March 13: Congratulations! The first Yufuin
mailing list off-line meeting and "Hot
Spring Market '99"
by Mie |
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We will have the first off-line meeting of
"Yufuin-net mailing list" which
was started last September and boasts of
its active exchange with more than 1,300
mails in less than a half year.
As the net features most constituents from
outside of Oita prefecture, only a limited
number of the participants joined the meeting
today at "Quaju Yufuin." Another
event was to be held here in Yufuin, "Hot
Spring Market '99", to activate the
local community. We hurried the meeting site through
a highway after seeing-off
Miss Yang who
stayed my home until today. We are unhappy
to see that the open food market was almost
over, however. |
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The off-line meeting has already being held
at a restaurant in "Healthy Spa Hall."
The member of Sightseeing Office, such as
Mr. Yoneta, Mr. Abe, and Mr. Io have been
too busy to joint he meeting by taking care
of the Market. Mr. Matsumura, the manager
of Yufuin mailing list, barely squeezed his
time out of business hour and was about to
leave. I quickly took a we-were-there picture
of the participants.
From ; front left: Yamaguchi from Fukuoka,
Ohira from Kijima, Mizoguchi from Shizuoka,
Ono of Sansui hotel, Matsumura,(back line)
my husband Ken, Kurita of Beppu-eight-Spa,
Suga from Beppu as well, Matsumura of Yufuin
ham factory in Sansui Hotel, (front line
from right) Mr. and Mrs. Etoh of Yufuin,
Furushou, Mie, and Suga's lovely daughter.
All the attendants made self-introductions. |
 
Tasty Dango-jiru (dumpling soup), and newly
developed Tusmire-jiru (chopped chicken ball
soup) turned the chatting theme to Hot Spring
Market '99 event. Mrs. Yuki Furushou brought-in
a box of home made roll-cookie, and Mrs.
Etoh prepared two kinds of homemade bun;
one with a bean-jam filling, and another
with chopped and steamed mugwort. They are
usually sold at the market, she explained.
Thank you for your nice foods.
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  Today, we have a special lecture meeting
by Ms. Yoshiko Tatsumi. Before going the
conference room, Mrs. Yuki Furushou, a young
beautiful homemaker, made an ending speech
of the off-line meeting. She did very well.
Thank you Mr. Ono who supported her. All
attendants were pleased to have a nice meeting
today, from left: Suga, Matsumura, Kurita,
Yuuki who was late for we-were-there picture,
and Ken.
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Ms. Yoshiko Tatsumi, a cooking expert, is
making a presentation at the hall in the
title "What is expected to Yufuin from
now." All the attendants are eagerly
listening to her. |
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She appealed: "Yufuin should make important
of the quietness of a village in a mountain
valley. Why Mt. Yufu gives easiness to the
heart of the people who visit to or live
in Yufuin? This is a key point. What is important
is how people preserve the tranquil beauty
of the town. Think about the rivers in the
town. They are slightly contaminated and
smelled by living drainage. It is of no use
to plant flowers along the river unless the
water is dirty. Municipal purification plant
is an urgent must. For starting the movement
of the plant, I will here raise money like
this. Look at fields. They are partially
abandoned and left in dirty. Let's restore
healthy fields all together including children.
Healthy fields will produce contamination-free
agricultural products such as rice, greens,
and beans. Let's grow Chinese milk vetch
on fallow fields. It is often said that human
bondage is important. It is true, but what
we should think before making that, we need
a means of living which can be obtained only
through the actual movement of our hands
and feet."
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"In order to prevent tawdry shop increase
anymore", she continued, "we should
develop 'special products.' Of course, there
are already so many special products now,
but most of them are too shabby to sell on
business basis. You should build a cooperative
factory to sell special products of Yufuin
to all over the country. Here, you see some
samples of goods produced in Yokohama city.
You can easily identify the feature that
represent the image of a port town Yokohama
very well. From left: retort curry paste
and 'Red shoes chocolate' named after a famous
children's song 'A girl who wore a pair of
red shoes' composed by poet Ujou Noguchi.
Center: chocolate bars in Yokohama image
wrappings. Right: a jumbo-sized chocolate
bar in an old-retro-fashioned design. All
of them sell well. Although not shown on
the picture, there are other pleasant items
such as T-shirt in a large T-bag of black
tea, a cosmetic pouch, underwear bags, and
so on." She displayed many Yokohama-like
items that strongly appeal to us. |
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Many questions came from the audience. Mr.
Matsumura, supervisor of a ham factory, asked
the need and safety of additives used in
ham making process. There are many uncertainty
in food production such as additives, post-harvest
chemicals, and genetic recombination. They
made me realize the importance of local products.
Mr. Kurita, the representative of Beppu Eight
Spa, on the left, raised his hand and told
he was very happy to hear a useful lecture. |
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The lecture was over in success. All participants
cleaned up the site quickly. We, the member
of Yufuin-net, also worked hard as well. |
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Mrs. Izumi Kuwano, who was in charge of attendance
to Ms. Tatsumi, came back and gave a piece
of chocolate to a lovely Yuuya. Well, it
was the very "Red-shoes chocolate."
When the kid opened the wrapping, he could
find a real chocolate. On the right picture
are male group who are enjoying a face-to-face
meeting. Yufuin in March is, anyway, getting
colder. Let's call it a day.
 
Whenever you visit Yufuin spontaneously,
please write it onto the mailing list.
We
may have "an occasional off-line-meeting."
Thank you everybody, we have had a
nice day
today.
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