October 2025　 Date City × Chembe Village International Symposium 2025 Learning from Local Innovator Actions

The symposium is organized by the “Date Pro” project, implemented under the Cross‑ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), 3rd period, “Building a Platform to Realize New Ways of Learning and Working in the Post‑COVID‑19 Era,” of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI). The program is administered by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST),

This symposium is organized by the research project “Date Pro.” supported by Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), the 3rd period of SIP (Funding agency: Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)). And the project is led by Shinya Yamanaka of Muroran Institute of Technology.
The symposium was held on October 25th and 26th at the Civic Activity Center in Kashima, Date City. The core keyword was “Networking.” Innovators from Date and Malawi who are tackling various agricultural practices and challenges presented their unique initiatives. Through these presentations, we hope to spark new connections and envision a brighter future for the region—highlighting how human networks can overcome difficulties and how new forms of collaboration can emerge.
From the project, we invited Nicholas Sikoya Chanza (Mr. Mantis) and J. B. Matewere (Mr. John) from Malawi, who presented on sustainable agriculture, the linkage between agriculture and tourism, and the activities of the local restaurant “ZATHU” in Chembe Village. Project member Yasuko Kusakari also introduced “The Cape Maclear Story: Connecting Farmers and Tourism Beginning from a Local Restaurant.”
During the Roundtable Discussion, the facilitator, Sato, shared a hopeful message: “Someday, I would love to see people creating menus that combine vegetables and seafood from Date, and many visitors coming to ZATHU saying they want to enjoy those dishes.”
Web site of Date Pro.　だてプロ