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Field Study Course for Academic Year 2022

Connecting with Tsugaru, Connecting Tsugaru -- After Corona's Okutsugaru FS

Field Study Course for Academic Year 2022

Implementation period: March 2-5, 2023
Location: Goshogawara City, Tsugaru City, etc., Aomori Prefecture
Cooperating organizations: Enterprise Association Deru Sore, Goshogawara Green Tourism Council, etc.

Learning objectives:
Learn about sixth industrialization centering on "food" and community development through community cafes
Learn about tourism and local lifestyles in the Corona Hazards from local residents.

  • The tour participants listened to a talk by the maker about the Tachi-Adulation Muta, which is used in the summer festival in Goshogawara.

  • How have the local tourism industry and community cafes changed during the Korona period? A local resident gave a lecture on how local tourism and community cafes have changed during the period of Corona.

  • Although we were not able to stay at a farmhouse, we stayed for a few hours and were welcomed like family.

  • Kanagi Town, a neighboring town of Goshogawara City, is famous as the birthplace of Osamu Dazai, a great writer. We visited the house where Dazai and his family were evacuated at the end of the Pacific War.

  • We will hear from Ineko Sato, who runs a greenhouse farm in Nakadomari Town.

  • Have a traditional Tsugaru dinner at the community café of the corporate association "Deru Sore".

  • In Tsugaru City, visit "Kazemaru Shokudo", a restaurant in a renovated old private house. They serve dishes using rice and apples from the Tsugaru region. Here, we also had the opportunity to hear from the staff who have moved to the area.

Participant's Comments:
　I feel that this field study was a very valuable opportunity for me to gain experiences and perspectives that I have never had before, but I am also proud that I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of going directly to the site with my own feet, seeing it with my own eyes, and directly touching it.
　Until now, I had been satisfied with what I had obtained from the Internet and SNS, and I had been a little hesitant to visit the field in person, and had been avoiding it for a long time. However, as the world continues to face various problems such as the declining birthrate, aging population, and coronas, I became interested in regional cooperation and community revitalization, which led me to want to visit the field. I feel that the key word for our theme, the connection between us and Tsugaru, is the related population, which is very important in this environment of many problems. I have always felt that the current concentration of people in urban areas has led to a loss of interest in other regions, and that many people have simply accepted the decline of the region as inevitable and let it become a part of their daily lives. I believe that in order to break out of this situation, we need to be aware that we are the ones who need to look outward.
(Male, 1st year)

　During this Okutsugaru Field Study, from the preliminary study to the four-day field practice, I heard the word "related population" many times. Until I actually went to Tsugaru, I had doubts about whether I would be able to relate to Okutsugaru in just four days. However, now that I have completed my study in Tsugaru, I feel that I can honestly say that I am one of the people involved in Tsugaru.
　I believe that to be part of the population is to have experienced whether or not you were in a distance where you could hear the voice of the other person directly. You cannot hear the voice emanating from the other person's facial expressions, atmosphere, background, and dialect without visiting the site. These cannot be covered by books, articles, videos, phone calls, or remote calls. By listening to the voices with all of my senses, my heart was moved, and the ideas, perspectives, and assumptions that I had held until now were changed.
　The comment, "There is nothing in Tsugaru," was made many times by students participating in the field study. However, now that I have visited Tsugaru, I cannot agree with them so far. There were many things in Tsugaru that moved me. Tachineputa, Tsugaru Railways, local cuisine, specialty apples, Shayokan, Shinzashiki, winter scenery, and many other attractions were there, but what shone out the brightest among them was the efforts of the people of Tsugaru.
　If I had been born in Tsugaru and had grown up seeing the hard-working adults of Tsugaru whom I met in the field study, I would have thought, "I want to do something to help.
(1st year female)

　I received many warm words from the people I met through the FS, and I felt many times that I was glad to have come and to have chosen this FS. When I left Goshogawara, I only felt a little sad, but for some reason, the moment I arrived at Tokyo Station on the Shinkansen, I felt that I wanted to return to Goshogawara.
(1st year female)