- LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai (center) experiences rice harvesting with a binder in Ome, Tokyo, on Nov. 4.
TOKYO, Nov. 5 – Twelve Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers participated in a rice harvesting event on Nov. 4 held in the city of Ome, western Tokyo.
The event was part of a project proposed by LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai to let LDP lawmakers experience rice cultivation. Under the project, Kinuhikari brand rice and glutinous rice seedlings were planted on a 10-are paddy in June.
Around 60 people attended the event, including Nikai, Hiroshi Moriyama, the LDP’s Diet affairs chief, and Tetsuro Nomura, head of the party’s agriculture and forestry division.
“We can’t speak for farmers without actually experiencing their hardships and efforts,” Nikai said after the event. “It is the LDP’s challenge to continue strenuously to accumulate experiences,” he added, expressing determination to implement agricultural policies from the farmers’ perspective.
The LDP plans to hold a harvest festival at its headquarters in December and pound steamed rice to make mochi rice cakes.