“New Year’s Party with Everyone!”

Happy New Year! In Niigata, it’s been snowing since the end of last year, and we had about two meters of snow in Iketani.

On January 10th, JEN had a New Year’s party, calling it “The Gathering on the New Year’s Day in Iketani” with villagers and volunteers. We spent a typical New Year’s Day pounding rice cakes, shoveling snow, and playing Japan’s traditional cards known as “karuta” and Hyakunin-Isshu. Also, before and after the party, volunteers helped local people remove the snow (or shovel snow off the roofs).

This time, three groups accompanying children took part, and the children enjoyed making snowmen and snow huts alongside their parents while adults were pounding rice cakes and shoveling snow. It was such a great atmosphere. Furthermore, a volunteer gave a “yoga” lesson, which wasn’t part of the original plan, and the elderly women in the village were very pleased to feel refreshed.

Living in Iketani, we feel that the rich natural environment and the gathering of the old and the young generate a lot of new things. Perhaps it is through these things that “richness” is created in this place. JEN will do its best again this year aiming to inherit the village onto the next generation and create a community where the elderly feel secure.

JEN hopes for your continued support this year.