Nippon no Arashi - Matsumoto (Part 2 of 3)
Here's the next part~! MatsuJun finishes up his first day on the Islands
Fukugi tea, and off to Oki Shrine
After parting with the students at Oki Douzen High School, Matsumoto headed to Mt. Atodo to get fukugi tea, as was suggested by Aoyama-san. They drove up and up the mountain road, and stopped the car near the summit, and were introduced to two staff members of Ama’s disabled persons facility “Sakura House,” Honda Michiko-san (39 years-old) and Adachi Yuki-san (37 years-old), who help produce fukugi tea. And actually, the trees growing to the wayside on the mountain were the fukugi (kuromoji) teas that are the source of fukugi tea. With guidance from the two, Matsumoto tried his hand at taking some of the leaves. He rubbed some of the leaves in his hands as they told him to, and said, “Uwa! That smells great!” And then, they spread out a tarp, and had a picnic-like tea party right there. They drank the fukugi tea while eating some of a pie that Adachi-san baked with the fukugi tea leaves. It had a great smell and was similar to herb tea.
Honda: We do everything by hand, from coming up here to get the leaves, to bringing them back to grind it down.
Matsumoto: Are these trees ones that were just naturally growing here?
Honda: Yes, they were growing here on their own.
Adachi: The only processing that’s done is the grinding of it. There are no perfumes or anything added at all.
Matsumoto: Eh~~!
Honda: We oftentimes have tea like this when we take breaks from harvesting the leaves when we’re here.
Matsumoto, his body warmed up from the hot fukugi tea, decided to visit the Atodo Shrine at the top of the mountain, since they had come all this way already. After praying at the shrine for many wonderful meetings on this trip, Matsumoto decided to try riding down the mountain with the bicycle that he had brought all the way to the island for this trip. Matsumoto started heading down the mountain, while being careful to not go too fast down the steep roads. He experienced more of Ama at the comfortable speed of a bike.
He made it down the mountain in no time and was soon back at the port. He was enjoying biking so much that he decided to ride all the way over to Oki Shrine. Riding along the coast at a good bike speed, he was able to enjoy the view in a different way than riding by car. Ama was very peaceful with the sundown gradually approaching, and while enjoying the view, he arrived at Oki Shrine before he knew it.
After passing under the beautiful shrine gate, they walked along the path to the shrine, which was lined on both sides by cherry blossom trees. Unfortunately, it was a little too early to see them blooming, and the buds were still quite hard, but according to Aoyama-san, it’s considered the best place in Oki to see the cherry blossoms. Since it was already evening, the shrine office was unfortunately already closed, but with the sun going down and it becoming dark, the grounds were very quiet and made everyone feel clear/peaceful. They were able to pray peacefully at a relaxed pace.
And then, they went back to the hotel to take a little rest and get ready for the long awaited dinner, which Aoyama-san arranged at a barbeque restaurant.
An enthusiastic night on the island
Matsumoto was very excited to see all kinds of seafood already laid out, including oysters, squid, and abalone, when they entered the barbeque house near the hotel! It seems that the staff at the Ama Town Tourism Bureau had been making preparations for this from even before Matsumoto had arrived, and everyone was very grateful!
With the Ama Town Hall Industrial Development Department’s assistant manager, Ooe Kazuhiko-san, who Aoyama-san is always saying that he wouldn’t be here now without him, joining them, everyone first got to their seats and had a toast. While enjoying the fresh seafood that Ama is proud of, Matsumoto once again felt the kindness of the people of the island.
Ooe: Thank you so much for traveling out all this way today.
Matsumoto: No no, I should be the one saying thank you. This here is abalone, isn’t it?
Hanafusa: It’s abalone.
Matsumoto: Wow~.
Hanafusa: And this is the Ama oyster!
Matsumoto: Do you farm them in Ama?
Hanafusa: Yes.
