Visits to Sister Schools-SGH 2016
Report on our Trip to Finland – Collaborative Research about Forestry -Super Global High School Field Work
Mr. Shinichi Itoi Teacher
In 2015, Morioka Chuo High School became a super global high school associate school, and one of our projects is to do collaborative research about forestry, agriculture, marine industry, and livestock industry with our sister schools. We have been doing joint research about forestry with Rajamaki High School in Finland since 2015.
We used Skype to prepare for the trip and to talk with each other beforehand, and used a free website （https://rajamakimorioka.wordpress.com/）to post the results of our research. On this trip, we interacted with students and teachers from our sister school, came to better understand one another, and did research and learned about the forests in Finland. We noticed differences in how trees are planted in Japan and Finland. In addition, we saw other people walking in the forest and learned that Finnish people have a strong connection with the forests. The forests are owned jointly by everyone in Finland, and we were surprised that anyone can go into the forest and freely gather mushroom, berries, and nuts. There are six biomass plants operating in Rajamaki, which produce electricity and heat water. Even though they use fossil fuels to stabilize the production of electricity, these plants reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released.
In order to further develop the forestry industry, they need people who can work in this field. In Finland, there are schools with special courses to educate forest technicians, and the students there learn how to use heavy machinery in the forests. This helps support Finland’s top-level forestry industry.
The students also had a chance to learn about Finnish culture. They talked with their host families and buddies, went to classes, learned Finnish language, and had a pre-Christmas party. I think that these kinds of exchanges are good for our sister-school relationship, and I hope that they will continue.
I did a homestay at the home of Ms. Varpu, who came to Japan for the 18th forum. I would like to thank her and her family for the wonderful time I had there. I am grateful for the opportunity to go on this trip.
Field Work in Thailand for Super Global High School
Takaaki Homma teacher
Our school was named an associate super global high school by the Ministry of Education, and we are doing research about agriculture in Iwate.
Specifically, we are doing research about whether we can solve agricultural problems in Iwate using business models. Before this trip, we studied about the history and characteristics of agriculture in Iwate. This time, we went to Thailand for 9 days and did field work with students from our sister school, Bangkok Christian College, to learn about agriculture in Thailand, and to compare how farms are run in Thailand and Iwate, Japan.
We learned about how Thai rice is grown, harvested, and transported. The rice fields that we saw there were very big, and the farmers were using machines for planting and harvesting the rice. When the rice was shipped, they were very careful about cleanliness, and they did many quality checks. Thai rice is shipped around the world, and the factories where the rice is processed are huge and remind me of car factories in Japan. I thought that Japan was the most advanced country when it comes to rice production, but seeing the rice industry in Thailand shook my pre-conceived notion about this.
We also gave a presentation for the students about the results of our research so far, and had a discussion about Japanese agriculture. The Thai students were very interested in Japanese agriculture, and it was a lively discussion.
Next, the Thai students in our group will come to Japan and give a presentation about Thai agriculture and how to develop it as a business. I want to continue to supervise this research and help the students do their best.
