Gosen City Satoimo Noodle Grand Prix
Award Winners
Niigata Prefectural Gosen High School
Hirose Seizo
Rediscovering my hometown
The Gosen Shokudo Association has processed the taro, a specialty of Gosen City, called "Hakuotome," into powder and kneaded it into noodles, which it then began selling.
Ways to revitalize the local area
In spring, the cherry blossoms at Muramatsu Park are in full bloom, and many people from all over the country visit to enjoy the flowers. We wanted to have people try our taro noodles and spread the word about them to the whole country.
They will be offering a variety of original taro noodle dishes, including Japanese soba-style "Kenchin-style taro noodles," "Niku soba-style taro noodles," "Natto soba-style taro noodles," and pasta-style "Carbonara."
A stall fee of 500 yen is collected, and customers can eat a bowl for 150 yen, with any profits going to the store. People vote like in an election to decide which taro noodle dish is the most delicious. By planning it like an event, we hope to attract more people and encourage more people to try the dish. We thought that by giving out discount coupons to those who voted when they visit the store, more people would vote. We also thought that by letting people know and try the quality of taro noodles in this way, more customers would visit our main store in Gosen, which would further revitalize Gosen City.
Secondary screening video material
Comments and points regarding the award
The idea of gathering restaurants serving noodle dishes made with taro, a local specialty, and holding a festival at Muramatsu Park, a famous cherry blossom viewing spot, is an interesting one. As expected of a business student, the idea is commendable in that it also includes a business model proposal. I felt that it would be a feasible plan if cooperation from the local government could be secured. I think the challenges would be how to secure cooperation from the local government and how to recruit restaurants to set up stalls at the festival. I think that if these points are worked out, the plan would be even better.
Let's all make stone art!
Award Winners
Shizuoka Prefectural Numazu Commercial High School
Maya Tsuboi
Rediscovering my hometown
- Using stones from Senbonhama, we invite people from both the local area and outside the city to create stone art.
- The existing structure will remain as it is, but will be created in a location that can be seen from the embankment.
- Anyone of any age can participate, from small children to adults.
- We help people become aware of local specialties by serving them for lunch.
- People will vote online via social media, and the winners will receive a commemorative gift.
- We would like to have it featured in the newspaper so that the entire prefecture population will know about it and make it an ongoing event.
Ways to revitalize the local area
The stone art at Senbonhama has already been created by a local artist. We will invite this artist to give a lecture and create the art. We believe that if we collect many stones of the same color and pick up trash at the same time, Senbonhama Beach will become more beautiful and the stone art will stand out even more.
We thought that by serving local specialties such as dried fish and mandarin oranges for lunch, we could raise awareness of local specialties and promote the good things about Numazu to young children and people from outside the city.
In addition, online voting will be conducted on social media, and commemorative gifts will be presented to winners of awards such as the Excellence Award and Honorable Mention. Senbonhama is also home to Senbonmatsubara, which has been selected as one of the 100 best white sand and green pine forests in Japan, and by holding the event at Senbonhama, where such a spectacular view can be seen, it is thought that it will be possible to further promote understanding and pass it on to future generations. In addition, by creating large stone art and having it featured in newspapers, Senbonhama can be made known nationwide, which will increase the number of tourists to Numazu and further revitalize the area.
Comments and points regarding the award
The presentation was very easy to understand and clearly conveyed the aims of the stone art. Above all, it was an interesting video that conveyed the desire to improve the local area, based on ideas typical of high school students. The positive impact of this event on the local area was also clear, and the feasibility of the plan was also evident, which is commendable.
Grand Prize Jury Recommendation Award
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