“Nature and Me” by Alvin Lee

To nature, humans may be small, while to us nature is full of resources. Nature can greatly impact our lives depending on how we treasure and use it. We often discuss how humans negatively impact the nature, and why we should preserve nature, but this field study made me reconsider how we can make use nature to revitalize local economy and increase tourism.

In the first image, I am sitting on a path near the top of Hiranodai, a hill located near Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto Prefecture. Away from the city, there was only a view of vast grasslands, trees and mountains. Busy city life seems to pause, and time flows more slowly than imagined. Even though one feels a connection to the peace and quiet of nature, one recognizes that the path to this spot was all man-made, created for people. I then wonder if this might always be the negotiation between humans and nature throughout centuries. This thought carried into my two-day farmstay experience in Minami-Oguni, Kumamoto Prefecture (second image, below). The farm practiced self-sustainability, growing and eating its own food, making pottery to sell during the winter, making senbei from rice to sell in town, and hosting guests searching for a quiet weekend or holiday away from the city. Nature offers us food to survive and opportunities for businesses, and even supports the cities we live in presently.

I went to Kyushu to study regional revitalization, or chiiki saisei, and to learn how a region could be revitalized. This requires amazing effort by communities. In Kurokawa, youth are revitalizing their family businesses with new ideas; however, they still must rely on the natural onsen to attract tourists, a natural resource that the town has used for centuries. In Minamata, people are working towards a common goal, to create an eco-friendly city that requires constant recycling efforts by everyone. Through the field study, I felt a constant focus on the importance of nature to humans, as humans can use nature to generate prosperity in a region. If we can look at nature with a different perspective, maybe we can strike a better balance between the negotiation of humans and nature, so that we can live in a cleaner and better world.