Ooe: With regards to oyster farming, back in Heisei year 4 (1992), Oki was the first place in Japan to succeed at it. We started the line from the wild oysters.
Aoyama: And this is oyster sashimi, please have some!
Everyone: Wow~~ (cheering).
Aoyama: Please have it with some lemon squeezed over it! Eat it in one bite!
Hanafusa: Please eat up, everyone! I can have it anytime. Wow~, the oysters are sparkling.
Matsumoto: At any rate, the high school students were really great.
Hanafusa: Is that so~!
Matsumoto: They were really great. Kashiwara-kun was so hard working.
Hanafusa: Right? It seems like he has been all alone since elementary school because there weren’t any other kids around him to play with. He would always hunt for bugs in the mountains, or go diving in the ocean alone. And, when something sad would happen, he said he would often go to gaze at the rough ocean. I thought, “What a childhood!” I have them write in journals everyday, and he wrote in there, “For the first time I’m living a real school life.” Or he writes things like, “I see my friends on our days off and just talk with them, these are experiences I’ve never had before.” I’m always so happy for him.
Matsumoto: That’s great to hear. You have to do your best tomorrow.
Hanafusa: They’re panicking about it even now. I’m sure they’re saying something like, “We don’t have enough bedsheets!” right now (lol). So, I’m sorry about this, but I’ll have to leave around 8 o’clock.
Matsumoto: Of course you should. Thanks for coming out like this, the day before.
Hanafusa: Did you wind up going somewhere today after the school?
Matsumoto: Mt. Atodo. The fukugi tea was really delicious~.
Hanafusa: The people at the Sakura House seem to be having fun everyday while making it.
Aoyama: This grunt fish is just about cooked, so please have some.
Hanafusa: Then let’s get a plate for the grunt too. You’ll be surprised how delicious this is!
Matsumoto: Then, I’ll start taking it apart.
Hanafusa: You have to eat this mekabu (wakame) too, MatsuJun-san.
Matsumoto: Oh yes!
Hanafusa: Yes. Ah, I’ll have to go after we eat this fish.
Matsumoto: But really, please do your best tomorrow.
Hanafusa: I’ll definitely let you know how it goes.
Matsumoto: I’d like to know what they thought of it.
Hanafusa: You asked them all kinds of things today, right? I’m so glad for it, because I was able to hear their thoughts and feelings that I didn’t know about. They don’t tell me about those kinds of things. Like how they feel about their hometown. I saw how great those kids really are. Your questions were really good.
Aoyama: It’s also amazing that they were able to answer those questions right away.
Matsumoto: That just shows that they just think those things everyday.
Hanafusa: I feel like even if you wanted to change something about Tokyo, you wouldn’t be able to do much at all, but here on the island, I feel like you could, or at least, you could get involved.
Matsumoto: Even if you broaden your scope of work just to broaden it, it does become wider, but I don’t think that is always a good thing.
Hanafusa: Yes.
Matsumoto: Because your scope/range can only be so big, so it’s like you can only take care of yourselves.
Hanafusa: That’s a great way to put it. I’ll take notes. It’s really true~!
Matsumoto: It’s also nice that your position is only a little bit higher than them, that relationship is great.
Hanafusa: At least they still think I’m even a little bit above them (lol). We’re just a really great group. I’ll be so sad when the Connections thing comes to an end.
Matsumoto: After talking with you at lunch, and then talking with the students at the school, I thought that they must have changed so much over this past year.
Hanafusa: What makes you say that?
Matsumoto: Eh? Because, I honestly think that if you weren’t there, they wouldn’t have turned out like that. If it was someone other than you, I think they would have gone in a different direction. Your relationship with them is really great. With you just a lititle bit above them.
Hanafusa: Ehehehe~!
Matsumoto: I thought it was really great that it was them, who are about to become adults, and you Hana-chan, who only just became an adult, to work together on this. People who just became adults can tend to say, “I think this way!” but Hana-chan, you don’t at all. That’s why your relationship with them grew so much, I think.
