December and January are usually very quiet in Kamiyama but there have been a few interesting things going on lately. Let’s take a look at what has been reported on the Japanese side of in-kamiyama, in a handy digest format!

On December 20, an event was held to commemorate the one year anniversary of our good friend Chan’s death. There was a concert and lots of good food, and we planted a keyaki (zelkova) tree in his memory. Also held on the same day was the usual monthly forestry maintenance. Nikolai posted two reports in Japanese with lots of pictures. Chan Party part 1 and Chan Party part 2.

Local artist Yosuke Sasaki had a one man show in Brooklyn, New York (!!) from December 15 to the 20, at the Ouchi Gallery. Take a look at more pictures from the show in his entry in Japanese: Yosuke Sasaki in NY.

Grade six student Kenta Miyagi (of the Rakuon Rakujitsu Miyagis) rode his bike all the way to Kyushu! Way to go, Kenta! See some mobile phone pics from the road in these entries written (in Japanese) by his mom: Rakuon-Rakujitsu.

On January 16 and 17, a two-day workshop called “Shikoku World Café” was attended by lots of people, both local and from further afield. Participants toured Kamiyama, held discussions on the theme of “work and life on Shikoku” and participated in workshops led by our own Shinya Ominami and Living World‘s Yoshiaki Nishimura. As usual, there was lots of good food and fun had by all as well. Nikolai wrote up a play-by-play report in Japanese with lots of pictures.

Finally, last but not least! On January 22, NPO Green Valley was awarded the Japan Foundation Prize for Global Citizenship 2009!!! Wahoo! Now the whole country knows what we knew all along. This is the first time a group based in Tokushima prefecture has won this prize. The prize comes with 2 million yen in award money, and I’m sure Mr. Ominami is cooking up all kinds of exciting uses for the money as we speak. Mr. Ominami’s announcement in Japanese.

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Some upcoming events:

January 24 is the monthly Forestry Maintenance Day. Meeting point is near Michi no Eki a little before 9am. Wear work clothes and boots and bring 500 yen to pay for insurance and lunch.

January 30 is International Cooking Day. This time we have our new friends the Otsukas who have moved to Kamiyama from Firenze, Italy, who have volunteered to come and teach us all how to cook real Italian food. Cooking starts at 5pm at the Kaizen Center, dinner is at 6:30 and everything should wrap up by about 8pm. Call the Kaizen Center at 088-676-1177 ASAP if you want to participate. Max. 30 people. Participation fee is 1000 yen to cover the cost of materials.