1 On the occasion of publication: Yasuhiro Sasaki, former chairman of the Hokuryu Town Council

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Hokuryu-cho Sunflower Tourist Association

Fifty years have passed since the Hokuryu-cho Tourist Association was established in 1972 with the late Yoshio Komatsu as its founder.

I remember that the Agricultural Festival was held at the time, and the commercial and industrial workers helped to celebrate the harvest in the agricultural town and held various events. It was a festival where one could feel the richness of the spirit.

Later, in 1987, it became the 1st Sunflower Festival, a festival of sunflowers, agriculture, and commerce. Sunflowers were now the focus of much attention. At the time, I was serving as the Youth Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, so I rejoiced and celebrated with my colleagues in agriculture, commerce, and government.

Furthermore, in 1999, the name of the association was changed to the Hokuryu-cho Sunflower Tourism Association, which drew a lot of attention as the name of an association bearing a national specialty, and there were many expectations that tourism would become a new policy for the town. The word "tourism" was coined at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912) to mean "finding light in the future.

I believe that the town of Hokuryu has sunflowers on its side, symbolizing that the town is proud of its sunflowers and that all the townspeople are looking to the future. I believe that the way forward for Hokuryu-cho is for us to enjoy ourselves first, and for visitors and those who seek safe and secure agricultural products to share this enjoyment with us.

The town can shine because of the abundance of agriculture, the pride of supporting people's lives through commerce, and the quality of the people who live there.

We would like to express our gratitude and thanks to all those who have contributed so much to the Sunflower Tourism Association's 50-year history. We would like to congratulate them and wish them the best in creating values that will not be tossed about by the times and that will not be swayed by the changes of the times.

Here's to a hundred years!