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City kids in Gunma
Students speak with a local farmer about the conyak making process. 99.12.22/ Temperature: 0 C/ Weather: Partly cloudy/ Wind Direction: NE Subject: City kids in Gunma Start: Numata City 36 38 34 N 139 02 01 E Destination: Akagi Village 36 31 12 N 139 03 19 E Distance Traveled: 22 km
"Welcome to 'Exploration for Wisdom'," I said to the three students fromTokyo's Kokusai Gakuen who joined me for the day's journey to Akagi Village. Encouraging them to keep their eyes open to our surroundings as we walk, one of the students responded, "Leave it up to us." As always, I expecting that we would discover something and the young adventurers curiosity and openness to approach locals led to several discoveries for the young city students and me.
Leaning over bundled taranome trees, Kokusai Gakuen students ponder how well the trees continue to grow even after cutting them down. Leaving the day's discoveries up to the initiative of the three young adventurers, they were quick to jump out and speak with locals. Walking out of a mountain's shade we passed a conyak factory. "Shall we stop?" said one of the students. After a short pause, I found myself following the students down a small hill and approaching the factory. Men Stacked bags of conyak onto the back of a truck.
"We are on an 'Exploration for Wisdom'," said one student. "Please tell us what you are doing." The young factory worker looked at the girls slightly c onfused by their straightforward approach and began explaining the process of how to make mannan , the powder used to make conyak, a jelly like dish made from conyak potatoes. As Eighty percent of Japan's conyak is made in Gunma Prefecture and eighty percent of Gunma's conyak is made in the area which we walked through today, the students' interview was very timely. As the students received a conyak potato and learned about the growth and and preparation of conyak, we might be able to expect a report from them.
Students cheerfully climb a steep hill. They were so kind as to carry my pack for some of the way. Once finishing a riverside lunch we all trekked through several more villages. The deep valley cut away by the river has created an environment and soil suitable for conyak potatoes as well as many vegetables and wheat. The students' next curiosity led them to a vegetable field.
Doubting my theory that dirt is piled high on the roots of growing leeks in order to make them grow higher, the students asked a local farmer. "Why do you pile up dirt on the leek roots?" asked one student. "It is to make the base of the leek white and tasty," answered the farmer, contradicting my original theory. After I was subjected to a little suspicion from my partners in travel, we agreed that the two theories are equally acceptable. Little by little we saw some of the ways which people are able to live off of the land.
Lastly we happened upon a couple cutting down tara trees. By late in the afternoon, the three students had become natural explorers for wisdom. Standing on the edge of a field full of thin taranome trees, they continued their inquiries. "What are you all doing?" they asked the farmers. "We cut the trees down, then we will slice them near the buds and place them in a greenhouse. There they will grown large enough to sell." "What will you do about planting trees for next year?" asked a Kokusai Gakuen student. "New trees will sprout up from the stubs left after cutting the trees today," responded the farmer.
Snow-tipped mountains to the north of Numata City. The Tone River flows below me. The interactions created by the students' willingness to approach people showed us several farming tricks that they may not have otherwise been exposed to growing up in the city. What appeared fresh to the students as well as my self is simply the daily routine of locals here in the low mountains of Gunma Prefecture. I hope that by exposing themselves to the locals of Gunma and several farming tricks of the region my friends from Kokusai Gakuen will carry their curiosity and openness back to Tokyo with them.
Approaching Tokyo, I may need a few pointers from Kokusai Gakuen to discover the wisdom of the city.
Kokusai Gakuen thank you all for joining me!
Greg
PS. I have now passed through both Yamagata and Nigata Prefectures. How many steps do you think I took in each prefecture?
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