The chicken

Hello, everyone. Today I will write the final topic, the chicken which is produced by Oita people. The kind of this chicken is the gamecock. That is called “Toyo’s gamecock” among Oita people.

Toyo’s gamecocks were produced in Oita prefecture Stockbreeding Experiment Station (Oitaken tikusan shikenjyou) and farmed only in this prefecture. The main places which produce it are Bungo oono city, Oita city, Nakatsu city and Yufu city. The number of the hens which are farmed in Oita prefecture were 44,000 in 2007. Toyo’s gamecock is mixed the gamecock which is most delicious in all of the chickens with the hen which is called the Kyusyu Road which is lays well. They take from150 to 180 days to grow the hen.

<The particularity of the Toyo’s gamecock>

The gamecocks have low fat. And the chicken has the taste peculiar to the gamecock and the firm muscle. It is delicious. Oita people try to give the rice which is produced by Oita prefecture to Toyo’s gamecocks at present.

<The Kanmuri gamecock is>



The Kanmuri gamecocks are produced only in Oita prefecture. The main places which produce it are Beppu city and Bungo takata city. The Kanmuri gamecocks have been started to produce in 2008 and named the Kanmuri. Oita people have hoped that the Kanmuri gamecocks will be the most popular in all of the chickens. Now 36,000 of these gamecocks is produced by two farmers. The Kanmuri gamecocks mix the hen called the Load Island Red which is easy to farm, the Kyusyu Road with the gamecock. They take from 90 to 100 days to grow the hen.



<The famous cooking in the Oita prefecture>

There are many cooking of the chicken in Oita prefecture. Oita prefecture has also high consumption of the chicken in Japan. My favorite cooking is the charcoal grilled chicken and the Toriten. The look of the charcoal grilled chicken is black chicken. This grilled chicken is the simple method of cooking and draw out primary taste of the chicken. The Kabosu pepper which wrote my blog last week goes with this grilled chicken. The Toriten is the Tenpura of the chicken. I prefer to dust the Toriten with the salt.

The charcoal grilled chicken

The Toriten

<Finally>

Thank you for seeing my blog. I like the English class but can’t speak and write with English well. My blog has many wrong sentences that you can’t understand. I’m sorry.

But I am satisfied with reporting the OVOP Movement in Oita. My hometown is Oita. And I will return to Oita after graduation from this university and want to contribute to the regional people through community service, such as medical service and health service and so on. The regional community development of the OVOP Movement will be origin of my activity in the future.

in Oita

The Kabosu

Hello, everyone! Today I will write the Kabosu, one of the specialties of Oita prefecture.

The amount of the Kabosu which is produced a year in Oita prefecture was 4,430t and 1,300 million yen in 2006. The production of the Kabosu in Oita prefecture occupied 97% of all of it in Japan. The main areas which produce the Kabosu in Oita prefecture are Usuki city, Bungo oono city, Taketa city and Kunisaki city.

<The history of the Kabosu>

Oita people planted the Kabosu in the garden in their private house in order to use as a medicine a long time ago in Taketa city and Usuki city. According to the tradition which was passed down in Usuki city, a doctor who was called “ 宗源 ” began to plant the Kabosu in the Edo period. The literature on the Kabosu appeared first after the world warⅡ. But there are some trees that the age of their trees are more than three hundred years old in Usuki city.

<The Kabosu is >

The Kabosu classifies a citrus, such as the orange, and is taken from three to five years to bear fruit after planting the seedling. The flowers of the Kabosu bloom in May and are picked some small fruits and some bruised fruits, it is called “摘果”, in order to grow the bigger Kabosu. The Kabosu is able to absorb more water from the soil by 摘果. They are harvested in August.

The flowers of Kabosu

Next, I will write how to cook with the Kabosu. The acidity and good smell of the Kabosu go with the grilled fish, chicken and beef and the Nabemono, it is Japanese hot pot dishes, and so on. Also, there are the Kabosu juice, the Kabosu cake and the Kabosu cookies and so on. The Kabosu has the vitaminC which has effects to prevent catching a cold and the citric acid.

Do you know the festival of a pacific saury in Tokyo? That is held near the Meguro station every year and one of the famous festivals in Tokyo. Oita prefecture has supplied the Kabosu to this festival since 1999. The Kabosu is necessary to the grilled pacific saury from Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture.

 

                                                        

The festival of pacific saury in Meguro

Oita people have developed actively the product with the Kabosu. And the products have periodically been evaluated by the salesmen on the food floor in the famous department stores in Japan. This purpose is to improve the quality of the products and extends the market. There are more than three hundred products at present. The products of the Kabosu are the Kabosu dressing, the Kabosu jam, and the Kabosu mayonnaise and so on and registered for 229 products of the Kabosu.

