Peace & Nature, an international NPO based in Kobe where Japanese and international members work together, recently celebrated 15 years since its foundation. They have strong message and purpose with their overall theme of “global peace and the environment”. They are revitalizing unused fields and growing rice and vegetables without agricultural chemical in the beautiful natural environment of Ozo, Kita-ku, Kobe, with the help of their neighbors in the area.
Peace & Nature’s strength comes from creating a multi-nationality and multi-generational group with members from 38 different countries working together to pass on a sustainable environment to the next generation. They hold a variety of events and programs to experience growing food and improving the natural environment.
Founder Bahram Enanloo’s interesting past and wide experiences led him to begin Peace & Nature. At the age of 24 just after living through the Iran-Iraq war, he, like many of his friends, was looking for a peaceful country. While most of his friends chose Northern Europe to relocate, he settled on Japan. Bahram had studied about Japan and its history and at the time was learning karate, which brought him here. When he arrived 29 years ago he knew he had made the right choice.
Bahram, along with his wife Shinobu, formed Peace & Nature in 2003 and it officially became an NPO in 2006. In 2009 Bahram and Shinobu were inspired to begin workshops in rural areas and start growing organic rice and vegetables when their son developed food allergies. They met Dr. Shigeru Yasuda, professor emeritus at Kobe University, and learned the importance of rice and vegetable farming without agricultural chemicals and how closely food is related to health.
Peace & Nature’s 15th anniversary party was held, appropriately, on Japanese Cultural Day, November 3rd 2017. Children from the Deutsche Schule Kobe (European School) attended a workshop in the morning and in the afternoon over 70 people joined from 10 different companies, local residents, members and supporters.
Some of the special thanks Peace & Nature would like to give:
「Mr. Yazaki from FELISSIMO (supporter to make a KAMADO), Mr. Yamamoto from i-Craft (set up the toilet), Izuhei-The Foreign Buyers club (FBC)-Kitano Club Sola -Mangetsudo-Hakutsuru-Nishimura coffee-Daiwa Hiryo-IVY International Kids School -Canadian Academy-Aizawa Shokuhin-ARI-COOP Kobe-Oda tekou-Hyogo World Youth-Konando-Daizu trust-Kobe social campus-Juba Hiro San, Special thanks to OZO local people, Ms. Nakanishi Mr. Fujimoto from Fujimoto noen, Ms. Inao, Ms. Hatanaka and Nishi san gofusai!」
This was also the official launch of Peace & Nature’s Ozo base, a converted abandoned house in Ozo, Kita-ku, Kobe. They spent over a year and a half cleaning out the house, removing the older portion and shed, and installing a toilet. With the help of many friends and members, they are now ready to start using the base as a full-fledged experiential learning site for children and members to revitalize fallow fields and grow vegetables, and learn about the environment. It will also serve as a place for participants to take a rest during activities and cook meals together.
Their experiences working in the local area have made them aware of three issues.
- Japan’s food self-sufficiency is only 39%
- Existence of abandoned fields and homes.
- Today’s children have few opportunities to experience nature.
Their goal is to create an interactive space for children and students of all nationalities to experience farming and cooking, encounter nature, and learn the importance of protecting our food and the environment. With this in mind, they are now ready to accept internship students, not only from Japan but overseas.
Experiencing nature with your feet in the soil and learning how to grow and make things by hand using the surrounding environment is reward in itself, but to create a sustainable International Organic Village for the next generation is something every community should strive towards. That is Peace & Nature’s mission.
