A fair featuring local products from Ueno Village, the smallest municipality in Gunma Prefecture, located at its southernmost tip, was held on the 20th in the free space beside the main entrance on the first floor of the Palaceside Building. More than 40 kinds of specialties were on offer, including Jikkoku miso aged by time-honored methods, richly flavored inobuta (a wild boar-pork crossbreed) meat and woodcrafts, with thick, meaty fresh shiitake mushrooms proving especially popular.
Billed as a "one-day traveling roadside station," the fair was organized by Japan Learning Co., Ltd. (located on the first floor of the Palaceside Building), which has deepened ties with the village through its business, together with the Ueno Promotion Corporation. To break free of worsening depopulation, Ueno Village has been pouring effort into programs encouraging younger generations to settle there, while also working to build a recycling-oriented society through forestry promotion and the use of new energy sources. The fair was held in hopes of conveying the appeal of a village that strives for "challenge and self-reliance."