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Foundation Newsletter Tamagawa

No. 127 “Kazuma-kyou”

Reports from our Seasonal newsletters
Special Edition on the Annual Report about the Foundation’s Projects
No. 127 “Kazuma-kyou”
The Foundation Newsletter, Tamagawa (English Version)

Kazumakyou

 

Getting off the train of the Ome Line at Shiromaru Station and crossing the Kazumakyou bridge to reach the other side of the river, you encounter the deep green of the mountains with their rich store of trees pressing in as you walk along the river. The bridge suspended high in the air, the mountains stretching upstream, and the flow of the Tama-river bring to mind a restful, natural scene.
It was a beauty close to my heart no matter what I looked at: the deep green of the trees from Spring to Autumn, particularly the autumn leaves and the shadow of the mountain reflected in the easy flowing waters, Lake Shiromaru filled with water, and so many other sights.

Photo & Text Hidehiko Endo

 



Opening Article

“Tamagawa Song” to be sung for 100 years or more

by Eiko SHINOTSUKA

Commissioner, National Personnel Authority
Honorary President, Utukushii Tamagawa Forum

 

 

Before I assumed my current public office, I became involved in the “Utukushii Tamagawa Forum,” a non-profit organization, at the behest of a friend. I was one of the founding members and has continued with my volunteer activities to this day. I resigned my chairmanship because of my official duties, but I still treasure my activities with my companions.

 

 

Actually, there already is a successful model for this movement. It is the “Beautiful Yamagata & Mogami River Forum” that focuses on the Mogami River in Yamagata Prefecture. To tell you the truth, Mr. M, who began his activities in Yamagata, moved his workplace and residence to the Tamagawa river basin, and this became the opportunity to start a new movement in this region. That is how the two movements for the Mogami River and the Tamagawa River are loosely related.

 

 

The major activity of this movement is to convert the entire 138 kilometers of the Tamagawa River, from its source to the Ota Ward estuary, into a dream highway of cherry trees, and further, to create a pilgrimage involving 88 sacred cherry trees along the way. I would like to see the river and forest become a place for children to learn about the natural environment through canoeing and experiencing the making of charcoal. And my dreams grow much further from there: adults would also be able to participate in cultural activities and create a regional community at the same time, and businesses can be created and that would revitalize the region.

 

 

The annual membership fee is the small amount of 1000 yen or more per person, and with fewer than 900 members, the funds generated by membership fees is small. This is not enough for project costs. However, approval was given for the purpose of collaborative and cooperative projects with industry, government, and academia, and with support from local authorities and businesses, the projects showed progress beyond our expectations. This spring, I attended the christening ceremony for one of the pilgrimage trees, a weeping cherry tree, in the Ota Prefecture’s Senzoku Pond Park.

 

 

To be able to use so little project funding to implement such large projects is thanks to the generosity of talented people from all walks of life volunteering their valuable time in the fields of their specialties. Usually, 70-80% of a project’s costs would be for manpower, but because the manpower compensation has been zero for these projects, no matter the celebrity, the project’s input was several times larger than the budget.

 

 

A big event was held this year, the third year since the Forum was established. In May of this year, we announced the completion of the “Tamagawa Song.” From the inception of the Forum, members of a steering committee were tasked with the strong objective of creating a song that would be a symbol of the movement and could be sung to the children who nurture life for the next century. Headed by vocalist Yoshiko YASUDA, who is also a resident of the Tamagawa region, a wonderful cast was assembled from her close associates. Shuntaro TANIKAWA, a word magician, wrote the lyrics and Rikuya TERASHIMA, who is also an up and coming pianist, composed the music and also created a wonderful chorus.

 

 

In particular, the flow of the second phrase in the elegant lyrics created by TANIKAWA, from “Binding the hearts of people loosely” to “Tamagawa is life-nurturing,” is very wonderful. If the goal is clear, people can bind with others loosely, and then part again. The life of people will disappear from this world, but the river will continue to nurture people, life, and ideas, and will continue to flow for hundreds, thousands of years.

