y and 2-night session that took place from October 24th to 26th.

Tokamachi-City, in which Iketani and Iriyama villages are located, is very famous because of it’s heavy snow that is even described in social studies textbooks for elementary schools. This time, the volunteering started the preparation for being coping with the heavy snow, a process called “Fuyu-gakoi”.

The volunteers uninstalled guardrails and corner mirrors to let the snow blowers pass through, and volunteers planked around the Shrine to protect it from snow.  In addition, the volunteers picked up firewood and cut it into a useful size. Although this is tough heavy lifting, the volunteers enjoyed doing this.

On the other hand, there was a “Fuyu-gakoi” for apptite, too.  New rice harvested this year was stored in cooler storages.  The rice stored here will be delivered to “Yama-Shimizu” Rice admirers(!) all over the country.  (To purchase this rice, please click here -- in Japanese only.)  We, the volunteers, carried heavy rice packets to the best of our ability, then all we have to do now is eat it!  It is time to relax.  Apart from these tasks, we sorted black-soy-beans and threshed buckwheat, and so on.

We had experienced the village’s lifestyle through these tasks, and with a laid-back atmosphere, enjoyable times past by quickly.