I like the Kabosu pepper and always buy it when I came back in Oita. It goes with grilled and boiled a chicken and a poke, a Miso soup and a Nabe and so on. The nice smell and the hot taste whet a my appetite. I recommend it.





 

The Kabosu pepper



The result of the OVOP Movement

Hello, everyone. Today I will write the result of the One Village One Product (OVOP) Movement.

< The number of the OVOP Movement products>

The OVOP Movement is practiced in 58 communities in Oita prefecture. The number of the OVOP Movement products was 143 at first, but 20 years later the figure had increased more than two-folds to 336.1) The main products of Oita prefecture are the Kabosu, the dry shiitake mushroom, the yield of hot spring water and the shochu. Especially the kabosu, the dry shiitake mushroom and the yield of hot spring have most quantity of production in Japan.



Doro yu(泥湯) in Beppu Onsen



at Yufuin Onsen



< The OVOP Movement is introduced to home and abroad >

Mr. Hiramatsu, a pioneer of the OVOP Movement and the Oita governor in those days, had promoted making human resources and held actively events for exchange between community and community. Consequently the OVOP Movement was introduced to home and abroad by governments and the organization which supports to developing countries, such as JICA and JETRO. In 2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed him to be a goodwill ambassador of the OVOP Movement on the International Workshop of the OVOP Movement in Africa.

<The annual income per capita of Oita people>



in Yufuin town  



Oita prefecture has been known well by the activities of the OVOP Movement in Japan and other countries. The tourists who go over ten million every year come to Beppu city; there is famous hot springs, Beppu Onsen. Yuhuin city has also about three million tourists every year.



in Beppu city



The annual income per capita of Oita people was 1,405,000 yen when the OVOP Movement started in 1980 and was the 4th annual income per capita in Kyusyu area. In 1990, it was 2,387,000 yen and ranked the 2th annual income per capita in Kyusyu area. In 1997, 1999 and 2000, Oita prefecture was most the annual income per capita in Kyusyu area.

The factors of these results are not only the activities of the OVOP Movement. Mr. Hiramatsu has accepted actively the private enterprises with the head office in another prefecture, the high-technology industry and the activities of the Industrial Relocation Policy by ministry of economy, such as Canon and TOSHIBA and so on. I guess that his actively has led to increase the annual income per capita of Oita Prefecture.





< The problem of the OVOP Movement>

Finding the problem of this movement was difficult for me. So I think of a problem of this movement under the OVOP Movement in Malawi. The problem is that the human resource development, it is the most important for this movement, may decline hereafter. Especially the communities where started for this movement quickly, it may stop itself by not going the process of the OVOP movement business. They need to think of how to pass down as oral traditional to a young generation.

I have written 8 topics on my blog. Next week, I will write the KABOSU, a specialty of Oita prefecture.  See you next class!

1)    Website, www.ovop.jp

The OVOP Movement in Malawi



The wedding ceremony in Oita

Hello, everyone! I have been to Oita prefecture last weekend because I have attended a wedding ceremony of my friend. A wedding ceremony was held in a leading shrine in Oita prefecture. It was solemn and made me happy.

Today I will write the activities of the One Village One Product Movement (OVOP) in Malawi.

The activities of the OVOP Movement in Oita prefecture were introduced to home and abroad. In the late 1990’s, the OVOP Movement was also introduced to Africa through JICA. Malawi government adopted it in 2004. I will write how it came down from governor to Malawi people and how they practiced it.

< In Malawi>

Malawi is a small country of 118,000 square kilometer (It is the same area which add Hokkaido and Kyusyu) and has 13 million people. Malawi is the poorest country in the world. In 2004, national income per capita in Malawi was 160 dollars. It ranked 201th out of 208 cou ntries which have statistics. Also, the poor people in Malawi account for 65% of Malawian and live mostly in rural areas. In recent year, Malawian government has a problem that the farmers decrease to have the HIV/AIDS or the tuberculosis and influence the agricultural crop.



the rural area in Malawi



 < The OVOP Movement in Malawi>

The Malawian government expended about ten years for adopting the OVOP Movement. The Malawi Ambassador in Tokyo has often visited to Oita prefecture since the late 1990’s. The Oita governor has also visited to Malawi. The president of Malawi attended to the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (It’s called “TICAD”) in 2003 and had a great interest in the OVOP Movement. He came back Malawi and held the workshop of the OVOP Movement in Malawi. The Malawian government has promoted the OVOP Movement in Malawi as a national project since 2004. JICA has supported to Malawian government since 2003 and launched the development of human resources and so on. Then the activity of the OVOP Movement in Malawi began in 2006. The Malawian government took in it in the policy of ‘Malawi Growth and Development Strategy’. In 2009, the governors who work the OVOP Movement were posted every area in Malawi. At first, adopting this movement was considered to the strategy of a president election for the president of Malawi

  



The workshop of  the OVOP Movement



<The objects of the OVOP Movement in Malawi>

The Malawian government has aimed at the promotion and improvement of processed technique which use the farm and fish products in rural areas, the promotion of marketing and raising the values of products made in Malawi.

