Since agriculture includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and sideline fishery, vibrant fishing villages are also an important part of a dynamic countryside. The blue ocean is the birthplace of life and the basis for the survival of marine fisheries. How to balance economic interests and sustainable development, how to avoid overfishing and environmental damage, how to take from the ocean and then give back to the ocean, is the mission of generations of fishermen who live and live by the sea. It is also the mission of every fisherman who comes here. Issues for tourists in fishing villages.

There is a small fishing village called Yusheng Town in Ishinomaki City in the northeastern part of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 destroyed about 80% of Yusheng Town. Volunteers transformed the abandoned school into a comprehensive experience facility. Many people go to the facility every year to experience local life, but the longest project is only one week. . As more and more children expressed their desire to “live for a long time,” the project team began to think about whether it could provide a way for children to experience symbiosis with nature.

After many inspections and discussions, with the funding of the consortium, the project team built the fishing village tourist dormitory and officially launched the “fishing village study tour” in April 2022. The study tour program is open to students from the fourth grade of elementary school to the third grade of junior high school who grew up in the city. It lasts for one year and aims to provide an accommodation experience in practicing recyclable living in nature. At the same time, the problem of low birthrate and aging population in Xiongsheng Town continues to intensify. Another purpose of the project team is to “contribute to rural construction through education.”

Xiongsheng Town faces the Pacific Ocean, with lush forests on the shore. Rich nutrients enter Xiongsheng Bay from the mountains and forests, nourishing sea creatures. Children who participate in the fishing village study tour program have to leave their parents, go to an elementary school or junior high school in Yusheng Town, and live together in a dormitory. Nature is constantly changing, society is also changing, and there is no standard answer. The best gift for children is to let them learn how to live strongly in a future world full of uncertainty, and to learn to find answers with their peers when there are no answers. In addition to their time in the classroom, children are learning how to get along with nature and people every day. The dormitory regulations and daily schedule are all determined by them.

Most children’s day starts at 6:30 in the morning. The child responsible for making breakfast needs to go to the chicken coop half an hour in advance to get fresh eggs, and then cook according to the recipe discussed the day before. Other children do some cleaning and feeding animals before meals, and meals are served on time at 7 o’clock. After the meal, the children took the school bus to school and did not return until around 3:30 pm. After returning home, everyone got busy according to the division of labor, feeding the animals, going to the beach to put fishing nets, boiling bath water, preparing firewood for the next day, etc. It is bathing time at 5 pm. There is only one bathhouse, and boys and girls must agree on the order of bathing. When most people take a bath, the children in the water boiling group are responsible for adjusting the water temperature outside. The three children in the dinner group need to cook according to the recipes prepared by everyone based on seasonal ingredients and ingredients in the refrigerator. Children who have never cooked at home will seek help from the staff and take the initiative to learn local seafood cooking methods from people in the fishing village. Not only do they learn to cook, but they also learn how to bring a sense of the season to the table. After dinner, the kids have a short meeting to set things out for the next day, and then it’s playtime. At 9 p.m., while the children in the city are still studying or playing with electronic products, the children studying in the fishing village have already fallen asleep.

There are more activities on weekends. The children go to the vegetable garden, the seaside, and the mountains and forests, and learn from the “parents” in the fishing village why “mountains are alive” and “the sea is a treasure house of resources.” Every child studying abroad regards Yusheng Town as his second hometown. The lifestyle here cultivates the children’s love for nature, the way to get along with others, and more importantly, their gratitude. Parental visits several times a year also make more adults fall in love with this small fishing village.