We have been conducting researches on FPP on the theme of "Healthy Aging", aimed at achieving to reduce medical costs though preventive medicine.

On January 16, 2019, Osato Research Institute donated rabbits to Ono-Nishi Primary School in Ono town and gave a lecture on "how to raise rabbits" to the 4th grade children in their classroom.

Presentation Ceremony

Three new rabbits joined Ono-Nishi primary school.

The impetus for this donation dates back to October 29, 2018 when we came to give a lecture about AIDS prevention together with 6th grade children at Ono-Nihi primary school. After the lecture, we talked with the principal and it came by chance to the ear of ours that their rabbits had passed away and children were very sad about it. We found out that the last rabbit also died after being alone for a while. We have been involved with children education in local elementary schools, and felt it was a pity that children at Ono-Nishi primary school would not be able to have a chance to learn many things by taking good care of rabbits together with friends. The principal and teachers had the same feeling. This is how we decided to donate 3 rabbits.

On the day of presentation ceremony, children prepared their classroom by drawing many cute rabbits on the blackboard and welcomed us with smiley faces. They all seemed to be so looking forward to receiving the rabbits.

Children's cute drawings warmed our hearts.

Lecturing about rabbits

eagerly attentive children

Firstly, we talked about the social activities of Osato Research Institute and explained the background of this donation and also talked about our firefly protection project. We explained to the children how important it is to protect our ecosystem: Fireflies spend most of their lives in water, so it is important for firefly protection not to pollute river water with environmental conservation efforts. In old days, we had wild rabbits even in this town. We live in the same environment with fireflies and rabbits. If we become selfish and destroy nature, it means fireflies or rabbits will lose place to live in. Then, we said to them that they need to learn responsibility to take care of animals as well as consider the importance of life, and raising animals should be a joy.

It was followed by a lecture about rabbits, especially about their characteristics and foods. They were listening to the lecture and taking notes with a serious expression on their faces. After the lecture, we had many questions, such as "What should we do if they have a baby?", "Should we clean them if they get dirty with mud?" and "How many times should we feed them?" etc.

Nice rabbit hutch	Beds inside the hutch prepared by Children
Time to move in the hutch	We hope their healthy growth!

We handed three rabbits to the children and let the rabbits to move in the hutch, nicely cleaned and prepared by them. In the beginning, three of them looked nervous in their new house, but after a short time we found them getting used to it little by little. We are looking forward to their growth, receiving a lot of affection from children in Ono-Nishi primary school !

We hope that they take this opportunity to feel the importance of life, joy of raising animals and start growing respect and gratitude for any life including their own lives, knowing they are irreplaceable.