Marianne.

 ＷＷＯＯＦ　‘Ｕｍａｉ　ｋｕｄａｍｏｎｏ　ｅｎ’　 Ｅｘｐｅｒｉｅｎｃｅ．

 Since arriving at Yoshio-San’s home and farm on the 7th March, both Mr and Mrs Narazaki have been nothing but kind, gracious and generous hosts. The welcoming hospitality that we continue to receive is kindly appreciated. I feel like I’m part of the family and it has been both interesting and a pleasure to meet Yoshio-San’s family and employees whom have all also extended the warm reception.

Despite not speaking/understanding the Japanese language, I feel like the communication barrier has been manageable due to Mr Narazaki’s friendly disposition. Yoshio-San appears to be a very positive, hard-working but happy character who wears a continuous smile. It has been very interesting and inspiring to learn about Mr Narazaki prospective of life and his philosophy and passion regarding fruit farming. At a time when both Remi and I are considering career changes and exploring the potential of starting a permaculture it was super inspiring to learn that Mr Narazaki also quit the ‘rat-race’ at the age of 31 to start up his own business from scratch. Although, it may seem like a daunting and challenging time ahead, having achieved a dream/ ambition of being able to work in nature and grow our own fruits and vegetables will be a satisfactory reward in itself.

 Again, although I don’t understand what he is saying, I can hear that Yoshio-San has a kind and nurturing tone of voice. Listening to him advising his employees in such nurturing tones are a breath of fresh air. I have lived in Asia now for nearly five years and have witnessed first hand how harsh some work environments can be. Often, people of authority like to abuse that position of power and can sometimes be mean to their colleagues by dictating to them or making them feel unvalued. It’s abundantly obvious that Mr Narazaki cares for his employees and for his trade and is more like a teacher sharing his knowledge and wisdom. There is clearly a mutual respect between employer and employees.

 It’s also obvious that the employees share Mr Narazaki’s vision – Hiro-San has been a valuable asset to our learning process: again he has been very kind to try impart knowledge as we work –for example: explaining the life-span of the trees and when they start to produce fruit. Hiro-San has tried his best to communicate in English, to which I’m very grateful and appreciative. Where he has been unable to explain, he has gone out of his way to google translate so that we may have a deeper understanding i.e. the use of chemicals and fertilizers on the orchards. Again it has been very interesting to learn about Hiro-Sans career journey and inspiring to know that it’s never too late to change to a career that you are passionate about. It was also a pleasure to meet some members of his family and have the opportunity to communicate with them.

Due to arriving in the winter season, the variety of ‘work experience’ may appear limited to us. However, I’m very grateful that Mr Narazaki has taken the time and effort to advise and guide Remi on the process of pruning fruit trees. Again, the fact that he allowed Remi to gain ‘hands-on’ practical experience is invaluable and demonstrates his influential leadership skills.

I’ve had a truly wonderful experience so far, I feel privileged that I’ve been able to stay with the family to gain an insight into fruit farming as well as Japanese Culture and to taste the yummy traditional Japanese cuisine prepared by Mrs Narazaki daily. A highlight was making Gyoza – with Yoko-san and her family and witnessing how a Japanese family interacts socially with one another.