The initiative that uses the rooftop garden ‘Minna no Niwa’ at ‘MARK IS Minatomirai’ complex, where Green Wise is responsible for plant management, was carried out this year as well, in cooperation with Minato Mirai Honcho Elementary School.

This time, as part of their class, the sixth-grade students conducted interviews on various SDGs – related initiatives at local facilities and restaurants, and based on that information, they created ‘riddles to learn about SDGs initiatives in a fun way’. The students learned about various initiatives at the complex through preliminary research and wanted to hear about them in person, not just rely on information from the internet, so they came to ‘Minna no Niwa’.

Green Wise explained how to manage the plants and garden, and answered questions from the students.

Students observed various plants while walking through the garden. They harvested Cherry Sage, Rosemary, Lavender and Lemon Verbena, and also enjoyed the scents of various herbs. In their cherished orchard, where they are nuturing twenty types of citrus trees, students harvested Early Wenzhou Mandarin, Kōji-kan, Pomelo, Buddha’s Hand Citron, Hana Yuzu and Lemon.

In the student’s interview, we explained how the area is managed to be a place where people and living things can relax, by using the IPM method, which minimises the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers while considering the environment.

For the question, ‘What do you wish for the people who come to this garden and for the town?’, we answered, ‘We want people visiting here to feel good and happy, and to carry those feelings back home or to their workplace. We would be glad if this leads to greater kindness toward others. When we ask them ‘Don’t you think it would be wonderful if there were many kind-hearted people in town?’, they nodded enthusiastically, saying, ‘Yes!Yes!’.

After the tour, the students returned to the school and began working on their project. They created one riddle focused on the ‘Houttuynia cordata’ also known as the chameleon plant at ‘Minna no Niwa’. They were inspired by the staff’s explanation that, although this plant is generally considered a nuisance due to its strong reproductive capacity and unique scent, it is carefully nurtured as a medicinal herb in the garden.

Fourth-grade students came to visit us, as part of a workshop to create crayons using discarded plant material. The students looked for plants that could be used to make crayons while observing their colour and scent. They picked Bitter Orange, Ponkan, Buddha’s Hand Citron, Amanatsu Orange and others, because they thought citrus fruits from the garden can be used for crayons. After some time, they brought the completed crayons back to us and excitedly shared their findings – ‘The colour and scent are different depending on the type of citrus!’.

MARK IS Minatomirai
5F Rooftop Garden “ Minna no Niwa”
3-5-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan