Lecture at the New Year's Party of Hekisui Chomei Kai, a senior citizens' club of Hekisui Neighborhood Association "12 Years in Hekiryu Town" as seen on the portal of Hekiryu Town.

Friday, January 20, 2023

On Thursday, January 19, from 10:30 a.m., the Hekisui Chomeikai, an association of elderly members of the Hekisui neighborhood association, held a New Year's party at Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen.

The New Year's party had not been held for the past two or three years due to the effects of the new coronavirus infection. About 20 people attended the party, which was held after a long absence.

At the request of the Hekisui Chomei Association, Noboru Terauchi spoke for the first hour on the topic of "12 Years of Hokuryu Town as seen through the Hokuryu Town Portal.

Lecture: "12 Years of Hokuryu Town as Seen through the Hokuryu Town Portal"

❂ Lecturer: Mr. Noboru Terauchi, community support worker, Hokuryu Town

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak at the Hekisui Chomei Kai New Year's party.

Today, we would like to share our memories with you and look back on the 12 years of history at the Hokuryu Town Portal as if it were a running lantern.

My wife and I are working together as Hokuryu-cho community support workers as fiscal year appointment employees of the town of Hokuryu. The work of the village supporters is to bridge the gap between the local government and the local community and to revitalize the local community. The activities are funded by a special local subsidy from the national government to the town of Hokuryu.

Therefore, we are operating a website called "Hokuryu Town Portal" as a window to disseminate information about Hokuryu Town using the Internet.

Portal" means "gate or entrance" in English. When you visit the Hokuryu Town Portal, it is a gateway where you can check and see various information at once without going to each organization's homepage.

The homepage of the town of Hokuryu Town provides administrative announcements and other information. The Hokuryu Town Portal introduces the activities of town residents from our perspective in the form of feature articles and "Treasures of Hokuryu Town" articles, as well as various information on each organization.

After the opening remarks, he gave a lecture using a projector to project articles from the Hokuryu Portal on the screen.

informal social gathering

After the lecture, each of us enjoyed a delicious meal at the hot spring and deepened our friendship after a long absence, and had a pleasant time of nostalgic conversation.

In addition, a dice rolling game will be held. The prize is a tissue case! Roll two dice and receive two cases on a "zero" roll, and three cases on two red balls.

After the games, the participants were free to leave in their own way, some taking a hot spring bath, others enjoying conversation and a meal at their leisure.

Hekisui Chomeikai, Koji Kawada, Chairman of the Board

I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

We were able to hold the 2023 New Year's Party under unusually clear skies. We feel that this is the result of everyone's daily devotion. Today, we invited Mr. and Mrs. Terauchi to give a lecture. Thank you very much.

I feel that the 12 years that have passed since Mr. and Mrs. Terauchi arrived in town is a milestone that is equal to 12 years of the Chinese zodiac turning around.

In my personal life, I had been receiving mourning postcards for the past several years, but this year I was able to send and receive New Year's cards for the first time in many years.

One of the New Year's cards I received said, 'Koji Kawada, you are really young. I thought it strange since I have not seen you in recent years and have never shown you my photo. I realize that he probably thought so when he saw my picture in the article on the Hokuryu Town portal.

I was impressed by the fact that this kind of information dissemination on the Internet has allowed people from Hokuryu Town to receive information and information about the town to those who went to the cities.

The information on the Hokuryu Town Portal is delivered to the entire world via the Internet. Since it can be viewed anywhere in the world, it has become a very significant information dissemination force. We feel that Mr. Terauchi's achievements in disseminating information about Hokuryu-cho over the past 12 years will lead to the development of Hokuryu-cho today.

Please continue to be in good health as a friendly couple, and please continue to disseminate information about Hokuryu Town. Thank you very much.

I would like to ask everyone to take their time today and enjoy the pleasant conversation as much as your time allows," said Mr. Kawada.

Noriyuki Takeuchi, Vice President, Hekisui Neighborhood Association

I am happy to welcome the New Year in good health, ladies and gentlemen. Normally we would have asked the neighborhood association president to come, but since he is in mourning, I have been invited on his behalf.

Today, let me tell you a little bit about the Hekisui Neighborhood Association.

In January 2020, six neighborhood associations merged to form the new neighborhood association. At the time of its establishment, there were 126 households. Currently, there are 124 households, so the number of households has remained almost the same. However, we are aware that the population is aging very rapidly.

The general meeting was held last December and a revision of the board of directors was implemented. The 50- and 60-year-old generation, who will be responsible for the future management of the association, are already currently serving in many positions. In addition, three of the four board members will remain in their positions, as it is difficult for them to take on additional roles in the neighborhood association and the younger generation will have a greater burden to bear.

At the same time, it was also a time of revision of the general assembly. Due to physical reasons and various circumstances of each generation, the situation is such that we have started the festival from the New Year's Day festival with 11 members instead of 14 so far. The neighborhood association is something that we must maintain, so we will try to do our best to keep it going.

Due to the Corona disaster, we have been unable to hold various neighborhood association events for several years. We hope that the Corona disaster will be over as soon as possible so that we can hold neighborhood association events where everyone can meet each other.

Today is our New Year's party, and since this is our first meeting of the year, I hope you will take the time to enjoy yourselves.

I wish you all a peaceful New Year and a healthy life in 2023," said Mr. Takeuchi, Vice President.

Fellowship, congeniality and pleasant chatting!

Dice rolling game and prize is a tish case!

Commemorative photo shoot

We wish everyone a Happy New Year and a Happy New Year with endless love, gratitude, and prayers.
　

Lecture "12 Years of Hokuryu Town

2011 (Heisei 23)

Sunflower Village

Lastly, I would like to share with you a video of the Sunflower Village, which we have covered extensively this year.

Last year, we took a shared cab from the town around 8:00 a.m. and visited Sunflower Village, where we spent an hour photographing the blooming sunflowers and the sunflower fields, and made a video of it.

During the month-long Sunflower Festival, we visited Himawari no Sato three times each week to provide information in the "Treasures of Hokuryu-cho" section, including photos and articles about Himawari no Sato, and also created about 20 three-minute videos.

Last year, we were especially surprised to receive many requests from TV stations and media outlets to "provide video clips at Himawari no Sato," but we responded politely to each request.

There is much more I would like to tell you, but time is limited, so I will end here.

We are very happy to be here in Hokuryu Town. We are sincerely grateful to the many people who have supported us.

As long as our minds and bodies can move, we will continue to shine a light on the town's residents, who are living well in Hokuryu Town, and continue to disseminate information about the town's treasures.

We will strive to share our excitement and joy on the Internet. Thank you very much for your kind attention today," said Noboru Terauchi, expressing his heartfelt gratitude.

More Photos

Click here to view (25) photos of "12 Years in Hokuryu Town" on the Hokuryu Town Portal >>

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