{"id":468362,"date":"2025-06-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=468362"},"modified":"2025-06-04T07:41:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T07:41:51","slug":"rice-planting-event-near-camp-zama-forges-bond-with-neighboring-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=468362","title":{"rendered":"Rice-planting event near Camp Zama forges bond with neighboring community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Participants join a muddy foot race in a rice field before a rice-planting event the Zama International Association hosted June 1 near Camp Zama.
\n (Photo Credit: Noriko Kudo)<\/span>
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ZAMA, JAPAN \u2013 American military community members experienced an integral part of Japanese (agri)culture by joining a rice-planting event June 1 in a locally owned rice field near the U.S. Army\u2019s Camp Zama.<\/p>\n

The Zama International Association, a volunteer organization that promotes bilateral exchange activities, annually invites non-Japanese locals to teach them the basics of rice planting and to encourage interactions with citizens from Camp Zama\u2019s neighboring city.<\/p>\n

About 100 participants from Camp Zama, the nearby Naval Air Facility Atsugi base, and the Zama community joined this year\u2019s event. Adults and children were welcomed, and the event began with a few minutes of playtime and messy foot races in the wet and muddy field.<\/p>\n

After that, the field\u2019s owner and ZIA members explained to everyone the proper way to plant the rice sprouts, using a measured rope with notched boards to space them apart. Everyone then got in line and got to work.<\/p>\n

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\n Camp Zama community members and others work together to plant several rows of rice during an event the Zama International Association hosted June 1 near Camp Zama to encourage interactions with citizens from the installation\u2019s neighboring city.
\n (Photo Credit: Noriko Kudo)<\/span>
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Shimizu Yasuo, a ZIA staff member, said the group organizes the annual event to help Zama residents \u2014 military community members included \u2014 learn about the city and Japanese culture, and to interact with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe participants all seemed to be enjoying the rice planting from the laughter and smiles on their faces,\u201d Shimizu said. \u201cI hope today will be a memorable cultural experience for them that will last a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ZIA has plans for more cultural events throughout the year and always hope for and encourage participation from the Camp Zama and U.S. military communities.<\/p>\n

Eric Morgan from Camp Zama said the rice planting, a blend of a community event and ecotourism, was exciting for him because it was not only fun, but also informative.<\/p>\n

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\n A family from Naval Air Facility Atsugi plants rice sprouts during an event the Zama International Association hosted June 1 near Camp Zama to encourage interactions with citizens from the installation\u2019s neighboring city.
\n (Photo Credit: Noriko Kudo)<\/span>
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\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
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\u201cIt\u2019s great to see the Camp Zama community out here engaging where their food is produced,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to interact together in the same place where you live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clarissa Vermodes, another participant from Camp Zama, said she decided to try rice planting for the first time because she wanted to get the most out of her time living here since moving to Japan six months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty hands-on,\u201d she said of the experience. \u201cIt was a great opportunity to collaborate with and meet new friends, both locally and within Camp Zama.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event concluded with an annual tradition: ZIA participants handed out \u201conigiri,\u201d or rice balls, made with the rice harvested from the previous year\u2019s planting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Participants join a muddy foot race in a rice field before a rice-planting event the Zama International Association hosted June 1 near Camp Zama. (Photo Credit: Noriko Kudo) VIEW ORIGINAL ZAMA, JAPAN \u2013 American military community members experienced an integral part of Japanese (agri)culture by joining a rice-planting event June 1 in a locally owned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468364,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468368,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468362\/revisions\/468368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/468364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}