Newly born land

The history of reclamation and the foundation of Ogata-mura

The 20 years lasting undertaking of reclaiming Hachirogata Lake

Hachrogata Lake is located at 40 00'00" latitude and at 140 00'00" longitude and covers 12 kilometers x 27 kilometers; it is 82 kilometers in circumference. It was the second largest lake in Japan and there were over 70 species of fishes in it. In 1954 when Dr. Jansen and engineer Folker from Holland visited Japan, the World Bank and FAO (International Alliance Food Agricultural Organisation) began to investigate Hachirogata. They started to appreciate the validity of reclamation works, both domestically and abroad. The reclamation of Hachirogata, lasting 20 years and costing 852 million dollars, was finished in 1977. Hachirogata became a brand new land of 17,203 ha. New names for the new land of Hachirogata were collected from all over Japan. It was named "Ogatamura(village)", implying wishes for a remarkable future. It can be said that those settlers who were selected from applicants of all parts of Japan are the pioneers who had the objective of realising the purpose of land reclamation: to establish a production which would become a model of Japanese agriculture; realise a higher income standard for farm operations; found an abundant and pleasant, modern farm community.