The Malawian government held the workshop to local government officials and so on and lectured about the principles of the OVOP Movement, how to process the products and how to promote a business and so on. The participants produced juices, jams, dry vegetables and the peanut oil and so on in alliance with the University of Malawi and the Malawi Industrial Research Technology Development Center and so on.

They have sold the products of the OVOP Movement in the supermarket and the shop in the Lilongwe International Airport. In 2008, there were forty products of the OVOP Movement in the supermarket and the shop. Also, 13,000 Malawi people participated in this movement.

The shop in Malawi

Specialties of Oita prefecture

Hello, everyone!  Today I will write specialties of Oita prefecture.

The number of the One Village One Product Movement ( OVOP ) products throughout the prefecture was 143, but 20 years later the figure had increased more than two-folds to 336.1)

This map shows specialties through the OVOP Movement in every area.

Today I will give you some quizzes. I want to introduce the specialties of the OVOP Movement with three quizzes.

< No.1 >  




The bamboo work in Beppu city

The specialties which the amount of production exceed a billion yen have seventeen products. It is White leek and Bungo beef ( Bungotakada city ), Sunqueen mandarins ( Tsukumi town ), Ooba ( Oita city ), yellowtail ( Saeki city ), dried fish ( Yonozu village ), flatfish ( Kamae town ), pear ( Hita city ), Shochu spirits ( Usa city ) and so on.

Which one is not the product which the amount of production exceed a billion yen?



A.    Barley syotyu, Nikaido ( Hiji town )

B.    Ume ( Oyama town )

C.    Bamboo work ( Beppu city )

The answer is B. Oyama town’s specialty which amount of production exceeds a billion yen is the enoki mushrooms. Ume is a famous specialty in Oyama town, but it is produced bit by bit and sold in limited areas.

< No.2 >

The specialties are not only common products to cities, towns and villages of Oita prefecture, such as Bungo beef, but also products made in the limited cities, towns and villages of Oita prefecture. For example, Seki brand horse mackerel and mackerel ( Saganoseki town ), Shiroshiitake flounder ( Hiji town ), Kuruma prawns ( Himeshima village ).



Seki brand horse mackerel and mackerel 
at departmentstore in Oita city 



Which one is not the product of the city, town, and village?

A.    Suppon in Ajimu town

B.    Dojyo in Usuki city

C.    Mamushi in Kiyokawa village

The answer is B. Usuki city facing the Beppu bay is the famous place for a blowfish.

< No.3 >

The OVOP Movement is not only specialties but also events, institutions and activities of regional community. Examples of the events, institutions and activities of regional community are Ootsunahiki (大綱引き) of Yamakuni river ( Nakatsu city ), International the bamboo raft race ( 国際竹イカダレース, Kunimi town ), Kennan comic storytelling association ( 県南落語組合, Saeki city ), Japan’s largest waterwheel ( Honjyo village ), Kujyu ice ceremony ( Kokonoe town ), University of Jiyuunomori (自由の森大学, Hita city ) and so on.

Which one is actually held a event?

A.    Eat beef and shout festival( 牛食い絶叫大会, Yuhuin town )

B.    Eat the charcoal festival( すみ食い祭り, Ume town )

C.    Drink the Doburoku festival( どぶろくはや飲み競争, Oota village )

牛食い絶叫大会　in Yuhuin town

The answer is A. This festival started in 1976 is held once a year. The participants eat beef at the barbecue party in highland of Yuhuin town. Then the participants shout the words that they have freely thought in front of the measure. A participant has shouted with the loud voice is recognized.

I will go to Oita this weekend because my friend will get marriage. Have a good weekend!

1)    Website, www.ovop.jp

Local yet Global

Hello!  This morning I have been difficult to go to school by bicycle because it snowed yesterday.

Today I will write third of the One Village One Product Movement’s principles ; Local yet Global. It is creating globally accepted products that reflect pride in the local culture.

< Local diplomacy of Oita prefecture >

The One Village One Product Movement ( OVOP ) has promoted making human resources and held actively events for exchange between community and community. Consequently the OVOP Movement was introduced to home and abroad.  

Mr.Hiramatsu;a pioneer of the OVOP Movement

The OVOP Movement was introduced to abroad for the first time in 1983. Mr.Hiramatsu ( a pioneer of the OVOP Movement and Oita governor in those days ) was invited to the mayor of Shanghais in China. Then Shanghais city started to the One Factory One Product Movement (一廠一品運動). In 1984 other area in China started also the One Village One Product Movement (一郷一品運動, Jiangsu) and the One Village One Treasure Movement(一村一宝運動,Wuhan). President of the People’s Republic of China visited Oita prefecture after several years. The OVOP Movement was introduced to Asia in 1990 and started in Malaysia(1991), Philippine(1993) and Indonesia(1995).

