"12 Years of Hokuryu Town History" available on the Hokuryu Town Portal. Lecture given at the New Year's party of the Hekisui Chomeikai Senior Citizens' Club of the Hekisui Neighborhood Association.

Friday, January 20, 2023

On Thursday, January 19th from 10:30am, the New Year's party for the Hekisui Neighborhood Association's senior citizens' group, Hekisui Chomei-kai, was held at Sunflower Park Kitaryu Onsen.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, New Year's parties have not been held for the past two or three years. This was the first time in a long time that a New Year's party was held, and around 20 people attended. Everyone looked healthy and had smiles, and everyone enjoyed lively conversation in a friendly atmosphere.

At the request of the Hekisui Chomei-kai, Terauchi Noboru gave a lecture for the first hour titled "Seeing Hokuriku Town's 12-year history through the Hokuriku Town Portal."

Lecture: "The 12-year history of Hokuryu Town as seen through the Hokuryu Town Portal"

❂ Speaker: Mr. Noboru Terauchi, Hokuryu Town Community Supporter

"Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak at the Hekisui Chomeikai New Year's party.

Today, I would like to share and look back on the 12-year history of Hokuryu Town Portal with you all, like a slideshow.

My wife and I are Hokuryu Town community supporters, appointed for the fiscal year by the town. Our work as community supporters is based on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' community supporter system, and involves bridging information between the government and the local community, with the aim of revitalizing the local area. Our activity expenses are covered by the national government's special local allocation tax to Hokuryu Town.

Therefore, we operate a website called "Hokuryu Town Portal" on the Internet to serve as a window for disseminating information about Hokuryu Town.

The word "portal" means "gate" or "entrance" in English. When you visit the Hokuryu Town Portal, you can check and view a variety of information all at once, without having to go to each organization's website.

The Hokuryu Town website posts government announcements and other information. The Hokuryu Town Portal also features feature articles and articles on "Hokuryu Town Treasures," introducing the activities of townspeople from our perspective, as well as various information on each organization.

"Now, I would like to introduce the 12-year history of the Hokuryu Town Portal in just an hour," he said, and then he gave a lecture while projecting articles from the Hokuryu Town Portal onto a screen.

social gathering

After the lecture, everyone enjoyed delicious hot spring cuisine, deepened their friendships after a long time since they last met, and enjoyed nostalgic conversations.

In addition, a dice rolling game was held, with prizes being tissue cases! Two dice were rolled, and if the dice were a doublet, two cases were awarded, and if two red balls were rolled, three cases were awarded.

After the game, everyone dispersed in groups, some taking a dip in the hot springs, others enjoying conversation and a leisurely meal.

Greetings from Koji Kawada, Chairman of Hekisui Chomeikai

"Once again, Happy New Year to everyone.

Our 2023 New Year's party was held in rare fine weather. I believe this is also the result of everyone's daily efforts. Today, we invited Mr. and Mrs. Terauchi to give us a lecture. Thank you very much.

I feel that the 12 years that have passed since the Terauchi couple came to town are a milestone year, equivalent to one cycle of the zodiac.

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

In the New Year's card I received, it said, "Kawada Koji, you look so young." I thought it was strange, as I haven't met him in recent years and have never shown him a photo. I realize that he probably thought that after seeing my photo in the Hokuryu Town Portal article.

I was impressed that through this type of information dissemination on the Internet, information and updates about Hokuryu Town are reaching people who have moved from Hokuryu Town to the city.

The information on the Hokuryu Town Portal is distributed worldwide via the Internet. Because it can be viewed from anywhere in the world, it has a huge power to disseminate information. I feel that Terauchi's achievements over the past 12 years in disseminating information about Hokuryu Town will lead to the development of Hokuryu Town today.

I hope you will continue to be a happy couple and stay healthy and spread information about Hokuryu Town. Thank you.

"Today, I hope you will take your time and enjoy the conversation as much as you can," said Kawada.

Greetings from Vice Chairman Noriyuki Takeuchi of the Hekisui Neighborhood Association

"I am happy that everyone is in good health and welcoming the New Year. Normally, the neighborhood association president would be here, but as he is in mourning, I have been invited in his place.

Today, I would like to talk a little about the Aomizu Neighborhood Association.

In January 2020, six neighborhood associations merged to form the current new neighborhood association. When it was first established, there were 126 households. Currently, there are 124 households, so the number of households has remained roughly the same. However, we can see that the population is aging rapidly.

A general meeting was held in December of last year, and changes were made to the officers. The people in their 50s and 60s who will be responsible for running the association in the future are already in many positions. Furthermore, it is difficult for them to take on the role of officers of the neighborhood association, and the burden on the younger generation will increase, so it was decided that three of the four officers would remain in their positions.

At the same time, it was time to revise the general meeting of representatives. Due to health reasons and various circumstances among each generation, we have now started the New Year's Day festival with only 11 members, down from the previous 14. The neighborhood association is something that must be maintained, so we will do our best to keep it going.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various neighborhood association events have not been able to be held for several years. We hope that the pandemic will come to an end as soon as possible so that everyone can meet in person and hold neighborhood association events.

Today is the New Year's party, and it's the first time we've met this year, so I hope you'll take your time and enjoy yourself.

"I would like to conclude my remarks by praying that 2023 will bring you all peaceful and healthy years," said Vice Chairman Takeuchi.

A social gathering where everyone can enjoy friendly conversation!

Dice rolling game - prize is a Tisi case!

Commemorative photo shoot

Everyone looked healthy and happy after a long time, and the Hekisui Chomeikai New Year's Party was filled with smiles and lively conversation, and we shared our happiness and joy. With boundless love, gratitude, and prayers...
　

Lecture: "12 Years of Hokuryu Town"

2011 (Heisei 23)

Sunflower Village

Finally, we would like to introduce a video of Sunflower Village, which we have been covering this year.

Last year, I took a shared taxi from the town at around 8am to visit the Sunflower Village, where I spent about an hour taking photos and recording videos of the sunflower blooms and the state of the sunflower fields.

Over the course of the month during the Sunflower Festival, we visited the Sunflower Village about three times a week and posted photos and articles about the Sunflower Village in the "Hokuryu Town Treasures" section, as well as creating about 20 videos of about three minutes each.

Last year in particular, we were very surprised by the large number of requests we received from television stations and media outlets to provide videos of Himawari no Sato, but we responded to each request courteously.

There is still much more I would like to say, but as time is limited, I will end here.

We are very happy to be in Hokuryu Town, and we are truly grateful for the support we have received from so many people.

As long as we are still able to use our minds and bodies, we would like to continue to shine a light on the healthy residents of Hokuryu Town and to continue disseminating information about the treasures of Hokuryu Town.

"We will continue to strive to share the excitement and joy of the Internet. Thank you very much for coming today," said Terauchi Noboru, expressing his heartfelt gratitude.

Other photos

See the 25 photos of "12 Years of Hokuryu Town" on the Hokuryu Town Portal here >>

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◇ Photography and editing: Noboru Terauchi Interview and text: Ikuko Terauchi