Our University Wins a 'Green Capital' Prize

The Forum is dedicated to landscaping and environmental design, and this year, the focus was on parks and public spaces. The efforts of our Botanical Gardens staff were rewarded with a Level 3 Diploma for their creation, 'The Lilac and the Star – Symbols of Victory'.

The University welcomed two special guests from the Sapporo Parks and Landscaping Association. Hideo Ihara from Yurigahara Park and Masato Oishi from Kawashimo Park are curators and breeders of lilacs in the two major parks in the fifth largest city in Japan. The guests were shown around the new Lilac Cultivation Centre and the Biotechnology Laboratory, where the experts discussed the approaches used in breeding and micro clonal propagation of lilac varieties, as well as the possibility of further scientific cooperation in this field.

During their tour of the Botanical Garden, our guests' attention was drawn to the Asian plant collection with its flowering lilacs and magnolias. They spoke about the traditional Japanese celebrations around the flowering of the cherry blossoms, or 'Sakura', the national plant of Japan. The visit was rounded off with the planting of lilacs in a special corner of the Garden, which was created in the tradition of the ancient imperial gardens of Japan and China. They then signed the Botanical Garden Visitor's Book and expressed their appreciation for the equipment on show. They thanked our staff for the valuable information they had imparted, and reiterated their hope for further cooperation.