They Said It Was Impossible—Until This Happened…
Yes, I started another project.
Beginnings are hard. I have always referred to my fear when starting something from zero as the blank page syndrome. Be it a project, a post, a note, a letter, a dish… Starting from zero is hard, beginnings are hard, but after writing many times just for myself and about tea, I have found relief more and more from that feeling. Writing has been liberating in many ways, I do better talking out loud about something and then refining that conversation, many times with myself, into a post or note or whatever.
Why this, why now
Since moving back to Japan in late 2023, I have increasingly embraced seasonality and regional rhythms. Both through the nature of my work as a tea farmer and throughout the environment where I live, rural Japan. With time, and my predisposition to go deep into rabbit holes, I have found histories and connections through regions and people I did not experience when I lived in Japan during the pandemic in 2019.
I have been sharing part of that journey from the lens of tea, and through that, learned even more about it. After living many different experiences related to food, amplified and conducted throughout the seasons, I want to share them. While I usually take a more formal style of evaluating food through the sense of its agricultural research like in some of the rice cultivar notes on my personal knowledge vault. This time I want to share more from the raw, opinionated, human side of those experiences.
The specifics
Look, this is the point where consistency comes into the mix. “How often will you post?”, “What days do you send your newsletter?”. It does not work like that around here, I am foremost a farmer, one looking towards the beginning of the tea harvesting season. I am also a university student and someone who runs several other projects. You could say that I cover too much terrain, and you would be right. They said it was impossible until this happened, yet another project.
Born from a desire to share my unique perspective as a tea farmer in Japan, working in a rural environment, but deeply motivated in a more academic and field research pursuit, I compile, digest, and paint the picture of local regionality to share it with you. Posts will be delivered as they are ready, some matured, some served fresh.
Let's explore how food made us human!
Hammering a Taga 箍, a bamboo ring that will keep the Oke 桶 or wooden barrel together.