Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. held a signing ceremony of the following 2 agreements for forest conservation with Gifu Prefecture, Ena City and Nakanoho Regional Council on January 30, 2020. The signees were Chairman of Nakanoho Regional Council Katsuyuki Ikedo, Ena City Mayor Takane Kosaka, and Mineyoshi Takai from Gifu Prefecture Forestry Department. Executive officer Raymond Shelton joined from CCBJI.

The agreement is part of the conservation activities that we had previously been deploying in Nakanohocho, one of the water source areas of our Tokai Plant (Tokai City, Aichi Prefecture)　and is a renewal of "Agreement on the Creation of Water Source forests" concluded by four parties in 2013 along with the expiration at the end of March. Instead of the current 143 hectares of forests surrounding the areas of Sakaori Tanada, 211 hectares including the area around Nakanoho Dam have been designated as the zone for the agreement signed this time.

"I hope that the abundant water will be nurtured by the healthy woods soaked in sunlight even after 10 years from now and that the activity will enable beautiful nature of Ena to be passed on to children," said Raymond Shelton, executive officer of CCBJI, who participated in the signing ceremony as a greeting. Meanwhile, Chairman Ikedo said, "We will cooperate with activities that contribute significantly to the revitalization of Nakanoho having the support of entire town."

Sakaori Tanada, which was selected as one of the Top 100 Terraced Paddy Fields in Japan

Located in the southeastern part of Gifu Prefecture, Ena City is known for Iwamura Castle, which is one of the top 3 mountain castles in Japan, and a prominent scenic spot of Enakyo Valley. It is also said that Akechicho, Ena City, is a birthplace of Mitsuhide Akechi.

The town of Nakanoho is situated in the northernmost part of Ena City. Sakaori Tanada, which takes pride in 400 years of history since the Edo period, was set up to be the stage for the signing ceremony.

The characteristic of Sakaori Tanada, which was selected as one of the Top 100 Terraced Paddy Fields in Japan is the beautiful masonry built by the unit of "Kurokuwa" construction workers, said to have built stone walls of Nagoya Castle. The beautiful scenery of Satoyama, comprised of 360 rice fields and the surrounding houses, can be described as a natural landscape of Japan.

Based on the "development of forest for future generations" upheld by the city of Ena, we will continue to strive connecting the rich nature to the future through close mutual cooperation among four parties and collaboration activities.

< Ref:The NPO Ena city Sakaori Tanada preservation society >