The 2024 Regional Co-creation Study was held from Tuesday, September 17 to Friday, September 20, 2024, in Sakai City and Ibaraki City, Osaka.
This year, as in the previous year, on Tuesday the 17th, with the cooperation of the Policy Planning Division of Sakai City Hall, lectures on “SDGs and Sakai City’s Initiatives” and “Initiatives in the Senboku New Town Area” were conducted, along with field surveys. In the morning lecture, we received an explanation of Sakai City’s efforts towards the SDGs so far. In the afternoon, we learned about the development concepts of the three blocks of Senboku New Town. During the field survey, we also observed various efforts to attract young residents to the aging housing complexes (danchi) built in 1970, such as establishing DIY workshops for room renovations and rooms with resident interior designers. Furthermore, measures to improve the living environment for the existing elderly residents, such as installing health management rooms and the YAMAWAKE kitchen, were also implemented.
On Wednesday, the 18th, we visited the Shimano Bicycle Museum in the morning. The Sakai City Tourism Volunteer Association cooperated and gave us a guided tour. The Museum featured various exhibits, ranging from the history of bicycles to the latest models utilizing the company’s advanced bicycle component technology. In the afternoon, we visited the Teppo Kaji House and the Enami Cutlery Workshop, where we observed the manufacturing process and finished products of matchlock guns, as well as the production of knives and other cutlery items.
On Thursday the 19th, with the continued support of the Sakai City Tourism Volunteer Association, we visited the keyhole-shaped burial mounds in Daisen Park and the Sakai City Museum in the morning. The students strolled through the vast park grounds, arriving at the Sakai City Museum. There, they viewed exhibits of stone coffins, pottery, haniwa (clay figures), and dogu (clay dolls) from the burial mounds, as well as displays of the Kishiwada Danjiri Festival’s portable shrines and tea bowls used by Sen no Rikyu. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to make traditional Japanese sweets, instructed by a Japanese confectionery artisan, Maeda-san. Each participant created their original sweets based on the instructor’s example. Under the guidance of a tea ceremony instructor, we learned the proper etiquette for the tea ceremony. We also visited the Japanese garden and observed and fed the carp in the garden pond.
On the final day, Friday the 20th, we attended a lecture on the social welfare system of Ibaraki City in a classroom at OIC in the morning. We visited the Kita-Osaka Social Welfare Facility (Keitokukai) in the afternoon to observe elderly welfare services and special nursing homes.
Although the off-campus training lasted only four days, the participants could experience the Japanese culture, the unique characteristics and initiatives of Sakai City and Ibaraki City, and the local tourism facilities and community revitalization efforts. This experience will serve as a valuable material for their future research.