Hanafusa: I met a teacher like that when I was in high school. That teacher had the students do everything on their own, and if there was something they wanted to do, they would introduce them to a professional in that field. For example, if a student wanted to make books in order to tell a message, then the teacher would introduce them to someone that makes books, to teach them about how editing works. Because I met someone like that in high school, that teacher was Yanaka-sensei, I’m always thinking now, if I were Yanaka-sensei, what would I do in this instance? But in the end, I walk my own path. That’s all I can do.
Matsumoto: Isn’t that what education is all about?
Hanafusa: No, I don’t want it to be something so grand like education!
Matsumoto: No, but it’s because you’ve been taught so well that you can do things like this.
Hanafusa: I never thought of it like that! Wow, wow~.
Matsumoto: But, now I’ve praised you too much, so should you leave?
Everyone: (lol).
Matsumoto: Thanks again for coming out.
Hanafusa: No, thank you for coming out so far when you’re so busy, Matsumoto-san.
(Hana-chan runs off)
Matsumoto: Man~ Hana-chan is amazing.
Aoyama: She’s quite smart.
Matsumoto: The broad-mindedness of this town is helping her develop.
Aoyama: The assistant manager’s generation is really amazing after all.
Matsumoto: Ooe-san, have you always lived in Ama?
Ooe: No, I lived for a time in Osaka. I moved back when I was around 26, and now I’m 50.
Aoyama: About when was it that you assistant managers were part of a young persons association?
Ooe: I was in it for about 4 years after I came back at the age of 26.
Aoyama: The people who were livening up the town as part of the young persons association back then are now the assistant managers. It’s only been the last 7 or 8 years though that Ama has started receiving some attention, hasn’t it?
Ooe: Yes, it’s been only recently. Really. Did you meet Hatanaka-kun today?
Matsumoto: I didn’t.
Ooe: He actually came to Oki Douzen High School from Kansai, but he also worked hard for the “Tourism Koushien.” Kids like him who came from somewhere else really lead the kids today. Historically, this was an island many people were sent to, right? When I’m asked why we have so many people move to our island, I often answer that it might be because it’s in our genes to accept lots of people as we have done historically since former Emperor Gotoba. Also, I feel a lot of energy and momentum from the feelings of people like Aoyama-kun, who want to accomplish things together with the people of the islands.
Matsumoto: Yes, I also feel it.
Ooe: So wat we’re expected to do is figure out how to accept those feelings and make them into reality. How our lifestyles should be going forward as island people. One style is to hold onto our own traditions, right? But I also think another way is to listen to the opinions of people like Aoyama-kun and see if there are other ways of living too.
Matsumoto: Aoyama-kun, what is your first name?
Aoyama: Atsushi.
Matsumoto: Atsushi! You have a lot to do. It’s a lot, but I hope you’ll do your best.
Aoyama: Meeting you today, I had even more to do (lol).
Ooe: But you feel familiar/down-to-earth too.
Aoyama: I was thinking this earlier too, but I have to stay true to myself from now on. After looking at you, Matsumoto-kun. You do your work while staying true to yourself in an even more amazing world than me. I think that’s amazing…and I don’t want to lost to that.
Ooe: You “don’t want to lose!” I’d never thought I’d hear you say something like that, Aoyama-kun!
Matsumoto: But I don’t think I look at the details like that all that closely.
Aoyama: But you know, that’s ok. I think the fact that you lived without lies will definitely remain forever. But, one thing I do want to say is that there’s no such thing as the nice stories where people simply move out from the big cities to the islands like me, and using their incredible talents somehow save the islands. It’s important to see that in order for that to happen, the island people really put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears too!
Matsumoto: That’s true. It’s a wonderful island.
Matsumoto and Aoyama-san turned out to be the same age. The two continued talking late into the night without any signs of their conversation stopping.
