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Nakakawane Town
Shizuoka Prefecture
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| Mt.Ofuda(Height 1,374m)
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Green Tea fields are beautiful in May during the
harvest season of fresh tea.
The finest first tea is picked up by hand. |
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Community facilities
Introducing the living and nature of Nakakawane with a key word "tea". Shadow
pictures of scenes of Nakakawane by Seiji Fujishiro, and lovely sound of "water
music jar". You can learn the method to serve delicious tea. Designated as "Road
Station" of Japan. "Midori-no-Tamatebako" (direct merchandise shop of local
products) at 8:30 - 16:30.
Rural Revitalization in NakaKawane
A "Dream" as a Product -- The Case of the "Village of Four Seasons,"
Nakakawane Town, Shizuoka Prefecture
What is the key factor to revitalize Japan's rural villages? In Nakakawane
town in Shizuoka Prefecture, a group of women from the local farms have
established a sales organization called the "Village of Four Seasons." The
Village, which sells farm products, is a corporation funded and managed by local
housewives. Since a unique type of commission sales is generated as a result of
this corporation, the town's residents are also involved in its activities. As
such, the Village has successfully created a beneficial cycle among nature, the
economy and people.
Nakakawne Demographics 1998
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Area =121km2 |
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| population |
6,854 |
persons |
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| under fifteen |
13.7 |
percent |
| fifteen to twenty nine |
13 |
percent |
| thirty to forty four |
14.9 |
percent |
| forty five to sixty four |
28.8 |
percent |
| over sixty five |
29.6 |
percent |
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| daytime night population ratio |
91.2 |
percent |
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| household number |
1,957 |
household |
labor
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|
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| total number of offices |
431 |
office |
| service industry offices |
102 |
office |
| total worker |
3,875 |
person |
financial
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| agricultural output |
1,460 |
100 milion yen |
| the work force |
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| primary industry |
22 |
percent |
| secondary industry |
42 |
percent |
| tertiary industry |
36 |
percent |
| manufacturing output |
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| taxable income |
7,952 |
100 milion yen |
| retail sales output |
6,012 |
100 milion yen |
Research in Nakakawane
Tea Drinking habits may play a role in stomach cancer
Research in Japan is shedding light on green tea's role in preventing some
forms of cancer. "We have found that people in tea-producing regions have a
lower death rate from cancer,"says Itaro Oguni, a professor of food science at
the Univesity of Shizuoka, Hamamatsu College.
Specifically, Oguni's research has uncovered a significantly lower rate of
cancer deaths in Shizuoka Prefecture, located southwest of Tokyo. The area
produces 40,000 tons of tea a year, about half of Japan's total output.
Oguni found that in the rugged, riverside town of
Nakakawane, where Shizuoka's premier green tea is produced, the incidence of
stomach cancer deaths was one-fifth of the national rate for males and one-third
for females. People in the town have a habit of drinking strong tea and change
their tea leaves very often, Oguni says. As well, according to his research, tea
consumption in Nakakawane is ten times higher than the Japanese average.
Another study, conducted jointly by Oguni's research team and China's
national cancer center in Beijing, examined the effect of green tea extract on
mice that had been fed a carcinogen. Oguni says the cancer rate for mice that
had consumed the extract was about half that for mice that had no extract.
Scientists believe that a polyphenol known as catechin, which is found in
black and green tea, helps the human body ward off cancer. A study conducted by
Oguni and Dr. Masami Yamada at Hamamatsu Medical Center suggested that catechin
kills helicobactor pylori, a bacterium believed to trigger stomach cancer.
So how much tea must people drink to absorb an effective amount of catechin?
Oguni calculates that to consume the same amount of catechin as folks in
Nakakawane, tea drinkers need to have 10 cups, or about 2 1/2 pints, of green
tea every day.
-Kyoto News International.
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