The Ohba Seminar at Hachioji Campusconducted research on fair trade as part of a Global Studies Seminar

On October 26 (Sat.) and 27 (Sun.), 2024, the 58th Teikyo University Seisha Festival was held at Teikyo University Hachioji Campus, and our university Faculty of Language Studies Department of Language Studies Associate Professor seminar of Mayo Ohba conducted a fair trade coffee sale and fundraising activities as a practical activity of the Global Studies Seminar. The seminar also participated in the "Hachioji Kitaguchi Marche," a stall event held at the Tokyo Tama Mirai Messe (Hachioji City, Tokyo) on Sunday, December 15 of the same year, and conducted similar activities.

In Associate Professor Ohba's Global Studies Seminar, students are learning about the connections between Japan and countries in the Global South from a variety of perspectives, in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As in the previous year, this year was also based on the keyword of fair trade, and in the first semester students learned about the outline of fair trade. In the second semester students participated in the university's Seisha Festival and a stall event at Tokyo Tama Mirai Messe, where customers were asked to decide the price of fair trade coffee and then purchase it, with all proceeds donated. This activity was sponsored by Daiohs Japan Co., Ltd. and Kobe Coffee Co., Ltd.
Fair trade products are sold at a price commensurate with the labor compensation of local producers, so the selling price is higher than usual, and awareness in Japan is not yet necessarily sufficient. Following last year, this year too, this activity, which considers the current situation and connections with developing countries through fair trade coffee with purchasers, is an opportunity not only for students but also for purchasers to think about connections with developing countries in their daily lives. Purchasers decide the amount they pay after receiving an explanation, but this year we also introduced an initiative where purchasers can choose which organization they would like to donate their payment to. In 2024, there was the Noto Peninsula earthquake at the beginning of the year and the subsequent heavy rain disaster, so the organizations to which donations will be made will be domestic and overseas, and there will be three: Noto Peninsula Relief Fund, Japanese Red Cross Fund, and Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's UNICEF Fund.

On the first day of the university festival, our university Chairman and President Yoshihito Okinaga, who was visiting the university to inspect the festival, stopped by and purchased fair trade coffee after listening to an explanation from the students. Afterwards, we also sold the coffee to people of various ages who supported the initiative at the Tokyo Tama Future Messe. The total proceeds from the two events was 135,896 yen, of which 91,425 yen was donated to the Noto Peninsula Relief Fund, 23,135 yen to the Japanese Red Cross Fund, and 21,336 yen to Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's UNICEF Fund.
Looking back on the activities of this project, the students commented, "The fact that 100% of the amount paid was donated attracted a lot of attention, and we had more visitors than we had expected," "Customers who were interested in the fact that they could contribute to supporting developing countries by purchasing fair trade coffee said that they would like to actually purchase fair trade products in their daily lives in the future," "It was a valuable experience for us to think about and learn about fair trade," and "The activities at Tokyo Tama Mirai Messe were different from those at the university festival in terms of age and scale, and the level of explanation required was different, so it was a very educational experience." Associate Professor said, "We received comments from customers who purchased coffee saying, 'This kind of activity by young people is a hope for society and is encouraging,' which was a great encouragement for the students. I am happy that we were able to share with the students the importance of Practical learning, including not only classroom learning but also practical learning." These activities are based on Educational Philosophy of our university, "“One’s way”," and the specific Educational Guidelines of "Practical learning, International perspectives, and Open mindedness," and are efforts to contribute to the creation of a sustainable, symbiotic society through practice. Teikyo University will continue to support students' research activities, including those related to the SDGs.

Project Members

Shien Aisaka, Seiko Shinohara, Ayumu Honma, Mizuki Meguro, Rio Yasukawachi, Nana Yasutake (4th year students, Faculty of Language Studies)
Ryunosuke Aoyama, Keita Oyama, Tsubasa Ogata, Hiroba Senuma, Anri Takashima, Kento Senda, Yutaro Tominaga, Bunta Fujimoto, Ayumu Mori, Kasumi Moriya (3rd year Faculty of Language Studies)

Click here for details on Faculty of Language Studies
Click here for information on Teikyo University's efforts toward the SDGs
Click here for more information on Kobe Coffee Story's SDGs initiatives
Click here for information on Daiohs Japan's SDGs initiatives

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