Local vegetables, from the local station — the ‘Hijimachi Station Marché’ that gave form to local production for local consumption

The College of Sustainability and Tourism at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) offers a course called “Field Practicum,” in which students go out into the local community and work hands-on to solve its challenges. This article is a record of one of the projects born from this Field Practicum: the 2025 “Hijimachi Station Marché” initiative by ‘Hiji-Vege.’

Contents

1. The unused station and the discarded vegetables

2. Bringing a proposal, widening the circle

3. Three days learning in the fields

4. The day itself — from the 7 a.m. delivery to selling out

5. Points we devised

6. Difficulties and points for reflection

7. What we learned

8. Outlook ahead

1 The unused station and the discarded vegetables

As our team worked on the local challenges of Hiji Town, Oita Prefecture, in the Field Practicum, we encountered many things that were “such a waste.” In Hiji Town, against a backdrop of a declining birthrate and aging population, a shortage of successors and workers has advanced and the number of farmers has fallen, while insufficient PR of local specialties is also a challenge. In the fields, “off-standard produce” — perfectly edible but not shipped because of shape or size — was being generated.

On the other hand, the town also had resources not yet put to use. One is JR Bungo-Toyooka Station. Having once been featured on a Seishun 18 Ticket poster, this station — with its beautiful view from the platform out to the sea — had an adjoining space that was going unused.

Vegetables being discarded, and a station going unused. Overlaying these gave rise to the “Hijimachi Station Marché,” built on the concept of “local vegetables, from the local station to the whole country.” By turning the station space into a direct-sales venue and selling off-standard vegetables alongside the rest, we aimed at once for local production for local consumption, reducing food loss, and promoting the appeal of Hiji Town.

2 Bringing a proposal, widening the circle

That said, students alone had no connections to reach farmers. The turning point was bringing our proposal to the Agriculture and Forestry Division of the Hiji Town Hall. The town hall responded warmly to the students’ plan and, after meetings, introduced us to farmers who could supply produce. From here the circle of cooperation expanded all at once. At Bungo-Toyooka Station, the venue, we consulted on-site with a retired station staff member and worked out concretely how to use the space. As the event approached, we began posting on Instagram and put up posters around town to spread the word.

In this way, an industry-government-academia cooperation structure took shape: “industry = farmers and JR Kyushu, government = Hiji Town Hall, academia = the university.” Five growers supplied produce. Three of them provided it free of charge, and we also procured off-standard vegetables.

3 Three days learning in the fields

In parallel with preparations, we were given a three-day harvest experience at Manai Tomato Farm. Everyone was very kind and taught us carefully, one thing at a time, letting us experience farming up close. It was also here in the fields that we learned the reality that many tomatoes are discarded each year as off-standard and the like.

What we had studied in the classroom as “local challenges” looks different once you stand in the field. Feeling firsthand the challenges farmers face became the axis of our later activity — making use of off-standard vegetables. Learning about the vegetables we sell directly from the people who grew them — that time on-site, we feel, gave the marché its persuasiveness.

4 The day itself — from the 7 a.m. delivery to selling out

On the day of the marché, we began delivery and setup from 7 a.m. Vegetables procured that very morning, laid out fresh at the stall — an operation only possible because it was held locally. From the 10 a.m. opening, town hall staff and local residents came out in greater numbers than we had expected. Town hall staff also joined the operation, and visitors gave us favorable feedback along with advice on running it.

The next day, we brought the leftover vegetables to another event venue and sold them, selling out over the two days. The profit after deducting procurement and other costs was used for thank-you gifts to the farmers and for future activity funds. The whole initiative was also featured in several media outlets, including newspapers and radio.

5 Points we devised

・The idea itself of “local vegetables, from the local station”: the combination of a station everyone knows and vegetables everyone eats struck a chord with local people

・A cooperation structure that could only be built because it was student-led: making use of the students’ position, we created an industry-government-academia circle in which the town hall, farmers, and the station each supported us in their own way

・We also procured off-standard vegetables and sold them by combining individual items with lower-priced sets

・We set up an operation possible only with local hosting: procure in the morning and sell out that same day

・We responded flexibly, for example by bringing vegetables left over at the marché to another event the next day and selling them out

6 Difficulties and points for reflection

・The announcements were late. Both the poster display and the Instagram posting started right before the event, and the frequency and content of our posts were uneven too. Had we started earlier, we could have drawn even more visitors

・We could not firmly decide the pricing by the day of the event

・We tended to act on ideas as they came, and there were moments when preparations came down to the wire. The day-of operations, such as delivery and setup, were also more hectic than expected

・While many people from within the town came, drawing visitors from outside the town remained a challenge for the future

7 What we learned

The lessons from these four months fall broadly into three.

The first is confidence gained from practice. Building everything with our own hands — from setting the theme to planning, negotiating, and selling on the day — and connecting it to results became a great source of confidence.

The second is a lesson in negotiation. We realized that to get people to act, what matters most is to set a goal, convey how you want to solve the current situation and how much passion you have, and win their empathy.

The third is a lesson from the field. Taking the community’s challenges as “our own” and feeling firsthand the difficulty and reward of coordination and negotiation. In addition to what we learn in class, engaging with and experiencing the community directly ourselves lets us learn more deeply — we brought back plenty of learning from the field that classroom study alone cannot give.

8 Outlook ahead

Exhibiting at local events, expanding the participating farms, and regularly holding “English × cooking × agriculture” exchange events centered on international exchange. And continuing our relationship with Manai Tomato Farm, turning “vegetables that are edible but discarded” into products and, in the future, getting them listed as hometown-tax (furusato-nozei) return gifts — these are the visions we drew after the marché ended.

These visions have not ended as mere pie in the sky. The connections born at the marché have been carried on as the ongoing activity ‘Hiji-Vege,’ and much of the vision is being realized as actual activity, including advancing product development using off-standard produce. Not ending this activity with our own cohort, but passing it on to the next year group, is our goal.