And now off to the 2nd day of the trip! The next part is over here
Masterpost here~
Fukugi tea, and off to Oki Shrine
After parting with the students at Oki Douzen High School, Matsumoto headed to Mt. Atodo to get fukugi tea, as was suggested by Aoyama-san. They drove up and up the mountain road, and stopped the car near the summit, and were introduced to two staff members of Ama’s disabled persons facility “Sakura House,” Honda Michiko-san (39 years-old) and Adachi Yuki-san (37 years-old), who help produce fukugi tea. And actually, the trees growing to the wayside on the mountain were the fukugi (kuromoji) teas that are the source of fukugi tea. With guidance from the two, Matsumoto tried his hand at taking some of the leaves. He rubbed some of the leaves in his hands as they told him to, and said, “Uwa! That smells great!” And then, they spread out a tarp, and had a picnic-like tea party right there. They drank the fukugi tea while eating some of a pie that Adachi-san baked with the fukugi tea leaves. It had a great smell and was similar to herb tea.
Honda: We do everything by hand, from coming up here to get the leaves, to bringing them back to grind it down.
Matsumoto: Are these trees ones that were just naturally growing here?
Honda: Yes, they were growing here on their own.
Adachi: The only processing that’s done is the grinding of it. There are no perfumes or anything added at all.
Matsumoto: Eh~~!
Honda: We oftentimes have tea like this when we take breaks from harvesting the leaves when we’re here.
Matsumoto, his body warmed up from the hot fukugi tea, decided to visit the Atodo Shrine at the top of the mountain, since they had come all this way already. After praying at the shrine for many wonderful meetings on this trip, Matsumoto decided to try riding down the mountain with the bicycle that he had brought all the way to the island for this trip. Matsumoto started heading down the mountain, while being careful to not go too fast down the steep roads. He experienced more of Ama at the comfortable speed of a bike.
He made it down the mountain in no time and was soon back at the port. He was enjoying biking so much that he decided to ride all the way over to Oki Shrine. Riding along the coast at a good bike speed, he was able to enjoy the view in a different way than riding by car. Ama was very peaceful with the sundown gradually approaching, and while enjoying the view, he arrived at Oki Shrine before he knew it.
After passing under the beautiful shrine gate, they walked along the path to the shrine, which was lined on both sides by cherry blossom trees. Unfortunately, it was a little too early to see them blooming, and the buds were still quite hard, but according to Aoyama-san, it’s considered the best place in Oki to see the cherry blossoms. Since it was already evening, the shrine office was unfortunately already closed, but with the sun going down and it becoming dark, the grounds were very quiet and made everyone feel clear/peaceful. They were able to pray peacefully at a relaxed pace.
And then, they went back to the hotel to take a little rest and get ready for the long awaited dinner, which Aoyama-san arranged at a barbeque restaurant.
An enthusiastic night on the island
Matsumoto was very excited to see all kinds of seafood already laid out, including oysters, squid, and abalone, when they entered the barbeque house near the hotel! It seems that the staff at the Ama Town Tourism Bureau had been making preparations for this from even before Matsumoto had arrived, and everyone was very grateful!
With the Ama Town Hall Industrial Development Department’s assistant manager, Ooe Kazuhiko-san, who Aoyama-san is always saying that he wouldn’t be here now without him, joining them, everyone first got to their seats and had a toast. While enjoying the fresh seafood that Ama is proud of, Matsumoto once again felt the kindness of the people of the island.
Ooe: Thank you so much for traveling out all this way today.
Matsumoto: No no, I should be the one saying thank you. This here is abalone, isn’t it?
Hanafusa: It’s abalone.
Matsumoto: Wow~.
Hanafusa: And this is the Ama oyster!
Matsumoto: Do you farm them in Ama?
Hanafusa: Yes.
Ooe: With regards to oyster farming, back in Heisei year 4 (1992), Oki was the first place in Japan to succeed at it. We started the line from the wild oysters.
