Nanbu Town, Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, won first prize in the 2005 "Orai-Nippon Grand Prix," the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced on February 8, 2006. This annual award was created in 2003 to promote exchanges between urban and rural areas.

Nanbu Town, the foremost cherry producer in Aomori, has been hosting cherry picking tours since 1986 as a regional development program These fruit-picking tours paved the way for the development of other exchange programs involving farming, cuisine and culture.

Since 1993, Nagawa has been actively hosting farming experience school trips. In 2004, it started the "Tassha Mura" (healthy village) project in corporation with Aomori Prefecture, which aims at city people who are middle-aged and older, and is designed to offer them the opportunity to enjoy rural life.

Judges were impressed by the active and continuous efforts of Nagawa district over the course of more than 20 years in promoting farming experience, as well as the way the exchange programs have been executed in cooperation with neighboring towns and villages.



Posted: 2006/06/10 10:49:32 AM
Japanese version

TAG Government , Local government , Other