Saturday, January 1, 2022
New Year's Greetings Yutaka Sano, Mayor of the Town of Hokuryu
Message
Happy New Year to all residents of the town.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a happy and healthy New Year in 2022.
The new coronavirus infection that has been raging around the world since the year before last has affected our lives in various ways.
The town has continued to take measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and we would like to express our gratitude for the efforts of related organizations and the understanding of the townspeople, which enabled us to complete the two rounds of vaccinations against the new coronavirus. The third round of vaccinations is scheduled to begin in January of this year, and we ask for your continued cooperation.
Last year was also a difficult year for agriculture, the key industry in our town.
Although snowmelt progressed smoothly, the low temperatures and low rainfall in May and June and July made it a difficult year for field crops. On the other hand, paddy rice produced a lot of low-protein, high-quality rice, although there were many cases of white rice due to high-temperature damage. I would like to express my deep respect for the efforts of all rice growers. However, the Corona rice crisis has also contributed to the slump in consumption, resulting in a significant drop in prices. We will continue to urge the national and provincial governments to take strong measures to minimize this impact.
In addition, the town's major event, the Sunflower Festival, was suspended and the tourist center was closed in order to avoid any risk to visitors and other concerned parties, placing the highest priority on human life. However, about 110,000 people visited Sunflower Village to seek health and healing. We hope that this year we will be able to welcome visitors from all over the country after taking all possible measures.
The "hometown support donation" has received a great deal of support from all over the country, and the return gifts such as sunflower rice and sunflower melons have been well received, and are expected to exceed 300 million yen for the 8th consecutive year. We will continue to make efforts to support Hokuryu-cho by providing attractive town development and special products to many people.
This year marks the 130th anniversary since the groundwork for the development of the town was laid by a group of immigrants from Honno Village in Chiba Prefecture in 1875. Although there are many challenges facing the administration, such as the declining population, we will continue to work together with the citizens of the town to demonstrate the strengths and experience we have accumulated so far, and strive to create a town where each and every one of our citizens can live a spiritually rich life.
In conclusion, I would like to wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.
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