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Painting the future
Painting the future
What is it that moves the world?
I want to go somewhere that no one has ever been.
I want to be healthy and live my own way forever.
I want to leave a rich environment for the children
who will carry the future.
Niterra will use the history, technologies,
and special ideas that we have cultivated
to brighten the planet in response to the desire for “Even better.”
The Expo 2025 Osaka,
Kansai, Japan is a chance for anyone to see into the future.
We hope this story lights the flame that it depicts
in the hearts of everyone in the present
and of the children who will carry the future.
Please read this book together with your children.
The huge Grandmother Tree with its spread of green leaves bathes in the shining morning sun.
This tree has been watching over countless people and animals since long ago.
A beautiful flower garden has grown around the tree, and has become a place for children and animals to play.
The Grandmother Tree was feeling unhappy as it gazed
at the beautiful flower-covered ground below.
The water and air were getting hotter,
and the trees, flowers,
fish, and animals had begun to disappear.
One day,
when the children and animals were playing like usual...
“Hello, everyone!”
The Grandmother Tree began to talk to them.
The astonished children and animals stopped playing and looked upwards.
Everyone was surprised,
but they listened closely to the Grandmother Tree
as she spoke slowly and gently.
“I have been watching over this land for many years since before your mothers and fathers were born.
If you continue as you are, this place will disappear,
and so I want to tell you about the future of the flower garden.”
The Grandmother Tree began to tell her story.
“Many living creatures have been gathering here in the beautiful flowers and the shade that I create since long ago.”
“But, if there is no change, this place will surely become a desert. In one hundred years,
the flowers, the forest, and I,
the Grandmother Tree,
will no longer be here to watch over you.”
“It is true the summer has been too hot and the flowers have been wilting.”
“I am seeing less of my favorite fruits, too.”
The children and animals faced each other.
“Do not look so sad.”
“The future can be changed at any time. And, the key to doing it is you.”
“Depending on all of you,
this place can stay how it is forever or perhaps become even more wonderful.”
This is what the Grandmother Tree told them.
“What should we do?”
One of the children asked the tree.
“It’s easy.
Just talk together
and decide what you want to do with this place.”
After giving her answer,
the Grandmother Tree closed her mouth once again as it always had been.
“““What should we do?”””
The children and animals talked together.
A girl who is sensitive to heat said,
“I will get up and go to bed early so that I don’t use the lights too much.”
The agile fox children said,
“We will avoid the flowers when we play and dig holes instead.”
The big bear cub said, “I am big,
but I will stop wasting water so that everyone can use it.”
The children and animals gave idea after idea.
Many springs and winters passed.
Those children and animals grew up.
Their old playground now has even more flowers.
Many birds and animals gather there,
and it has become even more beautiful and dazzling.
The children and animals that are now grown up
have forgotten that they had ever talked to the Grandmother Tree,
but they told their own children to cherish the place.
The Grandmother Tree,
who has watched all this over time,
seems somehow happy as she shakes her branches in the breeze today too.
“Hey, did you know?”
“Near you, the person reading this,
and everywhere in the world.”
“Surely there are more and more places like this.”
“Thinking about the future, thinking and acting for yourselves for the future, and working together.”
“That feeling brings us
one step closer to a brighter future.”
Now, what will you do?
Thank you for reading this
to the end.
Niterra is a silver partner in the Future Society Showcase Project,
“Future Life Expo: Future City” at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
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© Niterra Co., Ltd.
