He Came with the Fragrance of Rice from Japan

From June 20 to 27， Song Jian， President of the China-Japan Friendship Association (CJFA) led a delegation to visit Japan. On June 23， he and his party especially went to the city of Iwamizawa， on the northern island of Hokkaido， to hold a memorial ceremony for an old friend of the Chinese people， Shoichi Hara， buried there. They were warmly welcomed by city Mayor Koichi Watanabe， relatives of Shoichi Hara and friends from the local Japan-China Friendship Association (JCFA)， who accompanied them to the cemetery. It was a drizzling rainy day with thick clouds. President Song Jian took slow steps to the tomb to present flowers， and， together with all the delegation， paid silent tribune to the deceased showing the long memory and high respect they cherished for the Chinese people’s old friend.

After the memorial ceremony， President Song Jian spoke to Mr. Hara’s daughter， asking her how her mother and the family were getting on， and wished them good health and happiness.

The city of Iwamizawa， located north of Sapporo， abounds with rice， so it is known as the “granary of Hokkaido”. Mr. Hara was born there， and， after his graduation from Hokkaido University， he served in the prefectural government， and later spent most of his time conducting experiments in rice cultivation and popularizing improved techniques. Thus， he became a famous rice expert in Japan. In 1982， at the age of 65 he was sent as a volunteer rice expert by the Japan-China Exchange Association for Agriculture to visit Hailun County of Heilongjiang Province， China. The visit led to an unbreakable bond between him and China， and launched a 20-year commitment to popularizing in China the technique of raising rice seedlings in dry field and thin-planting.

This method can save water， seeds， fertilizer and labor， and increase yields. It was developed by Shoichi Hara， among others. The first time he served as the technical director in Hailun County of Heilongjiang Province， in 1982， he achieved a yield of 476 kg per mu on an experimental plot， twice that of the local traditional technique. After that， with the concerted efforts by Mr. Hara and relevant Chinese government departments， the new technique was popularized throughout Heilongjiang Province， and then spread to the rest of the country， bringing considerable economic benefits; according to some agriculture specialists， it created a revolution in the history of Chinese rice production. At its peak， the method was applied to 200 million mu of farmland. Especially， it promoted the expansion of rice planting in Northern China. For example， in Heilongjiang Province， only a few million mu of land grew rice at the beginning of the 1980s; after the introduction of this technique， rice fields increased to about 20 million mu， the produce largely meeting the demands of the region. Today， almost all the rice in the market of Beijing comes from Northeast China thanks in large part to Shoichi Hara’s efforts.

During the 20 years from his first visit in 1982 until 2002 when he died， he visited China 63 times and traveled to 151 counties of 25 provinces， imparting the new rice growing technique for free. Stories about him can still be heard among the farmers of the places he visited， where he is affectionately called the “Foreign God of Wealth”.

In the early 1980s， China was undergoing the initial stage of its reform and opening-up and its level of social economic development was still rather low. Thus， during the first few years when he was working as a tutor， he had to pay all his own travel expenses; he even borrowed money from his brothers for the purpose. Nearly every time， he headed straight to the fields immediately after arrival at his destination， and began working together with the farmers. He would give demonstrations of the technique and lived in the village with the production team. On an early trip， while staying with the villagers， he could not have a bath for 28 days， and once suffered from incipient diarrhoea for three months yet insisted on staying in the farm until harvest before going back to Japan. It is said that at the age of 65， he was still able to transplant rice seedlings for 4.5 mu of land within three days. Such a hard working， serious， and professional Japanese won everybody’s heartfelt respect.

Mr. Hara has been regarded as an exemplary foreign expert in China since implementation of the reform and opening-up policy， and has won multiple honors presented by the Chinese central government as well as local governments， including the China Agriculture Award of the Ministry of Agriculture， the Friendship Award of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs， the International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award of the Ministry of Science and Technology， the Major Science RD Achievement Award and the title of Honorary Citizen of Heilongjiang Province.

To commemorate this old friend of the Chinese people forever， two busts of him were made by the relevant departments of China， one placed at his alma mater， Iwamizawa Agricultural High School， and the other at the China-Japan Friendship Park in Changsha， China.

Mr. Hara devoted the last 20 years of his life to China’s rice cultivation and the friendship between China and Japan， and he had served as adviser to the JCFA of Hokkaido Prefecture. Recalling his experiences in China， he once said that， at the beginning， he faced certain problems， but the warmth of the Chinese people helped him cope. It was his greatest happiness and satisfaction when the farmers smiled with joy at a good harvest due to the application of his technique. The Chinese government and people had given him great honors and he would continue to work for Japanese-China friendship. He often said， “Birth， ageing， illness and death as the course of life are inevitable. It is like spiralling smoke disappearing when one dies. However， if people adopt my technique and， it proves efficient， it is like I am still useful and I feel contented and happy to think of it.”

At the meeting with Mayor Koichi Watanabe， Mr. Hara’s relatives and friends from the local JCFA， President Song Jian said with emotion that he the late expert brought Japanese rice to China. “He taught the Chinese farmers the new rice growing technique and spread the use of it in China. Today’s good rice harvests in Northern China are inseparable from his contribution， and the Chinese people will never forget him.”

As a poem of Zang Kejia， a famous Chinese poet， declares: “A man lives for making more people live better; they will hold him up very high.” The Chinese people will never forget him， who came with the fragrance of rice， surpassing the difference of race and national boundaries. He stands as a monument of modern Sino-Japanese friendship and will stay forever in the hearts of the two peoples.