The hallway is quiet at 11:47 pm the night before we leave Japan . I hope it is because everyone is getting a good night's sleep in anticipation of China tomorrow! But I know there is packing, laundry or the temptations of Kyoto just outside our door. Our last day, a free day, was spent in a flurry of temple visiting and consumption of last minute favorite Japanese foods, or bank and post office visiting, depending on one's predilections for culture or sharing tangible mementos with those of you at home.
To catch you up…
We arrived in Unnan City Saturday morning, September 1. Unnan is a composite city in Shimane Prefecture on the northern coast of southwestern Japan made up of 6 or 7 small towns that decided to combine in hopes of making a difference in their area. After warm greetings and a short bus ride, we first visited a roadside farmers' market at a highway rest area near Kisuki Town where 2000 very small scale farmers bring produce, honey, eggs, flowers and all the things you might expect to see at a farmers' market at home… except the farmers. Farmers set the prices for their own produce – twenty percent goes to pay for the management of the market and 80% is paid to the farmers. We then proceeded with a welcome lunch at a family-run restaurant in one of the small towns. Everyone ate heartily of food ranging from curry rice to various domburi to noodles.
After arriving at the Shoku no Mori [ http://geocities.jp/kisukimorinopan/mori.html ] (a museum of 2 historic farm houses and a small winery, bakery and produce shop), we heard 2 lectures – the first from Mr. Masahiko Takahashi, the Managing Director of the JA Unnan Farmers' Association. He spoke about the association and its efforts to develop excellent and secure products which are marketed directly to the consumer locally. They are also beginning to go to trade fairs in Taiwan and other parts of Asia , but on their own rather than being represented by “middle men.” They have developed a patented “germinated brown rice” which looks a bit like puffed rice cereal that they have made into a variety of products. The association efforts have brought life into a dying area, and though it might sound strange to Americans, it was specifically mentioned that women are now willing to become wives here. This is an important point -- because in many parts of Japan only the elderly are farming on a regular basis. Wives generally mean families with children, who then continue the farming tradition.
The second lecture will make Kathy Tegtmeyer Pak and the Northfield Food Forum group green with envy. We heard from Ms. Sayoko Matsuura, the nutritionist for the local daycare/preschool (of 250 children ages 0-5), 5 elementary schools and 1 junior high school. Each of the schools has a group of retired people who grow vegetables for the children to eat in the school lunch program. On top of that, each day it's announced that today we're having Mr. Tanaka's carrots and Mrs. Nishimura's eggplants. And, whenever possible, Mr. Tanaka and Mrs. Nishimura are invited to eat with the kids on the days their vegetables are being served! Children visit the plots and learn about growing vegetables from their own school farmers. It brought tears to my eyes to hear Ms. Matsuura talking about how it was more expensive, yes, and more work, yes, and sometimes the children didn't eat all of their vegetables, no, but she and the community felt it was critical that connections were made between children and the people who raised their food, and that the food was local, healthy, and pesticide free. Students had many questions for both speakers (and we were grateful to Roger, a Jet program cultural international relations interpreter from Australia for translating in both directions!).
A walk around tour of the area was followed by a banquet hosted by the president of the Kisuki milk company, who endorses breastmilk feeding for babies on the cartons. http://www.kisuki-milk.co.jp [However, I did push others at the dinner a bit on whether the cows really get to graze in fields as pictured on the website and people generally agreed that was possible in Hokkaido but not in Shimane because of the small amount of arable land.] He was a great host, joking with the students and using an impossible dialect to tease – even his colleagues were rolling their eyes.
Sunday we were supposed to help harvest rice but it rained during the night and it was too wet… and there was mention made that there were too many large-sized feet in the group to provide boots. But instead, we made mochi the traditional way by pounding rice in a hollowed out log with a wooden mallet. The gooey rice is then powered with rice flour and folded around sweet red bean paste, or rolled in soybean flour. I went over to visit with a local village elder (100 years old) and shared pictures of the Northfield farmers market. Her granddaughter helped translate between the local dialect and standard Japanese for me, and between my less-than-standard Japanese and the local dialect for her. After stuffing ourselves with mochi (not hard to do – even two will take care of an empty stomach!), we toured the equipment sheds for a close-up look at the rice farming machines, and then enjoyed a banquet with many members of the farming association. A quick stop at a local hot springs for an outside Japanese bath, and then introductions to our host families for the afternoon and evening.
There were a variety of experiences – from visiting neighbors and sharing jazz singing and ballet steps to watching horseraces on tv while papa bet on them followed by horse sushi (yes, raw horsemeat is quite the fad among some), to tea and sweets followed by Japanese card games, to sitting around sharing pictures and talking about food and families. I was placed with the director of the daycare/nursery school described above which was lovely because we could talk about my daughter Elizabeth who has taught in a daycare/nursery school (and since July in a preschool coop) in Boston . The family land holds a convenience store, laundromat and apartments, so the husband's work schedule is flexible. Therefore, he is the main cook in the family. The three of us cooked dinner together, moving easily together in the kitchen. Reiko (the wife) had been to Earlham College (my alma mater) on a cultural exchange trip and we had a great time being nostalgic together. They have hosted innumerable exchange students from Waseda and elsewhere, and are excellent in using dictionaries as they talk. I did get quite a workout in Japanese, and we managed to cover a variety of topics. And the grandmother showed me her needlework and all the little things she has sewn for her grandchildren over the years.
It is now 12:55am. There have been a few door openings and closings as I write but it's quieting down now, I think. The rest of Japan will need to wait until Shanghai unless I pop up at 5am spontaneously. As always, more later!