Hoping to Spread the Appeal of Hachimantai's Nature and Cyclical Agriculture Around the World and Enliven the Region!

Q.Why did your company decide to take on interns? What did you aim to achieve?

We make use of the energy of geothermal hot springs, one of Hachimantai's local resources, in addition to cultivating high value added mushrooms, creating compost from horse manure, and also working to create compost using mushroom bed waste. Retired race horses live on Geofarm's pasture. We carry out cyclical agriculture that makes use of the natural bounty of the manure of these horses and of geothermal energy, which has gained attention as a form of renewable energy. Hachimantai is blessed with geothermal hot springs and this is where the first commercial geothermal power plant in Japan, and the third in the world, was created in 1966. It is also a rarity throughout the world to cultivate mushrooms through the use of geothermal energy and horse manure. Given the opportunity of an increased number of inbound tourists, we hope to have people from different countries visit Geofarm and to convey to them the possibilities for circular agriculture and the appeal of Hachimantai's nature. That is why we applied to the program, hoping to cultivate a sense of globalism and improve the English skills of our employees, to create an accepting attitude towards foreigners in the region, and to improve on our English language informational tools.

Busy with Building a Base for Accepting Foreigners Through Cooperation with Locals

Q.What kind of internship did you run? What difficulties did you face and how did you resolve them?

Together with full-time employees and part-timers, the intern experienced interconnected work such as horse care, compost production, mushroom bed preparation, the planting of starter culture, and harvesting in order to understand our business and for the purposes of in-company communication. Based on this experience, the intern undertook the creation of an English version pamphlet about Geofarm. Alongside this, the intern was in charge of research for the improvement of sales tools such as packages.
The intern also expanded his activity from Geofarm to other locations in the region such as the Asahinoyu hot springs ryokan, which belongs to the same business union as us, and the Iwate Yakehashiri International Exchange Village, a hot springs facility with camp lodging, in order to greatly expand accepting attitudes towards foreigners. Consequently, the intern was in charge of a wide variety of work such as translating menus and guides into English, giving advice on how to attract foreign tourists, and handling foreign visitors. In each workplace there were many staff for whom it was their first time to work together with a foreigner and they were able to experience communication with a foreigner and practice their English.

Expanding Possibilities for Our Business and the Region Through Intercultural Communication

Q.Comparing before and after the internship, what effects did it have on you, your employees, or your organization?

The intern was able to speak a little Japanese and communication with our employees and locals was smooth. We gradually grew accustomed to him as a close friend as we shared our excitement over familiar topics such as food and daily customs and he taught us English. By having the intern actually work in the region we were able to have him point out problems that we had overlooked such as the lack of English signage and how difficult it is to understand the means of transportation. Additionally, we were also forced to think about the importance of appeal going forward and the tourism resources, such as mountains, hot springs, and quality ski resorts in Hachimantai, that are appealing to foreigners.
The intern researched reusable packaging material that could demonstrate the appeal of circular agriculture for mushroom cultivation and sales. He also inquired about the agricultural machinery of foreign manufacturers for improving work efficiency and explored business possibilities. Going forward we will be distributing the English language pamphlets about Geofarm at facilities in the region. The intern discovered possibilities for the region for us from a global perspective and we have gradually been preparing an awareness and attitude of acceptance towards foreigners.