Comments from participants

・ The purpose of this project was to learn about sustainable tourism development in Kawagoe, “Little Edo.”
We got to play an SDGs board game with the cooperation of One Bullet K.K. The board game was very interesting.
Working together with other participants to discuss and think about achieving the 17 goals of the SDGs while playing the board game helped me to understand the importance of cooperation to protect our way of life and pass it along to the future.
Tokyo International University students and JTB employees also played. The game provided an opportunity to get a deep understanding of the SDGs.
I would like to continue learning in the future, with a sense for the different perspectives of different generations.

・ Harvesting Katsuraki yuzu citrus fruit
Until it was explained to us at first, I had expected picking yuzu to be easy. But when we actually tried doing so, I realized what hard work it was, since there were thorns and spider webs on the trees. It must be difficult for older people to do this work. I was glad to think that our efforts helped to lessen the workload of farmers, even if only a little. It also reminded me to be grateful to the farmers, because without their hard work we would not be able to eat yuzu every year.

・ Selling Katsuraki yuzu citrus fruit
Through this yuzu sales event, I was reminded of how difficult sales work can be. While selling seems to be a pedestrian task that involves simply publicizing the product and getting people to buy it, I realized that in fact we need to pay attention to a wide range of subjects, as customers might complain or ask questions about the products and we needed to hawk the products in ways that would not inconvenience passersby. It seemed to me that publicizing the product with more of a focus on its background (such as the harvesting process and the fact that since the fruit was sold under the Katsuraki brand any specimens that did not have uniform size and shape had to be sold at lower prices) would make it easier to increase numbers of buyers and focus on the target customer base.

・ I was impressed by your company’s wonderful JTB Brighter Earth Project, through which you help build a positive future through efforts such as cleanup activities in tourist areas. Our company also is considering efforts in areas such as lessening environmental impact and nature conservation in cooperation with the community, but we have not been able to carry out any practical activities because of the difficulty of developing good ideas. Being able to share information and cooperate with you in this event was very reassuring. We hope to learn more from your efforts in the future as well.

Comments from a partner organization

We were very happy to have the opportunity to speak with so many local residents and tourists during this two-day program.
It was great to be able over these two days to put into practice the things we learn regularly in the university about protecting the appeal of our wonderful hometown of Kawagoe, communicating its attractions to others, and connecting with people. We will put what we have learned on these two days to use in our future activities.
Thank you very much to all who were involved in preparation of this activity.

Comments from the staff member responsible

【About the JTB Brighter Earth Project】
The Crea Mall shopping district, located near Kawagoe’s “Little Edo,” has the highest level of foot traffic of any shopping district in Saitama. Our office is located in the middle of this shopping district that spans 1200 meters in length. On the cool autumn days of this event, the entire shopping district was filled with the refreshing scent of the season and the unconstrained voices of high-school and university students. This was the first time the office joined with the corporate branch to carry out a single event together. Seeing the red signs on the streets and in the retail facility gave me a feeling for the unlimited potential of the JTB office. I would like to demonstrate that power through a wide range of activities in the future as well.

【About the activities in the shopping district】
Through the JTB Brighter Earth Project, we were able to discover attractions of Kawagoe that we had never noticed before, by cleaning up the area together with local university students and businesspeople and exchanging opinions on initiatives toward achievement of the SDGs.
This activity was planned and implemented together with Tokyo International University’s “Haipotenja University” student tourism-development team. “Haipotenja University” is a project team that aims to make Kawagoe an even better and more lively community through student efforts based on the knowledge they learned in the university, through cooperation by university students in the city.
Through exchange of opinions and listening to the comments of people from local shopping districts and local government over a period of about half a year, the JTB Kawagoe Branch was able to understand that litter from people eating while walking around the shopping district was a difficult challenge.
Although we were unable to solve these challenges completely by picking up litter and distributing paper bags that people would want to take home with them, it seemed that the number of people who felt like they wanted to make Kawagoe a cleaner, more attractive place, through communication and activities by local university and high-school students, is likely to increase at least a little.

【About harvesting and selling Katsuraki yuzu citrus fruit】
The Katsuraki brand of yuzu citrus fruit is intended to stimulate the Moroyama district. However, the fruits we actually sold were not perfect Katsuraki yuzu but included many specimens that could not be sold on the market under the Katsuraki brand, since they had been picked by high-school students. For this reason, they were sold at lower than usual prices, and many customers were happy about that.
After trying to sell the fruit, it seemed to me that emphasizing the following concept, instead of simply selling the fruit at low prices, might help to make the sales more meaningful and increase sale prices, by conveying the brand's message to customers.

One specific example of a course of action would be that expressed by the message, “High-school students are contributing to the community and society by working to eliminate food loss and find new ways of using fruit that normally could not be sold under the Katsuraki yuzu brand, through a new sales channel”
Even Katsuraki yuzu that is too small or has bruises still is fragrant fruit that can be used in many ways. It seemed to me that efforts such as these could enable further brand building and community vitality, as well as preventing, reducing, and recycling or reusing wastes. By learning to product development and other activities, it also could help create employment and stimulate culture and production in the community, helping to promote sustainable tourism as a result.

It also seemed to me that this event was able to raise awareness in various ways through people from different points of view - local residents, high-school students, and university students - joining and taking action together. Even the high-school students learned a lot about Katsuraki yuzu before harvesting them, deepened their understanding by listening to what farmers had to say on the day of harvesting, and created their own flyers and posters as well as producing and streaming original videos on the day of the sales event.

I was impressed by they way, through the above activities, the high-school students described Katsuraki yuzu and spoke about the processes of harvesting through selling to customers - male and female, young and old alike - when they purchased them, using their own words.

Thank you very much for this valuable opportunity. I hope to put this experience to use in future activities as well.

Scenes from the program