Nakakawane Town

Shizuoka Prefecture

Mt.Ofuda(Height 1,374m)

Mt.Ofuda

Green Tea fields are beautiful in May during the harvest season of fresh tea.
The finest first tea is picked up by hand.

tea harvest

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	Area =121km2
population	6,854	persons

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

daytime night population ratio	91.2	percent

household number	1,957	household
labor
total number of offices	431	office
service industry offices	102	office
total worker	3,875	person
financial
agricultural output	1,460	100 milion yen
the work force
primary industry	22	percent
secondary industry	42	percent
tertiary industry	36	percent
manufacturing output
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.