Aoyama: And this is oyster sashimi, please have some!
Everyone: Wow~~ (cheering).
Aoyama: Please have it with some lemon squeezed over it! Eat it in one bite!
Hanafusa: Please eat up, everyone! I can have it anytime. Wow~, the oysters are sparkling.
Matsumoto: At any rate, the high school students were really great.
Hanafusa: Is that so~!
Matsumoto: They were really great. Kashiwara-kun was so hard working.
Hanafusa: Right? It seems like he has been all alone since elementary school because there weren’t any other kids around him to play with. He would always hunt for bugs in the mountains, or go diving in the ocean alone. And, when something sad would happen, he said he would often go to gaze at the rough ocean. I thought, “What a childhood!” I have them write in journals everyday, and he wrote in there, “For the first time I’m living a real school life.” Or he writes things like, “I see my friends on our days off and just talk with them, these are experiences I’ve never had before.” I’m always so happy for him.
Matsumoto: That’s great to hear. You have to do your best tomorrow.
Hanafusa: They’re panicking about it even now. I’m sure they’re saying something like, “We don’t have enough bedsheets!” right now (lol). So, I’m sorry about this, but I’ll have to leave around 8 o’clock.
Matsumoto: Of course you should. Thanks for coming out like this, the day before.
Hanafusa: Did you wind up going somewhere today after the school?
Matsumoto: Mt. Atodo. The fukugi tea was really delicious~.
Hanafusa: The people at the Sakura House seem to be having fun everyday while making it.
Aoyama: This grunt fish is just about cooked, so please have some.
Hanafusa: Then let’s get a plate for the grunt too. You’ll be surprised how delicious this is!
Matsumoto: Then, I’ll start taking it apart.
Hanafusa: You have to eat this mekabu (wakame) too, MatsuJun-san.
Matsumoto: Oh yes!
Hanafusa: Yes. Ah, I’ll have to go after we eat this fish.
Matsumoto: But really, please do your best tomorrow.
Hanafusa: I’ll definitely let you know how it goes.
Matsumoto: I’d like to know what they thought of it.
Hanafusa: You asked them all kinds of things today, right? I’m so glad for it, because I was able to hear their thoughts and feelings that I didn’t know about. They don’t tell me about those kinds of things. Like how they feel about their hometown. I saw how great those kids really are. Your questions were really good.
Aoyama: It’s also amazing that they were able to answer those questions right away.
Matsumoto: That just shows that they just think those things everyday.
Hanafusa: I feel like even if you wanted to change something about Tokyo, you wouldn’t be able to do much at all, but here on the island, I feel like you could, or at least, you could get involved.
Matsumoto: Even if you broaden your scope of work just to broaden it, it does become wider, but I don’t think that is always a good thing.
Hanafusa: Yes.
Matsumoto: Because your scope/range can only be so big, so it’s like you can only take care of yourselves.
Hanafusa: That’s a great way to put it. I’ll take notes. It’s really true~!
Matsumoto: It’s also nice that your position is only a little bit higher than them, that relationship is great.
Hanafusa: At least they still think I’m even a little bit above them (lol). We’re just a really great group. I’ll be so sad when the Connections thing comes to an end.
Matsumoto: After talking with you at lunch, and then talking with the students at the school, I thought that they must have changed so much over this past year.
Hanafusa: What makes you say that?
Matsumoto: Eh? Because, I honestly think that if you weren’t there, they wouldn’t have turned out like that. If it was someone other than you, I think they would have gone in a different direction. Your relationship with them is really great. With you just a lititle bit above them.
Hanafusa: Ehehehe~!
Matsumoto: I thought it was really great that it was them, who are about to become adults, and you Hana-chan, who only just became an adult, to work together on this. People who just became adults can tend to say, “I think this way!” but Hana-chan, you don’t at all. That’s why your relationship with them grew so much, I think.
