The experience of supporting apple harvesting by students from the Faculty of Agriculture, Meiji University (Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture) was held from October 28th to November 3rd in Nishimeya Village, Aomori Prefecture. OBs and OGs also participated in the apple moggi on November 2nd.

This support experience is a joint project between Mr. Yasuhiro Honjo and Mr. Yasuhiro Honjo, a full-time lecturer at the Environmental Resource Accounting Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Meiji University. It is conducted for the purpose of "cultivating regional leaders" in order to invite settlers from the outside to the village, which has a minimum population of 1500 people in the prefecture. Beginning in 2012, students belonging to the laboratory visited Nishimeya Village as an internship site, where they had a lot of interaction with villagers, such as shoveling, cleaning activities, and participating in festivals. Student visits to the village have been made 12 times over the past three years, with a total of 100 people.

"Since we are planning on a span of 5 years, some students will graduate mid-year, and some will take over from the middle depending on the year. By actually visiting the village and interacting with the people living there, experience "I think of the village as" my own "rather than" other people, "which is an unforgettable memory," says Honjo. At first, there was a change in the consciousness of the villagers who had built a wall with the students, and they came to feel free to talk to the students, "I'm gonna come to the maiden". It was said.

From the next fiscal year, we are aiming for the general participation of working people living in Tokyo and the suburbs, and this time, graduates of the laboratory participated as an experiment. There were sights of tears coming from each other when I met a farmer at an apple orchard that I visited two years ago.

Maiko Iwasaki of OG2 (living in Kanagawa prefecture) said, “The apple juice I received from the farmer during the work break was very rich and touching. I can't drink it in the Kanto region.” Takeyoshi Sato, who runs one of the apple orchards where the students supported apple harvesting, said, “I am very happy that many young people came to the village and it was full of vitality. I am worried about the shortage of people, but I would like to improve the system to accept young people from the outside. "

On the night of the same day, there was a party for students and farmers to deepen their friendship. “From the next time, a farmer said that it would be nice to stay at their own house. It is desirable to deepen the exchanges in order to raise the awareness of the students,” says Honjo. Next time, he plans to visit to participate in the Mihogataki Ice Festival in February of the following year.