Children Pick Apples to Promote Regional Development

Copyright Sozaihiroba

On December 11, 2010, children dressed as Nezumi Kozo, or "rat boy," gathered to pick apples in a farm in Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture. This was a part of the Nezumikozo Project carried out by Sozaihiroba, a non-profit organization (NPO) established to publicize hotels and products in Fukushima, and others since 2009. Nezumi Kozo was a famous thief and folk hero who stole money from vicious rich merchants and distributed it to the poor in Japan's Edo period.

Aizu, where apple growing is an important industry, has been facing a shortage of farm labor to pick their crops. Only apples purchased as gifts are harvested, leaving the other apples to rot even though they taste good. Sozaihiroba planned the project and recruited people to pick such apples in the spirit and under the disguise of Nezumi Kozo.

Most of those who responded to advertisements were junior high school students. Dressed like Nezumi Kozo, they picked apples from trees, at first by stretching out their arms to the lower branches. When their arms could no longer reach, they used stepladders for an efficient harvest, sometimes even climbing the trees when all else failed. Twenty-two cases of apples harvested that day were distributed among hot spring resort hotels and a part of the proceeds was given to the apple farmer. Hotels served the apples to their guests, who not only ate them but floated them in the hot spring bath to enjoy their aroma or used half-cut portions as a dishes for food.

Posted: 2011/06/19 06:00:15 AM