Day 2: Milk from Dairy Cows

Day 2 in Mongolia! Stepping outside the ger, which was cool and comfortable, I saw the magnificent nature that was too dark to see yesterday!


The ger is truly made only of a wooden frame and fabric, yet they survive winters that reach -40°C with just this. By the way, the two support pillars in the center of the ger are called the father pillar and mother pillar, and passing between them is considered a taboo. Let's be careful.

First, in the morning, we went to the Harumafuji Milk Farm. This is a farm co-founded by Harumafuji-zeki and Dr. Yang, where they handle the entire process themselves, from growing pasture grass to supplying milk. In Japan, pasture cultivation, dairy farming, and milk transportation are handled by separate companies, but in Mongolia, where raw milk is not widely distributed, they had to do everything in-house without any prior know-how. This project started with the desire to deliver delicious milk to the children of Mongolia.

We were allowed to sample the milk soft serve and yogurt soft serve, both of which were exquisite, but according to Harumafuji-zeki, the yogurt soft serve is not ordered very often. Thanks to a suggestion from team member Mr. Taniguchi, who asked if a mixed soft serve might be good, it was decided that it would be added as a new menu item!! Anything goes, I guess.

The afternoon was a hospital tour of the Tuv Provincial General Hospital. As part of the overseas medical support provided by Dr. Yang, we students were allowed to participate in a preliminary meeting for an operation to be performed at this hospital this September. Harumafuji-zeki acted as the interpreter between Japanese and Mongolian! It was too luxurious!

Tomorrow, we are scheduled to visit three facilities: the New Mongol Harumafuji School, the Mongolia-Japan Hospital, and the First Central Hospital of Mongolia! Good night!