Hokkaido Study Tour Presentation
When: May 15 (Fri), 19:00~
Where: Sendai Student Youth Center
This spring we had a fantastic study tour to Hokkaido from March 9-20th. This year’s study tour participants included center student council member, Mai, previous center student council member, Koriyama, and Hashimoto. Sendai Student/Youth Center director, Jeffrey, and staff, Sandy, also participated.
For the first part of the trip we spent 5 nights at Moto-Urakawa Church and participated in activities at the Bethel House community and support center for people living with psychological challenges, such as depression or schizophrenia. This was a very eye-opening experience for all of us as we interacted with Bethel members during their group meetings and helped to package konbu (kelp) sold in the Bethel store to support their activities.
Secondly, we went to Nayoro and stayed at the Douhoku Centre, a support center and meeting place for rural farmers in northern Hokkaido founded by a missionary from the United Church of Canada. The Douhoku Centre has activities similar to our center’s activities in Sendai but for bringing together rural farmers to talk about common issues as well as educate the community about food security and the importance of consuming foods that are grown locally. We had a good discussion with Douhoku Centre director, Robert Witmer, and staff, Kuriko Fujiyoshi, about ways to continue the work of centers like ours in contemporary Japan.
Mr. Miura, director of the Ainu Information Center in Rumoi, took us on a one day tour of Asahikawa to help us learn more about the history of the Ainu peoples as well as other indigenous groups in Japan. In that day we visited the Kawamura Ainu History Museum and the traditional graves of Ainu leaders. Finally, we visited 2 Sendai Student/Youth Center OB/OG living in Sapporo. This year’s study tour presentation will be on Friday May 15th at 7pm, dinner will be provided for 200 yen.
Read more here.
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