The story continues
Although Taiwan Juku wrapped up its formal operations in October 2015, the interpersonal connections that it helped to shape remain.
Takamine thinks for a moment, then says, “So far, Taiwan Juku has enabled me to help 5627 people conduct exchanges, including Japanese visiting Taiwan and Taiwanese visiting Japan.” This figure isn’t a key performance indicator, but rather is the number of people who built relationships through Taiwan Juku, and who will likely further extend their interpersonal networks in the future.
When Ko-Tong Rice Club founder Lai Cing-soong returned to Taiwan after completing studies in Japan, he took up farming in his wife’s hometown with the goal of providing locals with safe, healthy food. Many urbanites were taken with his methods, which in turn sparked curiosity in neighboring nations, drawing visitors from mainland China’s Hainan Island, Hong Kong, and Malaysia to his farm in Yilan’s Shengou Village.
“I went to Japan to study when I was younger. Now, having Japanese people coming here to see me is very encouraging.” In late 2015, he dreamed up the “East Asian Island Time Seminar,” and invited experts from Hong Kong, Hainan, and Malaysia, as well as both Miyazaki and Kyoto in Japan, to share the agricultural ideas they were trying out. “We don’t have anything to do with formal diplomacy between capitals, but we can connect smaller places to one another, link farmers to other farmers.” For them, connecting people and thinking together about the likely future of local agriculture is a way forward.
In official institutions, another story is unfolding. In April 2019, six agricultural research and extension stations opened “agricultural value-added prototype centers” modeled on Miyazaki’s Food Open Lab. The centers help farmers develop new products and evaluate the market for those products, while the government provides processing equipment and technology, and assists with hygiene and safety standards.
Lin Heng-sheng, deputy director of the Business Promotion Center of the Agricultural Technology Research Institute, says that Taiwan has adapted the Miyazaki model to local needs, and notes that Taiwan and Japan have different goals for the processing of agricultural produce. “Japan’s objective is to use rural renewal to keep people in rural areas. Taiwan’s is to enable the distribution of local products, and through that encourage the formation of production hubs that become local highlights.”
On the day we visited the center, we saw a Nantou farmer named Tang Yinghua roasting rice bran. Following food safety practices, on the instructions of Su Chih-jou, an assistant researcher with the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, we donned uniforms, hairnets and facemasks, and washed our hands for 30 seconds before entering the processing room.
The entire roasting process is being tested to provide farmers building their own food processing rooms with a template to follow, and to ensure the safety of the resulting product.
Beginning with conversations and then developing into groups working together, Taiwan Juku bridged the seas between Taiwan and Miyazaki Prefecture, forging connections that are still growing. This is a story that looks sure to continue.
One of Miyazaki Prefecture’s first wagyu cattle.
Agriculture is a mainstay of Miyazaki’s economy. The Taiwan Juku program represents one of the prefectural government’s efforts to connect its farmers to the larger world.
Drawing on Miyazaki Prefecture’s example, Taiwan’s government is helping farmers develop products and evaluate markets.
Farmer Lai Cing-soong wants to connect farmers on the islands of East Asia so they can pool their experience and come up with new directions for local agriculture.
Shiho Fujiyabu (seated at far end of table) came to Taiwan in 2019 to host a food workshop, one made possible by her 2015 participation in the Taiwan Juku program.