Asubito Fukushima (General Incorporated Association)
Eiju Hangai, Representative Director

As the Representative Director, I was a board member of Japan’s largest power utility, Tokyo
Electric Power Co. (Tepco) until June 2010, just nine months before the earthquake andtsunami disaster that struck Japan’s Fukushima region in March 2011, and I feel deep regretthat the nuclear accident occurred. I was born in Minamisoma City in Fukushima Prefectureand for some time starting right after the accident I volunteered to deliver relief suppliesfrom Tokyo. Besides the disaster, Minamisoma was also suffering from rumors andmisinformation related to the accident. A woman where I delivered relief supplies said to me,“Don’t just provide material assistance. Please organize something for our local children.”
And that is how my real mission in life was born—to create an organization to develop thetalents and abilities of the people who will take on the long-term challenge of rebuilding
Fukushima.
Six years have passed since the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. Someof the areas affected by the nuclear accident still have no timeline for residents to returnhome. Decontamination has progressed in some municipalities that had been designated as
evacuation zones after the nuclear accident, and the evacuation orders have been lifted in a
growing number of nearby towns. But that doesn’t solve everything. Now that six years haveelapsed, many former residents are choosing not to return even where evacuation orders
have been lifted, especially where families with children have settled into new lives where
they evacuated. As a result, some areas are facing a dramatic increase in the average age ofthe population. Fukushima has many workers in primary industries like farming and fishing,so besides this rapid aging of the community, negative consumer attitudes about theradiation no one can see are hurting demand for Fukushima
produce and products. The road
南相馬ソーラー・アグリパークのご案内
to Fukushima’s recovery will take a long time.
In this environment, we believe strongly in the potential of the primary, middle, and highschool children of Fukushima. They have experienced the disaster and nuclear accident, andthey have survived. Many young people appreciate the assistance Fukushima received fromall over Japan, are troubled by others’ misconceptions about their region, want to contributeto the future of Fukushima, and want to do something to serve others. The disaster inFukushima has exposed some of the real problems of society today. Asubito Fukushima isoffering age-specific programs to develop the resources and the capacity of the younger
generation to rebuild our region. Asubito is coined from "asu" (tomorrow) and "hito" (people)
in Japanese, and means "the people who will create tomorrow."

Age-specific capacity building(1) Hands-on learning for primary and middle school children

As a platform to support the development of primary and middle school children, weare operating the Minamisoma Solar Agripark in Minamisoma City. It includes a500-kilowatt solar power plant and two dome-shaped “plant factories” (indoorhydroponics). Children can conduct inspections of a real solar plant and have theexperience of researching solar and electricity generation. They can change theangle and direction of the solar panels, and directly experience hydropower
generation by comparing their own power with that of water. This all gives themvarious learning opportunities on the theme of renewable energy.
With hands-on learning, what we emphasize is the children’s own capacity to think
and take action. Rather than giving them answers, we have designed the hands-on
program so that they develop their own hypotheses, and search for and discover
their own answers through trial and error. We also aim to build the children’s theability to present their own ideas. Based on their own internalized experiences, webelieve they will be able to think for themselves and present their ideas withconfidence. We also expect that they will naturally move from presenting their ideas
to taking action. Now four years since the program began, 80% of the primary andmiddle school students in the city have experienced this hands-on learning as part oftheir school classes, and the circle is expanding to all parts of the prefecture.

南相馬ソーラー・アグリパークのご案内Age-specific capacity building(2) Asubito Juku (Social Entrepreneur School) for High School Students
Since May 2014, we have been holding the Asubito Juku (Social Entrepreneur School)for High School Students in Fukushima City once a month for the prefecture’s highschool students who are interested in social issues. I facilitate the sessions together
with Junko Edahiro, environmental journalist and professor at Tokyo City University.
Students clarify their own personal visions and use this as a place to develop specificsteps to achieve their missions and become social entrepreneurs. About 30 high school
students motivated to take on the big social issues in the reconstruction of Fukushima
are registered in the program. About ten of them gather every month and are very
focused from 10 a.m. until the evening each time.
At the school they learn about missions and how to achieve them. They learn that amission is something a person wants to accomplish that also creates value for society.
And in the process, they may fail seven times, but they have the ability to persist andtry eight times. They learn extensively through case studies about the importance ofseparating their purpose and their means. Students who have taken the program havesaid in their own words, “I can survive many setbacks in my means, but I will not strayfrom my mission.” Their words show that if while still young they can learn to think
and act with a clear distinction between their purpose and their means, they will notforget this even as adults.

