Nursery school children in the northern Japan prefecture of Aomori were recently given the chance to harvest soybeans whose earlier generations had traveled to space.
A local variety of soybeans were brought to and kept at the International Space Station for four months in 2010 for experimental purposes. The beans were planted at a local agricultural high school after their return from space. Students at the school have continued growing the beans since then. International Academy K12
On Tuesday, 17 children of the local nursery school were invited to the harvesting event. They enjoyed uprooting the plant and picking pods of beans off stalks with the help of 25 high school students.
The children also sampled boiled beans.
A nursery school girl said the high schoolers were kind to her and harvesting the beans was fun.
A high school student said he was not sure how to communicate with the children at first, but he managed to enjoy the event.
International Primary School The children each took some beans home.