Farm stay - Kuta Village
Our farm stay for me, has been one of
the highlights of our trip so far as it gave us all a chance to see
some authentic traditional Japanese foods and practices. We made our
way from Hiroshima early Tuesday morning taking the Bullet-train or
Shinkansen as it is called in Japan to Kyoto, we then took a bus for
roughly two hours out of Kyoto into the countryside of Japan to a
small village known as Kuta. The bus journey was a scenic one, as we
slowly rose up along the cliff-side roads snow appeared on either
side, becoming more and more common the higher we went, the air
became cool and we past many rivers, all flowing strongly from the
melted ice and snow. Winter was leaving these hills.
We were met at the base of the drive
with open arms by Kazy and
his wife Lumi, the owners of the farm and were taken into their home
for some refreshing Japanese traditional rice tea, which was much
appreciated after a day of travel. We then met our hosts for
overnight stay, all senior Japanese speaking ladies, (the towns
average age was said to be about 70) and our interpreters, a handful
of youthful Japanese women and Yuki, a young man who just graduated
uni less than a week prior, he was the only communication tool
between us boys and our host, our very own 'Japanese Grandmother' as
Yuki would call her. When Yuki was not present we were reduced to
polite nods and pointing as our best means of communication, not very
effective at all given the language and age difference. However, with
or without communication she was incredibly hospitable and catered to
our every need the best she could.
On the stay we did activities such as
making Mochi, making soba noodles, as well as weaving our own
chopstick rests. I will not go into these as they have already been
mentioned in detail in previous posts. If you would like to read more
check out the farm stay posts, all published prior to this one.
The first night at our newly adopted
grandmothers house was spent washing ourselves in the super deep
bath, playing with the small overexcited poodle, 'Poochie' as well as
(to my delight), watching the Japanese world cup qualifier against
Thailand around the living room table on the floor (the Japanese
way). The blue samurai ran away 4-0 victors over a Thai team that
impressed me in some stages of the game, but never mind my football
ramblings, I should be writing about our cultural experience instead.
We went to bed on the floor atop a heated floor mat which was not
enough to keep out the cold for some.
Most of our days were spent around the
living room table sipping Japanese rice tea and eating anything they
gave us, (so much food!) and talking to the many Japanese hosts and
translators about the differences in culture and their lives and
travels. Life was very different from the cities, everybody was
relaxed and seemed at peace with themselves, this is somewhat
unsurprising considering their surroundings and the lifestyle that
comes with farm life.
The time we spent at the farm was an
absolute joy from start to finish, the food was fantastic, the
experiences were unique and the people were overwhelmingly hospitable
and will be missed. I really hope that one day I will be able to
return.
Francis 1st April 2017
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