JICA noticed the local diplomacy of Oita prefecture, held the workshop purposing support to Malawi in Africa. Afterward the OVOP Movement started in Malawi in 2003. The workshop has initiated into government of Japan and held partnership with The United Nations, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The Work Bank and so on.

The OVOP Movement by JICA expanded in Africa. I will write the OVOP Movement in Malawi the week after next.

< Mr.Hiramatsu received a Asian Nobel prize >

Mr.Hiramatsu received a Asian Nobel prize ( It’s called “Magusaisai prize” ) in 1995 because he contributed independence and development of region economy in Asia. He was also gave a “友誼奨” by China government in 2002. He has held the summit for exchange between country in Asia and Kyusyu area in Japan, discussing about the environmental problems, human development and how to activate the region economy and so on. He had aimed at making a free trade zone ( FTZ ) between countries in Asia and Kyusyu area in Japan.

The Oitakenjinkai ( 大分県人会 ) has eight countries in Asia, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippine, Indonesia. It has held ‘the Asia Oitakenjinkai summit’ once a year, considering of exchange between countries in Asia and Oita prefecture.

Many foreign presidents and mayors have visited Oita prefecture since the OVOP Movement started. Mr.Hiramatsu had also been invited to lecture about it by many foreign governor. Oita airport had first international airline by this background in 1992.



the university of Ritsumeikan Asia Taiheiyo



Then Oita prefecture had university of Ritsumeikan Asia in 2000, receive many overseas students. And Oita prefecture was chosen as the soccer game place in the World Cup 2006.



Oita people has aimed exchange with every countries in the world through this movement, had a slogan “Think Globally, Act-Locally”.

Self-reliance and Creativity



in department store in Oita city



Hello!　Where did you go winter vacation? I went to my hometown ,Oita prefecture( ONSEN prefecture ). I relaxed with my family and my friends , and saw some specialties through the One Village One Product movement( OVOP ) in department store in Oita city. In Oita Nadeshiko JAPAN will visit training camp next month. Oita people have been looking forward to seeing them.

Today I will write second of the OVOP Movement’s principles ; Self-reliance and Creativity. It’s about realization of the OVOP Movement through independent actions utilizing potential of region. The OVOP Movement is activity that people live in each cities, towns and villages in Oita prefecture find the valuable local resources which can boast of nationally, and raise value through processing, sale, marketing, and so on.

 < The number of the OVOP Movement products > 

The OVOP Movement was initiated autonomously in 58 cities , towns and village of Oita prefecture. In the year of its introduction, the number of the OVOP Movement products throughout the prefecture was 143, but 20 years later the figure had increased more than two-folds to 336.　The OVOP Movement wasn’t always met with success, and there were many trials and errors along the way.1)  They have treasured characteristic of each regions and thought of technical guidance and distributional measure.

 Examples of products developed under the OVOP Movement are ‘White spring onions’ ( Bungotakata city ), ‘Kabosu’ ( Taketa city ), ‘Bungo beef’ ( Yufuin town ) and ‘Shochu spilits’ ( Usa city ) and so on.

< Support of the prefecture government >

The prefecture government never attempted to provide subsidies for the OVOP Movement. This movement isn’t a project but regional movement, so it is important that people live in each cities, towns and villages think of ideas and act. The prefecture governor supports it. The prefecture government established some laboratories and have researched and coached regional people for production and processing technology. For example, Oitaken nougyou gijyutu center ( Oita prefecture Agricultural Technology Center ), Oitaken tikusan shikenjyou (Oita prefecture Stockbreeding Experiment Station ), Oitaken kinoko kenkyuu shidou center ( Oita prefecture Mushrooms Research And Guidance Center ) and Oitaken kaiyousuisan kenkyuu center ( Oita prefecture Marine and Fisheries Science Center ) and so on.

 Distribution routes were opened and expanded by the efforts of the prefectural government and the then governor Mr.Hiramatsu himself, who organized numerous fairs in major Japanese cities and abroad, where he personally advertised Oita’s prospective products.1)

Budget of the prefecture used publicity of the OVOP Movement and exchange between human and human. The other was covered by community. The OVOP Movement is covered by private organization at present. Because they feared that such assistance would only hamper self-reliance and prevent lasting success of the OVOP Movement. Instead, the government assisted in product development and distribution. Moreover, groups and individuals with outstanding achievement in the OVOP Movement were honored with reward.1)

 It snowed much today. Please be careful not to slide on road next morning. Thank you!

1) Website ,www.ovop.jp