NEWS
Osawa Wasabi Symposium 2025 Held
Update: September 24, 2025
On September 10, 2025, the Osawa Wasabi Symposium 2025 was held on ICU's campus.
Since April 2024, ICU has been cultivating Mitaka Osawa Wasabi, one of the Edo-Tokyo vegetables, in a wasabi field on campus. This variety, nearly extinct in Japan, is known as the "phantom wasabi."
In order to revive this rare crop, the university has partnered with the Mitaka City Lifelong Learning Promotion Section. ICU students, faculty and staff, and local volunteers have worked together to reclaim and cultivate former wasabi fields. Currently, student volunteers and community members play a central role in regular field management.
This Osawa Wasabi Symposium 2025 was organized by the student group Midori Strategy Student Challenge: Wabisabi Wasabi, which is engaged in managing the wasabi fields. It was planned as an opportunity to explore ICU's natural environment through the lens of wasabi, drawing on the strengths of the liberal arts.
On the day of the event, mini-lectures were given by Professor Keisuke Ishibashi (major in Information Science), Assistant Professor Yukiko Tsubakida (major in History), and Professor Ryosuke Fujinuma (major in Environmental Studies). These were followed by a wasabi tasting session. At the venue, students, faculty, and staff enjoyed freshly harvested wasabi while actively exchanging ideas.
Student Comment:
"The sight of the wasabi field, which I saw for the first time, was breathtakingly beautiful. At the same time, I realized that behind this beauty lay unseen hardships and struggles, and that its true essence was the 'harmony between humans and nature.' This was a perspective I was able to gain only because I had visited the site many times and confronted its many challenges firsthand.
Out of a desire to 'spread awareness of wasabi conservation while incorporating the perspective of those in the fields,' we formed a student volunteer team and went on to organize activities such as the Wasabi Field Tour and the Wasabi Symposium.
I feel that this event functioned not only as an opportunity for exchange with the local community, but also as a place of learning that utilized the strengths of the liberal arts.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed to this event. Thank you very much.
May our activities lead to new 'sprouts' for someone."
Shunya Yamaguchi, Representative of Wabisabi Wasabi (4th-year student, College of Liberal Arts; major in Environmental Studies)
Organizer: MIDOR Strategy Student Challenge "WabisabiWasabi"
@wabisabi_wasabi_icuSupport：ICU Mitaka Campus Woodland Office @icunomori