Keihanna Expo 2025 Closing Ceremony “Keihanna Declaration – Proposals from the Young Generation”

This year’s field summit was held in Keihanna Science City in collaboration with Keihanna Expo 2025. At the field summit, participants interacted with high school students from the Keihanna region, engaged in fieldwork, and visited science and technology facilities. On the final day, based on these experiences, ideas for improving Keihanna Science City, a city where science, technology, and culture merge, were compiled into the “Keihanna Declaration.”

The completed Keihanna Declaration was presented by two representative high school students at the closing ceremony of Keihanna Expo 2025. We express our gratitude to everyone who attended on the day and to Keihanna Co., Ltd. for providing the opportunity for the presentation.

(Click on the image to enlarge)

The presented Keihanna Declaration is available here.

Reflections on the Keihanna Declaration

（Sara Ikawa, Kindai University-affiliated Toyooka High School, Osaka, Japan）

In the Keihanna declaration that we created, we proposed a“Keihanna Community,” with “collaboration” and “connection” as its key themes. The “Keihanna Community” aims to pass on agricultural knowledge from current farmers to young people and to create a warm space where people of different generations and professions can interact face-to-face.

The Keihanna declaration was created based on our experiences at the Keihanna summit held in August. During the summit, we had an opportunity to interact with students from Kizu high school and Nanyo high school. At a fieldwork session with Kizu high school students, we learned about tea cultivation through organic farming. I was deeply impressed by the efforts to make tea in a way that was kind to both the environment and people, and I felt that this practice must be preserved. However, in the subsequent discussion with Nanyo high school students, we learned that young people’s interest in agriculture was declining and that smartphone dependence was causing some youth to become isolated from their local communities.

Through these experiences, I realized that, in order to make Keihanna—a science and research city—more attractive, it is important to protect agriculture and create warm spaces where no one is left behind. In particular, it is essential to provide opportunities for young people, who are often dependent on smartphones, to learn about the importance and appeal of agriculture from older farmers, and to encourage them to consider agriculture as a future career option. It was with these thoughts in mind that we created the Keihanna declaration.

I was nervous in the large venue, but I could clearly see the audience nodding and sending me warm glances from the podium at the center stage, so I managed to finish without any major mistakes. After the closing ceremony, I also received kind words from the audience, such as;

 “You presented calmly and skillfully.”

 and

“Thank you for thinking about the future of Keihanna.”

Through the Keihannna summit and the Keihannna decleration presentation, I was able to reflect on my local community. I realized that the fields and landscapes I had taken for granted, and the daily lives of local people, were full of effort and creativity. From now on, I want to think about what I can do as a member of my local community and gradually put those ideas into practice.

Finally, through the process of creating this proposal, I learned the importance of valuing human connections. I want to carry this lesson with me and continue to grow as someone who contributes to the future of Keihanna.