Hosei University Rooftop Gardening Maintenance Project Vol. 2 "A View with a Special Attention" held in FY2023 (Friday, June 16, 2023)

　On Friday, June 16, 2023, the Hosei University Rooftop Gardening Maintenance Project, for which the Hosei University Environmental Center serves as the secretariat, held its second "View with Attention" event, aiming to create a "beloved garden at Hosei University" filled with "attention to detail.

　The Green Terrace, the base of activities for the project, is the only remaining rooftop garden on the Ichigaya Campus where students participated in the entire process from planning to maintenance, and was created in the spring of 2005 as a "place of relaxation" for students, faculty, and staff.

　In the second phase of the project, Naoko Enomoto of Hosei University's Environmental Center first spoke about the "highlights" and "birth story" of the "beloved garden of Hosei University", irises and hydrangeas that are now at their best, and the "particular view" from the perspective of a space where living things can grow and inhabit and where students and faculty can relax. The speaker spoke about the "birth secret" of the new building.
　Then, while sharing with the members an awareness of the issues regarding the "particular view," the theme of this year's meeting, we talked about the "special view" of the Miyagi field bush clover, a hybrid of the red-purple and white flower of Miyagi field bush clover, while mowing dokudami, which is listed as one of the three major folk medicines in Japan along with senburi and genkoshoko, and himejoon, which is designated as one of the worst 100 invasive alien species. Musashino bush clovers, a white-flowered hybrid, and seedlings of the endangered Class II bellflower were planted. In the vegetable garden plot, watermelons, peanuts, mini-tomatoes, and seedlings of myoga, which were given to us at the "2023 Shinjuku Ecolife Festival", were planted with the aim of creating a new "curtain of greenery". Everyone enjoyed harvesting potatoes and edamame (Miyagino bush clovers, bellflowers, watermelons, peanuts, and mini-tomatoes were donated by Naoko Enomoto of the Environmental Center).

　In FY2023, with the "Green Terrace" at the Ichigaya Campus as a base of activities, we will be conscious of the biotope network in the "outer moat" area, which connects the Imperial Palace, Kitanomaru Park, Yasukuni Shrine, and Sotohori Park, and will continue to work on the biotope network with a view to preserving local biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, heat island measures, etc., and to develop the biotope network with "nature" in mind. We are recruiting members with the aim of creating a "beloved garden at Hosei University" that will continue to be "full of commitment" for the next ten years, while considering the connection with "nature".

　The "Hosei University Rooftop Gardening Maintenance Project," for which the Hosei University Environmental Center serves as the secretariat, is conscious of the biotope network in the "outer moat" spanning Chiyoda and Shinjuku wards, and has aimed to create "the beloved garden at Hosei University" by accumulating small "encounters" and "behavioral changes" brought about by "school love. In March 2022, Hosei University received a prize in the " FY2021 Chiyoda Biodiversity Grand Prix " organized by Chiyoda Ward, and in February 2023, it received the Encouragement Prize in the Group Category of the " 16th Shinjuku Eco One Grand Prix Contest " organized by Shinjuku Ward.

　We look forward to seeing you again at our "beloved garden" at Hosei University.