YAZAKI: Past, present, future. We are connected.

June 13, 2015

The Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project gets underway!

Yazaki employees joined with local residents in planting rice seedlings

The first volunteer activity of the Yazaki Centennial “Shochu” Project, an undertaking to commemorate the Yazaki Group’s 75th Anniversary, took place on June 13 in Saiki City, Oita Prefecture. Arrow Farm Oita joined local residents to plant rice (“Hinohikari”) that will be made into shochu.

The eight volunteers gathered in Saiki’s Nishino district under a cloudy sky between rainy season showers. For the members, who were planting rice for the first time in their lives, just walking in the muddy paddy was hard work. Nonetheless, they formed a line with local farmers and started carefully planting their seedlings. The going was slow in the beginning, but eventually, after about three hours, they completed planting the one-han (991.74 m²) paddy. Everyone was thrilled by the sight of the carefully arranged seedlings. The smiles of the local farmers were particularly memorable. “I haven’t planted rice seedlings by hand for forty years,” one of them said. “I’ll be joining you at the shochu opening ceremony. Now I’ve got something to look forward to!”