南相馬ソーラー・アグリパークのご案内Age-specific capacity building(3) Student-run magazine “Fukushima Taberu Tsushin” (Eating Fukushima)
At the Asubito Juku (Social Entrepreneur School) we encourage high school
students to create projects to tackle social issues. The first project to emerge was the“Messages from High School Students: Fukushima Taberu Tsushin” (EatingFukushima Magazine). In 2014 a student in her second year of high school declared
her personal mission. She said, “It pains me that the Fukushima I love is somisunderstood. I would like to help restore confidence in Fukushima, particularly inagriculture.” Concrete discussions continued with like-minded juniors at the social
entrepreneur school, resulting in the launch of this magazine. It has been publishedevery three months, and as of April 2017, nine issues have been released since theinaugural issue in April 2015. The magazine features food items prepared by theproducers, and despite the price of 2500 yen (about US$23) per issue, it has 760
subscribers, from Hokkaido in Japan’s north to Okinawa in the south.
Asubito Fukushima provides the secretariat to publish the magazine. Staff members
accompany members of the student editorial team on interviews and check theirdrafts. Through all of this the students are transforming their hardships into asource of inspiration, and with each issue published they are increasing theirinterviewing skills and quality of manuscripts. This initiative is helping to restore
confidence in Fukushima’s agriculture industry while also building the capacity ofhigh school students.
The student editorial team is already in its third generation and has grown into asocial enterprise in Fukushima, having grown beyond its high school roots. The
cycle of passing on knowledge from seniors to juniors has been repeated, and Asubito
Fukushima continues to support the initiative so that high school students candevelop themselves into capable individuals for the rebuilding of Fukushima.

南相馬ソーラー・アグリパークのご案内Age-specific capacity building

Fostering role modelsSince last year the first high school students to graduate from the Asubito
Juku social entrepreneur school are now becoming university students. We
have continued with an Asubito Juku for Fukushima-born university students
who are now studying mainly in Tokyo. We are working together with them tocreate new social enterprises that will benefit Fukushima.
Envisioning the future we are confident that this kind of capacity building willproduce outstanding Fukushima-style social entrepreneurs who can create
their own social enterprises for Fukushima. Other young people will be
attracted by their examples and make an effort to emulate them. We are surethat this chain reaction will become a driving force to produce the future
human resources of Fukushima.

Rebuilding Fukushima, envisioning the future of the region
Until now people in rural areas were resigned to accept the loss of workers to
the major urban centers, but felt the government would eventually attract
factories to set up here. There was even a sense of self-deprecation, that there
was nothing attractive in rural areas to stop the loss of human resources.
But the disaster has somehow created a strong local attachment and local pride
among the young people of Fukushima. Asubito Fukushima is not by any means
trying to keep young people from leaving. Rather, by working together withthese high school and university students to create startup projects andbusinesses to rebuild Fukushima, we are creating a positive cycle. It gives
young people a new sense of purpose in their own lives to tackle thereconstruction of the land of Fukushima. The capacity building of people whowill rebuild Fukushima will also lead to a new vision for the future of the region.

As a base for children‘s growth support.
As a symbol of regional reconstruction.

Using the site of 2.4 hectares where the city acquired the tsunami agricultural land from the landowners and utilized the cit y's
property, the stage of experiential learning for children with photovoltaic power generation and a plant factory was "Minamisoma Solar
Agri Park “is. It was completed in March 2013, the second year after the disaster, thanks to promotion promoted by Minamisoma Cityand the public and private sectors. Experience learning of renewable energy currently being conducted at the park is utilized at thetime of comprehensive learning of elementary and junior high schools in Minamisoma city and on the weekend it is held at the open
school in collaboration with universities etc. to make children It is a place to learn from us. Also, from the perspective of natural energyand agriculture, we have visited many people as a symbol of reconstruction in the disaster area.

Hands-on learning
As part of elementary and junior highschool classes in Minamisoma city, etc.,
the experience Hands-on learning at thepark exceeds 3,000, 90% of elementary andjunior high school students in the city

Tour of Park
As a symbol of reconstruction, as a casestudy of cooperation between naturalenergy and agriculture, as a case studyof a new business, more than 16,000
people have visited since March 2013.

Company employee training
We accept employee training of companies
based in this Park based on the wholearea of Minami Soma for a fee and are
devoted to the management expenses ofdeveloping human resources for children.

PV Solarexperimental device

Symbol of Park

Patrol InspectionFukushima Walk-inMap

New Center House（Completion in October 2016）
The temporary center house which has accepted
many children and visitors so far has been reborn as
an exchange base for wider use by local residents
since October 2016. In addition to two comfortabletraining rooms, it has a kitchen where you can eat the
famous solar sandwiches, a IRORI salon and astaircase lounge.

What is the “solar sandwich” ?
"Solar sandwich" with plenty of grilled fresh tomatoes
cultivated at our affiliate, using sunlight electricity. ItHydro Power
Learning EquipmentClover square andElectric car

500kW PV
Power Plant

is a specialty that can only be eaten here!

AgriculturalFactory(Reservation system · 1000 yen)

Asubito Fukushima (General Incorporated Association)
Contact
Tel +81-244-26-5623

Mail info@asubito.or.jp