Program riset · Tatap muka
A free national program co-run by MAFF, MEXT and the Ministry of the Environment in which about 65 high school students are each paired with a 'master' who lives and works with forests, rivers or the sea, interview them in person and write their life story in the master's own words. The 2027 student call has not been published yet.
Each participant attends pre-training, travels to a rural area anywhere in Japan, interviews a master craftsperson or worker (e.g. forestry, charcoal making, lacquer tapping, papermaking, fishing), records and transcribes the conversation and turns it into a written 'kikigaki' work. Awards include the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award, the MEXT Minister's Award, the Minister of the Environment Award, the Forestry Agency Director-General's Award and the FamilyMart Special Award.