Focusing on enhancing health and preserving food culture and safety, the virtual workshop on the “Japanese Model of Food Education Shokuiku” brought together experts to emphasise the importance of better dietary practices for ensuring adequate nutrient intake. The workshop also highlighted the implementation of programmes in schools and farms to support food culture and improve the overall food environment.

Themed Shokuiko (Food and Nutrition Education), the collaborative virtual workshop was jointly organised by UTAR Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT), Centre for Biomedical and Nutrition Research (CBNR), Centre for Agriculture and Food Research (CAFR), and the Japanese Society for Environmental Education, with sponsorship from Toshiba International Foundation.

Held via Zoom on 10 August 2024, the workshop kick-started with speeches by Chairperson of the Japanese Society for Environmental Education Dr Sachi Ninomiya Lin and CLT Chairperson Dr Wei Chooi Yi. Both of them welcomed the participants and sincerely thanked all the significant parties involved in materialising the workshop. The workshop was divided into two sessions, with the first session focusing on “Shokuiku and School Education”, and the latter session focusing on “Shokuiku and Social Education”.

Dr Hiroyuku Itakura’s presentation titled “Shokuiku education/practices at Japanese primary schools”, highlighted the current generation’s negligence in eating well-rounded meals, which was noticeable in the common habit of skipping breakfast due to oversleeping or going to bed very late. As a result, Japan, the first country to have a law for nutrition education, introduced Shokuiku to school children, to educate them on the importance of having balanced meals and healthy lifestyles. Interestingly, cultural values were also enforced via school lunches in Japan by providing the students with certain foods related to specific festivities; for instance, schools in Japan served Hayabusa school lunches on 13 June to commemorate the return of the asteroid probe Hayabusa. In addition to educating the students about food, they were also given opportunities to participate in planning the school lunch menu in courses like home economics, and they were encouraged to be a part of the lunch preparation team, tasked with helping cut vegetables at canteens. Participants learnt that these approaches were aimed at creating awareness among young students on the importance of preparing and eating well-balanced meals for future well-being.

Mr Masaki Yahagi’s presentation titled “Growing trends of organic school lunches and its educational values” taught participants the concept of Satoyama—the harmonious relationship between nature and humans in the countryside—and how organic agriculture reigned supreme before industrialisation and the introduction of commercial agriculture.

He further explained, “Satoyama attrition is more prominent currently, resulting in pollution and erosion of organic agriculture. Despite the government’s efforts to revive organic agriculture via campaigns like serving organic school lunches, the high financial demands to sustain organic agriculture limit this possibility. The Japanese government introduced several initiatives to overcome these problems, such as using local products for school lunches and providing organic rice to schools by reviving the extinct rice stalk. Nevertheless, more concerning issues, such as the lack of successors to take over organic farming from ageing farmers, mean that organic agriculture could not be sustained in rural areas. Only with collaboration between the government and society can Japan revitalise organic agriculture.”

The first session then concluded with Mr Satoru Yamamoto’s presentation on “Food education in science classes for high school students”. He demonstrated the application of science theories, which were taught in high school and tested students in college entrance examinations using questions about food and rice planting processes. He elaborated, “An analogy of eating udon (a type of noodle) to test the hormone secretion before and after food consumption, and asking students to explain the nitrogen cycle using a paddy field structure delineated how Japan emphasised Shokoiku and the importance of agriculture.” At the end of his presentation, participants noted that food education in Japan focuses on supporting physical and mental health throughout life and promoting Shokoiku to support sustainable food.

Came afternoon, Ms Aya Takahashi explained Shokoiku and Food Education at Agricultural High School in Japan. She outlined the three majors the students could venture into: flower and floral designing, fruit growing, and vegetable farming. She elucidated, “These schools also emphasised J-GAP (Good Agricultural Practices), which aimed to produce safe food without disturbing the environment. The students actively took part in applying J-GAP to produce agricultural products that were later sold on campus. Furthermore, smart agriculture that infused technology in agriculture was also exposed to the students. Installing cameras and sensors to monitor environmental aspects like humidity, temperature, and soil condition helped the students observe the plants’ growth without many problems; while the digitalised data also enabled the students to share and analyse the reports with ease. The students were assigned different tasks according to the year of their study to produce well-rounded agricultural graduates, who could support and sustain agriculture in Japan.”

Mr Chikashi Yoshimura’s “Shokoiku and Social Education through Mutual Learning using Agricultural Experiences” presentation enlightened participants on the Japanese government’s efforts to introduce green tourism and revitalise rural communities to overcome Japan’s decreasing agricultural production. It was noted that Japan was recorded as one of the countries with the lowest food self-sufficiency among the developed nations due to a significant disparity between food production and consumption. He explained, “As a result of this, social education students were made to visit farming villages to alert them to these problems. They visited farming villages, and both farmers and students learnt from each other to identify the issues and propose solutions. However, many agricultural schools in Japan have been closed recently, and this phenomenon requires further investigation to sustain agriculture in Japan.”

The final presentation on “Environmental Education and Shokuiku at Lake Kasumigaura: The Asaza Project” by Ms Zhang Gegenduoren, mentioned that Lake Kasumigaura, the second-largest freshwater lake in Japan, faced pollution that has deteriorated the water quality and has had a foul smell since 1965, mainly due to industrialisation. She elaborated, “The Asaza Fund was established in 1998 to restore and revive the lake and educate people on the importance of protecting and preserving the environment. The Asaza project has attracted more than 300 elementary schools, and these children visited the lake to participate in hands-on activities like clearing the lake. They simultaneously learnt about food production by participating in rice planting and harvesting around the lake area. Besides the students also visited the ravine fields, where they surveyed the current conditions of the ravines and drafted solutions for rainwater treatments and firefly habitat restoration.” Ms Zhang concluded that being a part of protecting and preserving the environment would create much impact among young minds about the importance of the environment and agriculture.

The workshop then ended with an interactive Q&A session, which saw participants comparing Shokoiku practices in Japan with Malaysian schools, where the topics of school lunch and agricultural education in elementary schools are still novel ideas. Mr Masaki Yahagi drew a close to the workshop with a thank you and positive note to the participants for their support, and expressed hope for another successful workshop to be conducted again in the near future.