The "Sunflower" Town was made possible by the efforts of all the townspeople
Former Chairman of Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association, Tsutomu Sako
A former employee of Hokuryu Town Hall, he worked in the tourism industry and commerce section of the Industry Division, and was involved in tourism for many years. He renamed the Town Festival to the Sunflower Festival and established the Sunflower Village.
After retiring from the town office, he served as a member of the Hokuryu Town Council for three terms, a period of 11 years, and served as chairman of the Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association from April 2020 to March 2023.
Watching the sunflowers blooming all at once across the vast expanse of land fills me with energy. It's also the moment when the whole town comes alive and burns hot alongside the sun.
In 1980, the women's division of the agricultural cooperative started a campaign to plant sunflowers per household, one are, as part of efforts to beautify the environment, and all over 400 farmers came together to take action.
Since then, the sunflowers have continued to bloom and shine brightly in the summer, facing the sun and giving birth to many dramatic stories.
In 1988, the town was hit by unprecedented heavy rains, and it seemed as though the light of sunflowers would disappear from the town, but the following year, young people stepped up and the Sunflower Village was born. Ironically, the following year, the town was hit by bird damage, so 50,000 seedlings were forced to grow in greenhouses, and the townspeople began planting them one by one by hand. All the junior high school students who saw this decided to help, and this led to the start of the management of the world's sunflowers and tourist guides at the junior high school. Elderly people took care of the sunflowers in various ways, such as weeding them... The buds swelled and spread throughout the town, becoming one, and it became a place of communication that transcended generations, from children to the elderly.
Sunflowers bloomed in the hearts of each and every townsperson. People who loved their town looked at the place where they lived from various perspectives.
The ideas of the local people came together, new ideas were born, and a good culture was born. It was a product of the efforts of all the townspeople. The passion of everyone, determined not to let the light that had been lit in a town without tourism go out, led to the revitalization of the town.
The secret behind Himawari no Sato's popularity is
① It was a private movement, and the initial starting point was a farming mother, which created an environment in which the town and agricultural cooperatives had to seriously support it.
② The town seized the opportunity of the times. At the time, the One Village, One Product movement was booming, and the town's unique efforts became a hot topic, attracting extensive coverage on television and other media.
3. Above all, there were many people who were willing to work hard for the people and the town.
4. Sunflowers are vulnerable to wind and rain, can cause problems with successive crops, and require annual planting of F1 seeds to produce beautiful flowers, which is costly and difficult for other towns or individuals to follow. However, the positive attitude of overcoming these shortcomings has supported the Hokuryu Sunflower Village. Of course, this feat was made possible through the generous support of the government and the cooperation of various organizations.
Hokuryu Town has achieved tourism with the cooperation of all its residents, but local ideas are reaching their limits. We hope to bring together the wisdom of people from both inside and outside the town to aim for town development tourism centered on sunflowers, deepen exchanges between urban and rural areas, and bring prosperity to farmers and merchants through the development of green tourism, thereby shining even brighter as a "town with the sun on its side."
