Nou-En

In rural Japan, as in many areas around the world, small communities are suffering from rapid population decline as young people flock to the cities. A self perpetuating cycle develops in which rural communities lose their youth to entertainment and work opportunities in the city, which cripples the local economy by leaving behind small towns and villages lacking an able workforce.
Here in Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, the evidence of this can be easily seen on any walk or bike ride around the valley. In some villages more than half of the houses are vacant. Many fields have been abandoned and have begun the rapid transition back to a more natural state. Elementary schools with great facilities are being forced to close due to low enrollment. At our local elementary school this year's First Grade class has three students. Village elders possess a lifetime of priceless skills and knowlege that is not being passed on because of a lack of interested youth. Looking forward in time, it is worrisome to imagine the state of these communities if current trends continue.
Seeing these things, we here at Nou En have been motivated to work for positive change. Our aim is to encourage young people from around the world to return to rural communities. We organize enthusiastic volunteers (mostly through the WWOOF organization, http://www.wwoofjapan.com) to help local farmers in exchange for healthy food and invaluable local knowlege. We network and assist local organic farms with vegetable and rice production on a regular basis. We try to enthusiastically jump in and help local villagers whenever we can. In addition to these projects, we also have our own fields and gardens as well as chickens and goats that we care for.
Because part of our aim is encouraging people to want to live in the country side we also take time to enjoy the benefits of country living. We go hiking in the surrounding mountains, swimming in ponds and streams (especially during the hot humid Japanese summer!), barbecues with friends on weekends, kendo lessons at the local gymnasium and much more.
Mostly we try to provide a communal living environment where we work, learn, and grow together, all while striving to benefit and elevate the local community.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

A note from Andy

Andy came to us after finishing an English teaching stint in Osaka and hails from North Carolina, USA. He brought with him a talent for musical improvisation as well as a keen observational sense. Thanks, Andy, for all your encouragement and insight into how to improve the project. These are his comments:

The world needs more of this! Community building from the ground up.I'm always happy to find people who believe in the need forresponsible, sustainable, chemical-free farming, but I was amazed tosee this project going one step further by focusing on an entirefarming community in need of support. Furthermore, by bringingtogether people from all around the world and Japan via WWOOF to help,the Nishimuras are dispersing social seeds which will no doubt lead tosimilar projects elsewhere. I also deeply admired the Nishimuras'philosophy of reciprocity; there's something very heart-warming aboutworking for free, and letting the people we help decide how to showtheir gratitude without money. And of course I love eating food grownand produced by people I've met.

To improve the project I suggest finding ways to improve communicationand planning, which should reduce stress and increase efficiency. Byplanning work schedules further ahead and keeping all the volunteersmore informed about them, especially the new volunteers, people maywaste less time, as well as feel and be more useful. If each personknows everything that needs to be done for the day and how to do it,the confidence of individual volunteers should be improved, makingthem less reliant on receiving constant orders and instruction.Compiling a handbook with general rules, information about how tocarry out basic farming-related tasks, maps of the area, thephilosophy of the project, what a typical work day should look like,etc. to show new arrivals might be helpful. I also suggest a buddysystem wherein a new volunteer is paired with a more experiencedvolunteer, or improving the team system already in place.

Despite my minor suggestions, I think the project is heading in the right direction and will accomplish great things. I hope to be a partof something similar back home. I wish everyone the best of luck!
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