Wisdom Lying in the Snow: Abandoned Tunnels and Brown Rice, the Quiet Challenge of Sawauchi Village, Iwate Prefecture (May 2003)

Wisdom Lying in the Snow: Abandoned Tunnels and Brown Rice, the Quiet Challenge of Sawauchi Village, Iwate Prefecture (May 2003)

In 2003, Japan was just at the transitional stage of trying to steer the country toward a "sustainable society. Concerns about global warming were on the rise, and the terms "recycling-oriented society" and "zero emissions" were appearing frequently in newspapers and magazines. With the Kyoto Protocol about to take effect, local governments and corporations were all moving to introduce renewable energy and reduce waste.

In the midst of all this, the village of Sawauchi in the mountains of Iwate Prefecture (at the time), far from the hustle and bustle of the big city, was practicing a completely different form of "ecology. The setting was an "abandoned tunnel" that had originally been excavated as a tunnel but was no longer in use. This space, which would normally have been sealed off or forgotten, has been reclaimed as a "natural refrigerator" for storing snow.

The idea for this reuse was based on deep wisdom unique to snow country. The idea was not to regard the large amount of snow as a nuisance, but rather as a resource of "cold heat," and to make use of its properties. Abandoned tunnels are underground, making them less susceptible to outside temperatures and more effective as heat insulators. If snow is stored there, it will remain unmelted through the summer, maintaining a stable low temperature of nearly zero degrees Celsius.

This cold air was used to store brown rice. Brown rice easily deteriorates in a hot and humid environment, especially during the summer, increasing the risk of mold and insect damage. However, cold storage requires expensive capital investment and electricity. To address this issue, the local community attempted to create a low-temperature environment using natural energy by utilizing snow from abandoned tunnels to safely store brown rice for a long period of time. Moreover, this was truly an "earth-friendly storage" that requires almost no electricity.

What is even more remarkable is that similar efforts are spreading to other regions. In Numata Town, Hokkaido, for example, "biomass materials" such as bark chips and rice husks were used as insulation for snow storage. These were not mere waste materials, but rather a mechanism that absorbed melting water from the snow through capillary action and deprived it of vaporization heat, preventing the internal temperature of the insulation from rising and keeping the snow in place longer. This was another small invention that quietly intersected the nature of nature and the wisdom of man.

What these examples have in common is not "new energy" or "cutting-edge technology," but a quiet and sincere approach to carefully reviewing "what is there now," and with a little ingenuity, transforming our lives into something sustainable. Forgotten tunnels, snow as an obstacle, by-products of farming--these "things on the periphery" were blowing a gaping hole in the energy perspective of the time.

And these developments were gaining attention as "environmental models from the countryside. The paradox is that regions that are economically inferior to large cities are rather rich in natural resources. In 2003, sustainability discussions tended to remain in the realm of experts and policy makers, but the case of Sawauchi Village was the very essence of an environmental philosophy born from the local scene.

The idea of "making use of the old" is not mere nostalgia. It is an expression of a willingness to reevaluate the energy and effort invested in the past and connect it to the next generation. Just as the abandoned tunnel in Sawauchi Village protected the snow and brown rice, there is a place in this corner of Japan that quietly but surely supports the future.