What are the subjects for graduation theses?

At the end of the one-year Meister Training Program, each Meister trainee will present the results of their graduation theses by using PowerPoint. Each Meister trainee selects his/her own theme, conduct research, summarizes the findings and makes a presentation with the help of their fellow students and staff members. Each student reviews their activities through their graduation thesis research and makes proposals for the challenges of the local areas.

List of themes for graduation thesis (62 themes of Satoyama Meister graduates)

 Establishing & managing a business

•   Squid fishing in Ogi Town
•   Starting a goat-breeding farm house minshuku (bed and breakfast)
•   Challenges of the entry into enterprise farming
•   The cultivation of shiitake mushrooms on withered tree logs
•   Improving the cultivation and sales of shiitake mushrooms
•   Food processing businesses in Suzu City
•   Chicken raising through floor feeding as recycling-oriented farming
•   Establishing “A Little House”: food shop management
•   Beginning farming and contributing to the community:  a plan to start sweet potato farming
•   Traditional soy sauce brewery: reviving moromi (unrefined soy sauce)
•   Easy-to-run direct distribution outlets: providing low-cost and face-to-face sales spaces
•   Creating value by improving handiwork rooted in the local area: commercialization of products dyed with natural vegetable dyes from the Morohashi area of Anamizu Town
•   Planning eco-tours to combine people, nature and culture in the Hiki area
•   Building up new businesses by making the best use of Satoyama Satoumi conservation activities
•   Sakaki leaves (Cleyera japonica) business
•   Business management of silk products produced in Noto
•   Health-oriented tourism by making the most of the beautiful nature of Satoyama: promoting Nordic Walking
•   Decreasing carbon emissions through conserving Satoyama: increasing the environmental value of charcoal through Satoyama business
•   Starting farming in less-favored areas in Monzen Town of Wajima City

Exchange and community development

•   Utilizing “Noto kirishima azalea” for community revitalization
•   Notojima Island Festival of their own making: experiencing the feeling of “What a wonderful place Noto is!”
•   Building lodging facilities in Kanakura
•   Building models to make the best use of vacant houses
•   Creating a future vision of the Heki area of Suzu City
•   Promoting exchange opportunities through music in Suzu City
•   Increasing tourism in Suzu City
•   Tackling village farming in the Yoshigaike area of Suzu City
•   Revitalizing communities with the help of returnees of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers
•   University students’ community restoration activities and its challenges: Following the example of the Mitsui area of Wajima City
•   The role of administration in revitalizing communities: Following the example of an “omu-rice (omelette containing stir-fried rice) Cradle Project” of Hodatsushimizu Town
•   Rural and urban area exchange programs: Following the example of Sumaki Village, Wakayama Town, Suzu City
•   Revitalizing Noto Town by introducing community currency: Targeting the realization of a recycling-oriented society by linking wooden bio-mass and the local residents with community currency
•   Trying to share community value by utilizing the spaces of vacant shops: Providing a place where the local residents can get together and communicate with each other by sharing their feelings about Noto
•   Providing places for studying and learning rooted in the community: Through Maruyamagumi’s activities
•   Creating education business by making the best use of Satoyama Satoumi resources in the Noto Peninsula
•   Community development by managing farmhouse minshuku (private houses providing lodging and meals to short-stay guests) and farmhouse restaurants: promoting the so-called sixth industry of Noto
•   Possibility of making use of the Remote Islands Development Act

Growing and processing techniques

•   Promoting agricultural development by means of processing cherry tomatoes
•   Promoting the center-oriented development of Oku Noto (the tip of the Noto Peninsla) Iwagaki oyster mariculture
•   Making efficient use of Satoumi resources in wet-rice cultivation: Branding Noto deep ocean water rice
•   Cultivating beets as natural red dyes in Noto: combining agriculture, commerce and industry by promoting cultivation and processing of  beets as cake-making materials
•   Aiming for authentic wine making in Yanagida, Noto

Community research and environment

•   How have the changes of rice farming in Oku Noto (the tip of the Noto Peninsula) influenced the biodiversity of rice paddies?: From the viewpoint of the research results regarding large Japanese diving beetles
•   Basic research for community revitalization by making the best use of existing vegetables in Oku Noto (the tip of the Noto Peninsula)
•   Possibility of projects to promote settlement by making the best use of vacant houses: sustainable measures to utilize the vacant houses in depopulated areas
•   Encouraging consumption of locally produced products for school lunch in Anamizu Town
•   Inheriting wisdom and culture to make the most of the blessings of nature: rediscovering “the link between everyday lives and nature”
•   Examination of a relationship of cause and effect between growing paddy rice and decomposition experiments
•   The path Noto toji (sake brewers) have pursued since the end of World War II: Sake breweries from the time of the difficulty of obtaining food toward the future of those sake brewers
•   Utilizing mushrooms in Yanagida, Noto Town
•   The life of a woodworker who has engaged in farming in the Hakusan Mountain area
•   Examination of conservation of biodiversity and paddy-rice-growing methods in rice paddies of Wajima City

Development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries

•   Noto Dainagon adzuki beans
•   Establishing the Oku Noto (the tip of the Noto Peninsula) Nouka (farm houses) Network,ONN
•   Community revitalization by branding agricultural products grown with deep ocean water
•   Growing edible wild plants and how to make the most of them: localizing edible wild plants
•   Planning to localize edible wild plants in Wajima: targeting “Noto, the Kingdom of Edible Wild Plants”
•   Localization of Suzu broccoli
•   The analysis of the present situation of maintenance of the Matsutake mushroom mountains in Suzu: in order to preserve Matsutake mushrooms for the next generation
•   The present situation and challenges of the less favored mountainous regions in Suzu City
•   Growing Noto Sakaki (Cleyera japonica)
•   The present situation and the future measures against damages due to attacks of birds and animals in Wajima City