When our sister city called, we answered.
The town of Numata is organizing a fundraising event for Japan earthquake/tsunami relief to be held during their Andon Festival.
They have asked Hiroko Sakai and the Twinning Society to purchase $500 worth of Port Hardy items on their behalf and send them to Numata.
Items purchased included two paintings of the North Island, a First Nations carving, small accessories — such as earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc.
The Port Hardy Twinning Society and its members also contributed $300 worth of items for the worthy cause.
In other Numata news, Leslie Driemel, secretary of the Port Hardy Twinning Society said she was amazed at how Numata utilize their snow, year-round.“Numata is in one of the heaviest snowfall areas of Hokkaido and receives up to 10-m or more each year,” she said.
“The town is promoting the utilization of snow in heating and cooling energy for agriculture, industry, and public facilities.”
Driemel said the folks in Numata have successfully developed a snow hill project which is, coincidentally, a hill of 150,000 tons of snow collected during the winter months.
To preserve the white stuff for future use, the snow hill is covered with straw and wood waste.
In the summer the snow is trucked to a mushroom growing facility and to the rice factory to use in the production of snow-cooled rice.
Melt water carried through long waterlines is used in storage facilities for farm products, greenhouses for flowers and vegetables, to leisure facilities as well as technology and precision industries for air conditioning.
“This is a clean, environmentally friendly and highly renewable energy source and Numata has received awards for their innovative and progressive ideas,” said Driemel.