 

 

I yearn for “Tamagawa Song” to be sung for 100 years or more.

 

 

Special Article

 

“Be responsible in a 300 meter radius” = “Fuchinomori Forest Council” activity


by Toshio YASUDA,
Bureau Chief, Fuchinomori Forest Council

 

In the spring of 1996 when I, as bureau chief, heard that Fuchinomori Forest would undergo residential development because of the failed bubble economy, I called upon two nature conservation organizations (Group to Clean the Yanasegawa river and the Ecosystem Conservation Society) and five community associations to form an organization. I then asked Hayao MIYAZAKI to be the chairman of this organization and began activities to make the forest a public domain by petitioning the cities of Higashimurayama and Tokorozawa. However, both cities evaded the issue by claiming “financial difficulties,” and the reception was cool, perhaps because the forest bordered both Saitama prefecture and Tokyo.

 

 

Just when we began the strategy of starting a fund to contribute to specified projects of the city, Chairman Hayao MIYAZAKI proposed to donate 300 million yen saying “I want to make sure this forest remains….” The members were amazed and the mass media went into a frenzy. At the same time, the public donations jumped to 1 million yen due to the influence of the mass media.

 

 

When the forest successfully became public domain, the management of it was given over to the “Fuchinomori Forest Council,” an action that was a precursor to the “collaboration” that has become in vogue. Corporate volunteers removed the concrete and gravel from the parking lot. By burying them in the forest, instead of creating industrial waste, they created two mountains in the forest. Five hundred seedlings donated by residents and from far away Kyushu were planted, and mid-summer watering was done in turns through the power of housewives and children without a loss of a single tree. It was spectacular.

 

 

In 2007, the opposite bank of the Yanasegawa river, which flows beside the Fuchinomori Forest, was to become a residential area, but sending out a certificate with a copy of Hayao MIYAZAKI’s signature in a campaign to collect 1000 yen per person had a overwhelming response, with over 25 million yen collected from all over the country. The lands were eventually converted to public domain using these funds. There were some children who contributed 500 yen each, combining efforts to donate the 1000 yen. Of course, we sent each child a certificate, which was happily received.

 

 

The “Fuchinomori Forest Council” carries out activities based on the following four principles: (1) keep the organization simple, (2) hold meetings in the forest, (3) share information using wall posters, and (4) make the forest the primary focus. The only activity is the annual “Early Spring Weeding” at the end of January. The reason for the once-a-year activity is because we believe that “keeping the forest quiet” means “keeping the forest as the primary focus.” Since “Fuchinomori Forest” is home to important plant species (the species names are confidential), a variety of insects, Ebony Jewelwings and Northern Goshawks that come flying, and raccoon dogs, while the Yanasegawa river that flows beside it is home to Japanese dace, gobies, minnows, freshwater shrimp, and “sweetfish” as well as the very valuable “fresh water river clam,” the forest should be “left in peace.” Also, the “Fuchinomori Forest Law (Promises)” sign is a famous marker bearing the three promises of “Protect and cultivate greenery,” “Carry home your garbage,” and “Accidents are your responsibility.”

 

 

Now, “Protect Greenery” citizens movements to stop unnecessary development in Japan are getting active, and Chairman Hayao MIYAZAKI makes appeals that “Each one of us should take responsibility for protecting nature in a 300 meter radius, ” and “Since humanity is diminishing in number…,” “let’s also consider a concrete tax.”

 

 

Fuchinomori Forest’s biggest fan is Chairman Hayao MIYAZAKI. He takes a walk in the forest to develop new movie ideas.

 

 

 

“I am really happy that so many have helped to keep this scenery. As my relation with the living forest and river starts, I stand here humbled by the task before me.”

Hayao MIYAZAKI, chairman, The Council for the Conservation of Fuchinomori Forest

http://www.fuchinomori.com/

Contact: 359-0025 Kamiyasumatsu 476-1, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama Prefecture

Tel/Fax: 04-2944-2633 (residence of Toshio YASUDA, Bureau Chief)

 

 

 

 

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