JFOODO appoints foreign researcher to study Japanese culture and traditions

Fukushima [Japan], December 16 (ANI): After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the evacuation orders in the Fukushima Prefecture towns of Okuma and Namie were partially lifted.

The new buildings are being built and the residents are back.

JFOODO or The Japan Food Product Overseas Promotion Center has appointed, Rebekah Wilson Lye, a researcher to study Japan’s culture and tradition.

Researcher, Rebekah Wilson Lye said, “I am here “At Manabiya Yumenomori School” to learn about this wonderful project which just started in August this year.”

GM, Manabiya Yumenomori, Ippei Nango said, “A good point is to create a very inclusive community. In this school, many people originally lived in “Okuma-town” and came back from the evacuation area, but there are also people who moved here. The school slogan is “Here you will start individual personality”.”

In conversation with the student, resercher asked, “What job do you want to do?”

Answer: I want to be a comic writer.

Student’s design is printed on the bag and commercialized.

She visits “Namie Star-Fallen Farm” to meet organizer Mr. Daiju Takahashi.

Starfish is fertilizer and protection against animals.

In Conversation with Daiju Takahashi, Rebekah Wilson Lye said, “I guess in some ways you’re a little bit of an outsider coming into this community. How is the cooperation and reaction being from local residents?”

Organiser of “Namie Star-Fallen Farm”, Daiju Takahashi said, “It’s been a great experience for me. People who have come back here, the local people, they are amazingly open, open-minded and welcoming for those outsiders like me. We are growing root beets and also indigo dye plants and very rare plants like a juniper berry or agave tequila, which haven’t been grown in Japan ever.”

Rebekah Wilson Lye said, “Well, I’ve spent the day here in the Namie-machi and Okuma-machi area. I’ve met local people, some local children and even some outsiders who have decided to make Namie-machi their home. And my takeaway from our conversations today. I have seen a real sense of forward movement as though it is a new era, a new dawn here in this small town.”

VO2: Now, Fukushima is rebuilding an unparalleled community in Japan after overcoming tragedy. Foreign viewers of Japan can easily identify it.