Hanafusa: I met a teacher like that when I was in high school. That teacher had the students do everything on their own, and if there was something they wanted to do, they would introduce them to a professional in that field. For example, if a student wanted to make books in order to tell a message, then the teacher would introduce them to someone that makes books, to teach them about how editing works. Because I met someone like that in high school, that teacher was Yanaka-sensei, I’m always thinking now, if I were Yanaka-sensei, what would I do in this instance? But in the end, I walk my own path. That’s all I can do.
Matsumoto: Isn’t that what education is all about?
Hanafusa: No, I don’t want it to be something so grand like education!
Matsumoto: No, but it’s because you’ve been taught so well that you can do things like this.
Hanafusa: I never thought of it like that! Wow, wow~.
Matsumoto: But, now I’ve praised you too much, so should you leave?
Everyone: (lol).
Matsumoto: Thanks again for coming out.
Hanafusa: No, thank you for coming out so far when you’re so busy, Matsumoto-san.
(Hana-chan runs off)
Matsumoto: Man~ Hana-chan is amazing.
Aoyama: She’s quite smart.
Matsumoto: The broad-mindedness of this town is helping her develop.
Aoyama: The assistant manager’s generation is really amazing after all.
Matsumoto: Ooe-san, have you always lived in Ama?
Ooe: No, I lived for a time in Osaka. I moved back when I was around 26, and now I’m 50.
Aoyama: About when was it that you assistant managers were part of a young persons association?
Ooe: I was in it for about 4 years after I came back at the age of 26.
Aoyama: The people who were livening up the town as part of the young persons association back then are now the assistant managers. It’s only been the last 7 or 8 years though that Ama has started receiving some attention, hasn’t it?
Ooe: Yes, it’s been only recently. Really. Did you meet Hatanaka-kun today?
Matsumoto: I didn’t.
Ooe: He actually came to Oki Douzen High School from Kansai, but he also worked hard for the “Tourism Koushien.” Kids like him who came from somewhere else really lead the kids today. Historically, this was an island many people were sent to, right? When I’m asked why we have so many people move to our island, I often answer that it might be because it’s in our genes to accept lots of people as we have done historically since former Emperor Gotoba. Also, I feel a lot of energy and momentum from the feelings of people like Aoyama-kun, who want to accomplish things together with the people of the islands.
Matsumoto: Yes, I also feel it.
Ooe: So wat we’re expected to do is figure out how to accept those feelings and make them into reality. How our lifestyles should be going forward as island people. One style is to hold onto our own traditions, right? But I also think another way is to listen to the opinions of people like Aoyama-kun and see if there are other ways of living too.
Matsumoto: Aoyama-kun, what is your first name?
Aoyama: Atsushi.
Matsumoto: Atsushi! You have a lot to do. It’s a lot, but I hope you’ll do your best.
Aoyama: Meeting you today, I had even more to do (lol).
Ooe: But you feel familiar/down-to-earth too.
Aoyama: I was thinking this earlier too, but I have to stay true to myself from now on. After looking at you, Matsumoto-kun. You do your work while staying true to yourself in an even more amazing world than me. I think that’s amazing…and I don’t want to lost to that.
Ooe: You “don’t want to lose!” I’d never thought I’d hear you say something like that, Aoyama-kun!
Matsumoto: But I don’t think I look at the details like that all that closely.
Aoyama: But you know, that’s ok. I think the fact that you lived without lies will definitely remain forever. But, one thing I do want to say is that there’s no such thing as the nice stories where people simply move out from the big cities to the islands like me, and using their incredible talents somehow save the islands. It’s important to see that in order for that to happen, the island people really put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears too!
Matsumoto: That’s true. It’s a wonderful island.
Matsumoto and Aoyama-san turned out to be the same age. The two continued talking late into the night without any signs of their conversation stopping.
And now off to the 2nd day of the trip! The next part is over here
Masterpost here~