To start with a cliché, has it really been just one week?
Thanks to the amazing people I have met, there have been so many wonderful experiences and these unique insights into life in Japan are exactly why I wanted to spend so long volunteering in this fascinating country. The landmarks of Hanna Road are slowly becoming more familiar, although I would be lost without Shinri-san, Yani and Natalia to guide me. The blazing sunshine makes the water we supply even more essential and it is particularly rewarding to see a dusty corner return to life, such as the site of the recent car accident. Hopefully we won’t see any more of those! As we go around the city it is impossible to ignore the preparations for the festival and the sense of excitement is infectious. Right now, I cannot imagine the one million visitors we will be welcoming and I know being involved will be both a privilege and a real highlight of my time here. We have also been watching the teams practice, setting a very high standard for us to imitate as part of the international group joining the main parade on Sunday. What an honour! This also means we will soon be joined by another Workcamp, which will include two friends from the orientation weekend which seems so distant now. It was sad to bid farewell to the other group, although they truly inspired me with their enthusiasm and dedication to mastering the Japanese language. My own attempts to improve have begun with three lesson at Topia. These classes have definitely stretched me, but my desire to communicate to the wonderful people around me is providing good motivation. To me, this is also about learning more than just the language. There is an entire culture to fathom out and I am extremely grateful to my patient guides. Food is an endless voyage of discovery, not just because of all the new things I am trying, but I have quickly realised that our regular breakfast stop is the social hub of our little corner of Tokushima and I love meeting familiar faces there most mornings.
My taste buds have been left in no doubt about the quality of Japanese produce as our talented cooks create masterpieces that are breathtaking in both presentation and simplicity. I think I will be on a constant mission in the UK to try and recreate my favourites. Cooking itself is also great fun for me, whether it is watching experts at work, or frantically learning etiquette from the locals around me. I just hope I don’t offend any of them with my frequent errors!
So, it is soon to be all hands to the deck for the festival ... and we can’t wait for the fun and games to begin. Follow the rest of the adventures of Keira, our MTV volunteer in Japan, through her blog: http://bizandaigaku.jugem.jp/?cid=10
After
spending about 2 weeks visiting major cities in Japan, I left the main island
of Honshu for Hokkaido. Destination? Onuma Quasi-National Park (大沼国定公園, Onuma Kokutei Kouen), at the
southernmost tip of the island, near Hakodate city (函館). The aim of the workcamp? 1 ½ weeks of mostly environmental work.
Along with six other volunteers (two of them Japanese and the rest
international), we built rafts to depollute water and cut some plants for
forestry work. I did not know much about environmental work before this
workcamp. Eighteen rafts and some tree-cutting later, here is what I learned:
1.Building rafts:
It may seem strange just hearing about it, but our main work was to build rafts
to depollute lake water. Explanation: Onuma Park has three lakes. Two of them,
Lake Onuma and Lake Konuma (大沼 and 小沼) are quite polluted. Visibility of
the water is low, some species have become extinct; there is little underwater
life in general. At first, people thought this was due to man-made pollution.
However, they soon realized that it was caused by intensive agriculture and
animal grazing instead. Worrying about the long-term consequences of this
process, a university professor decided to design a project to protect the
lakes.
·Why are the lakes important locally? They are vital to agriculture, as they provide
water for irrigation. They mean a lot to the people because the national park
is quite a beautiful area and home to many species of plants and animals.
Tourism is also one of the main activities that people live off of.
·Why was it important to set up this project? Other than the local degradation
aspect, this pollution problem has a wider impact. The lake water goes into the
sea. Not interfering at the root of the problem would mean spreading the
pollution to other places. On the other hand, solving the pollution problem
early causes less trouble to other people. The rafts thus represent a sustainable
means to prevent further pollution.
·How do the rafts
help to depollute?The rafts improve the visibility of the water
so that underwater life can redevelop. Their main function is to trap algae
floating on the surface of the water into a net. By bringing in more light,
there is more underwater oxygen production, and the water becomes a more
habitable space. Roots and dirt are also placed on top of the rafts, so that
new plants can grow and wildlife is once again attracted to the lake.(Esthetically, I thought it had a third
advantage of making the rafts become virtually invisible. Ducks seemed to like
them as well, as they made their nests on the rafts.)
·Do they work?From what is known, they do seem to have a
positive impact on the lakes. According to a series of recent surveys, Onuma
Lake has been gaining on average 20 cm per year in visibility (80 cm visibility
in 2007, 120 cm in 2009.)
Building rafts
2.Cutting plants:
For two days, we participated in another activity, aimed at protecting the
forest (rather than the lakes) of the park. We worked with the forest rangers
of Onuma to clear paths in one area of the park. Like 40 other percent of
forests in Japan, the forest in Onuma Park is man-made, rather than natural.
The forest rangers are responsible for its conservation, and aim to restore it
to a natural forest state over a period of about 100 years. Clearing the paths
helps them patrol the forest. Our work meant simply cutting unwanted plants,
but it also had the effect of protecting special species from parasite plants.
(Potential damage can come from animals or other plants, if those use all the
nutrients in the soil or monopolize all of the available sunlight).This work was therefore more straightforward
than the raft-making, but it was also more physically demanding: we worked our
way by going slowly uphill and the forest was very humid.
Other activities: Towards the end of the workcamp, we took part in a third activity,
with a cultural focus. We had the chance of helping at an o-matsuri (お祭り), a Japanese festival.It was a sort of o-Bon (お盆) matsuri, a festival held to remember and celebrate the dead. Families
write the names of their dead on lanterns and put them on the lake to float.
The spirits of the dead are supposed to be attracted to these lights and follow
them. In Japan, this festival is generally held in early July or early August;
however, because of tourism issues in Onuma, the local government decided to
have it at a different time.It was
touching to see it take place, especially because of the earthquake and tsunami
which happened in March.
As a group,
we wanted to make the most of the festival, therefore we unanimously decided to
attend it while wearing yukata (浴衣). Yukatas are
a sort of summer kimono that people (both men and women) wear for the
festivals. (They can also be worn on a daily basis, generally by the elderly,
and the less fancy ones can be used to sleep in). We wore them for the lantern ceremony,
to enjoy the o-matsuri and to watch hanabi (花火, literally ‘flowery fire’), the fireworks.
The
o-matsuri and wearing the yukata were the cultural highlight to this workcamp.
However, they were not the only cultural experience we had; we were able to
experience a lot more. We slept on futons (布団), in the traditional style, ate on a traditional low table (without
chairs), and tried some local specialties. While touring the village upon our
arrival, we had free o-dango (お団子), a typical
Japanese sweet. We also tried local ice cream and cheese, as milk is also
renowned in the area. 抹茶ソフトクレムはおいしいです !
(Matcha sofuto kuremuwa oishi desu!,Matcha –Japanese traditional green tea- ice
cream is delicious!) Last but not least, we tastedジンギスカン (Jingisu
Kan), a kind of dish with a special meat named after… the warrior! (I think
it was named as such in an attempt to mock him.)
Conclusion: This workcamp was a very intense 10 days where
we were able to experience many things. The aim of the workcamp was
well-explained to us. We could understand the type of work we were doing and
why we were doing it. We were also treated very kindly by the people we worked
with and there was an excellent atmosphere within our group. This made the
activities interesting and enjoyable. I did have some doubts about the
effectiveness of our work at some point, but I do feel like it was important in
the end, and that I have gained a lot from this workcamp. It will remain an
amazing memory. 皆、ありがとうございました ! (Minna, arigatou gozaimashita; thank you so much everyone!)
