On 23rd November, students of a “zemi (seminar)” group from Kwansei Gakuin University visited Tamba for a study tour. Their research topics are mainly the environment and tourism, so their professor wished that the situations inside and outside Tamba City can be learned from different perspectives by the students.
In the morning, a harvesting activity of red beans was experienced in a disaster-affected farm which was damaged by the torrential rain disaster in August 2014.
Some students born and raised in urban cities said it was their first time to experience harvesting some crops, while others mentioned that the activity reminded them of their grandmothers’ family farming. The weather was slightly cold, but many red beans have been harvested!
In the afternoon, the group visited a local community leader to hear about their initiatives of community-based forest management. The leader served the group with hot sweet potatoes and peanuts while talking about the history of their community and various topics. The meet-up was also attended by members of the “Tamba City Ki no Eki Project (Wood Station Project)” of which the community is a member. Those members shared episodes of why they had realized the significance of forest management, which definitely made the students feel that the relation of people with forests is not something totally irrelevant to them.
The professor of the zemi was keen on regularly incorporating Tamba City study tour into his program from next academic year. He proposed that an orientation for briefing about Tamba City can be also set in the program in earlier semesters of the yearly schedule, for effective visits. This is a great chance of inviting many more students to know the greatness of Tamba City!
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