Local governments hosting Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic delegations are embracing both confusion and hope as they rekindle efforts to welcome their guests next year.
Iwase Agricultural High School in Kagamiishi, Fukushima Prefecture, obtained the Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification to internationally promote food produced in the prefecture during the Games.
The minister in charge of the Tokyo Games, Seiko Hashimoto, visited the school in October to see its efforts to produce GAP-certified food, which is the procurement standard for the Games.
"You're doing a great job," she said. "We have high hopes for you."
The school collaborated with Koriyama, a city in Fukushima Prefecture that is hosting the Hungarian delegation, to create menus for the athletes and staff.
The school and city focused on Hungary's culinary culture of eating freshwater fish as it is an inland country. They created sausages and shumai steamed dumplings made from a mix of ground pork and minced carp -- a fish Koriyama is promoting in efforts to increase consumption of the species.
In November 2019, they served the dishes to the Hungarian swim team during a visit to Koriyama for a training camp. The concoctions got many thumbs-up.
The school and city won a prize awarded by the secretary-general of the Headquarters for the Promotion of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in a hospitality contest in which participants competed to create the best dishes using GAP-certified food. Unfortunately, the award ceremony was canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
After the Games were postponed, many host governments shelved such activities -- including visits by the minister -- and have only recently restarted them.
"Hashimoto remembered the carp shumai we served at the tasting event," said Mitsuki Igarashi, 17, a third-year student at Iwase Agricultural High School who was involved in creating the recipe. "Her encouragment energized us."
"We want to revive the momentum we had for showcasing the city's hospitality," said a Koriyama official in charge of coordination.
As of the end of October, 436 projects in 507 municipalities in Japan and 179 partner countries and regions are registered to host Olympians and Paralympians.
Olympic delegations visit those places for trial events and interact with the local people through sports and food events. However, festivals, cooking lessons and other activities have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The town of Miyoshi in Saitama Prefecture invited local restaurants to participate in a Malaysian food fair held recently. The town aims to build an inclusive society through exchanges with Paralympians. The eateries partaking in the fair are barrier-free and take thorough measures to minimize transmission of the novel coronavirus.
--Agricultural sector affected
The postponement of the Games caused a surplus of food that was intended to be used at the Tokyo Olympics.
JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) Tottoriseibu in Tottori Prefecture was aiming to provide broccoli grown in Oyama in the prefecture. As the vegetable is difficult to harvest in midsummer, JA Tottoriseibu worked with a frozen foods processing company to freeze the broccoli.
Then the Games were postponed. The cooperative was unable to sell the broccoli via normal sales channels, so it offered the food for free to be used in school lunches.
"We were happy that local children enjoyed it," said a JA Tottoriseibu official.
The cooperative is mulling whether nor not to make the same effort again because the production and processing of broccoli during midsummer is an arduous task.
There are many examples of local governments and JA working together to provide food for the Games. However, the postponement coupled with the coronavirus pandemic has knocked things off-kilter. The Hokkaido prefectural government said it is closely watching the situation so it can quickly respond to food provision developments.
"The exchanges between host cities and those abroad, as well as thorough enforcement of food safety policy, are of great significance themselves," said Monta Nakajima, chair of the Japan Association of Regional Development and Vitalization and a specially appointed professor at Shinshu University.
"Such efforts don't bear fruit with a single event. It's important to continue them."
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