一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

We have held ecology-themed Green & White Day events at our base camp, Senmaya International Club, on May 20, 2018, June 8, 2019, and May 7, 2020, with a total of about 50 participants. (Please refer to the activity record on this website.)

Green & White Day is held annually in Rovereto, northern Italy. With an ecological theme, participants bring reusable glasses and plates and sit down to receive food on the dishes they bring in exchange for pre-purchased tickets, and the community enjoys food, conversation, and socializing until late into the night.

We had hoped to one day hold this Green & White Day event in the town of Senmaya as part of our efforts to revitalize the town, but thanks to the generous cooperation of the local community, we were able to hold the event at the Senmaya Rural Workers Welfare Center with about 300 people, including about 250 participants and 50 related people. We are very happy that the event was able to be held at there.

Nine local restaurants and bars opened their doors on the day of the event to provide food and beverages for the enjoyment of all participants. We all prepared Tomodachi Curry the day before the event and served it to the participants on the day of the event.

The vendors not only offered food and beverages, but also participation-type booths such as an e-sports experience, a nodate (tea ceremony) by Ms. Chida (Urasenke) from Senmaya, and test-rides of Toyota's MIRAI hydrogen car and a modern electrically power assisted bicycle with large tires made in China, allowing many people from children to adults to experience two of the most advanced ecological technologies. The booths were open to everyone, from children to adults.

On the stage, Hironori Sasaki played the shamisen, Mayu Musha, an elementary school student, played the trumpet, and Setsugen Yu played the erhu.

Three Ukrainians, Lyudmila and Luba, and her son, 13-year-old Jordan (a first grader in junior high school), who fled to Japan to escape the ravages of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, came all the way from their accommodation in Yokohama for a one-day visit to Senmaya. They expressed their gratitude for "helping Ukraine."

Our director also made a speech in the middle of the event, thanking the local people for the many meetings and preparations for this event, and strongly expressed his wish to hold the next Green & White Day in the shopping district of Senmaya, aiming at revitalization of the town, which is the original purpose of the event.

This event was on a scale never seen before, but thankfully, many people attended. This was all thanks to the efforts of local people who always support our activities, including Mr. Murakami, Mr. Hagisho, Ms. Nagasawa, Mr. Onodera, Mr. Ogata, and Mr. Sugawara. We were also very pleased to have many participants from Morioka City, Ichinoseki City, Hiraizumi Town, and Nishiwaga in Iwate Prefecture, and Kurihara City, Kesennuma City, and Sendai City in Miyagi Prefecture, who had been involved in our activities. Thank you very much.

This event was a first for us, with the introduction of a ticket sales system, but we were happy to see that a number of local high school students assisted in the operation of the event. We hope to make use of what we learned from this experience and assist in activities that will lead to the revitalization of the Senmaya area, with young people playing a central role.

From 18:00 on Saturday, May 20th, we had a dinner party to express our gratitude to Mr. Murakami, Mr. Hagidokoro, Mr. Onodera, Mr. Nagasawa, and Mr. Sugawara, who were very helpful in preparing event.

The cooking was done by Mr. Lee Chu-young, who worked as a Chinese chef at the familiar Tokyo Prince Hotel, and his friend Ms. Huong, who is Vietnamese. Thank you for your help from shopping to cooking in a limited time, but thank you for the very delicious food.

In the middle of the dinner party, local people gave us a few words about the event. Everyone, in the tight preparation period of one and a half months, we held five meetings lasting three hours each, searching for event locations and vendors, ticket sales, and all other preparations. However, We were able to understand that they worked hard to prepare for the event with a passion to create an event that would make everyone who participated at the same time feel glad to have come. Mr. Ichiro Murakami (Director), who has been supporting the activities of the foundation since its establishment, gave a strong encouragement, saying, "Let's do it seriously tomorrow!"