2024Kagoshima Prefecture Yamato Village, Oshima District
This facility is a conservation and research facility for the Amami rabbit, a special natural monument. The name of the facility, "Kuruguru," comes from Shimaguchi (a dialect of Amami) and means "dark black," representing the Amami rabbit's coat color and the image of life circulating around and around. Here, visitors can experience the adventure of a night forest on the scale of a rabbit. They will be startled by cars that suddenly appear and huge predators, and will push aside plants and flowers taller than themselves in search of forest creatures that react to the black light. The facility is designed to encourage visitors to see the rabbits' perspective, becoming aware of their feelings and fears and fostering empathy. Furthermore, by fully opening the treatment room for rescued rabbits to the public, visitors are presented with the reality of injuries sustained in traffic accidents and other accidents. Surrounded by the nature of Amami Oshima, the facility will watch over rescued rabbits until they are released back into the wild, and will encourage them to think about the coexistence of humans and rabbits.
For tourists and even the people who live on Amami Oshima, the Amami rabbit is something they know about but that doesn't have much to do with their daily lives. As a result, it is difficult to see the various issues surrounding the rabbits, such as roadkill (traffic accidents) and attacks by feral cats (domestic cats that have gone feral), as well as the wonderful biodiversity unique to Amami Oshima, with which they coexist, as something that concerns them personally. Therefore, rather than providing visitors with lengthy explanations, an approach that could be understood intuitively with the body and mind was needed.
The greatest feature of this facility is that it allows children to explore the Amami night forest, which has been expanded and reconstructed five times larger than usual to give them a firsthand experience of the scale of rabbits. As they push through plants and flowers taller than themselves in search of forest creatures, they experience the fear of sudden cars and large predators from a rabbit's perspective, giving them an opportunity to think about the threats rabbits face, such as roadkill and feral cats, as something that affects them personally. In addition, the treatment room for rescued rabbits is fully open to the public, providing a place where visitors can see the injured and bleeding rabbits in their natural state.
The program aims to foster empathy for this special natural monument by allowing visitors to experience for themselves both the fun aspects of learning and the reality that makes them want to turn away, and to understand it with their bodies and minds.
From here on, you will be linked to Nomura Co., Ltd. 's partner page. You can apply from the list of available positions at the link. (Please note that CIC may not always be recruiting.)
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