Who Are You?
Hello, I’m Kana. Thank you for being here. In this newsletter, I do all the writing and my partner, Sil, takes all the photographs.
I’m based in Kamikatsu, a small village in Japan known for its pioneering zero-waste initiatives. Here, I run an educational program called INOW with Sil, and together we share our passion for nature, sustainability, and regenerative practices.
I’m nurturing a genuine desire to write about what feels meaningful to me —stories that are insightful, simple, and beautiful, and to explore what it means to be a kinder human being for others and our planet.
I’d love for you to think of me as your penpal—sharing a note from a small village in Japan. With Tending Gardens, I want to be like a postcard you receive from a friend—the small, but real, joy of a warm hello and accompanying story from everyday life.
What’s the Newsletter About?
Through Tending Gardens, I share glimpses of life in rural Japan and what it means to call Kamikatsu home. Here, I’m learning to work with my hands, learning the quiet wisdom of neighbours, and embracing the rhythms of the seasons.
Some weeks, I’ll explore sustainability and climate through the lens of Kamikatsu’s zero-waste efforts. Other times, I might simply reflect on the joy of harvesting sweet potatoes or the reflections found in tending to the earth. Each newsletter is its own small unfolding—a discovery, a moment to pause, and an invitation to see the world a little differently.
Not (really) About Gardening
For me, a garden is not just a place to grow things. Along with the tending of plants, gardens can also be a gathering place for meaningful social interactions, a peaceful hideaway to observe nature’s inner workings or a place of play and experimentation.
“To forget how to tend the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” Gandhi
Inboxes can be a terrifying place with everyone demanding your time and attention. I realize that by putting this newsletter out there, I will also take up space in your mailbox. Instead of being a dreaded e-mail, I want to be like a postcard you receive from a friend—the small, but real, joy of a warm hello and accompanying story from everyday life.
Featured on in 2022 & 2024
Tending Gardens launched in January 2021. It was a Substack What To Read feature in 2022! Read more about that here:
I was featured again in August 2024, this time by guest curator Emiko Davies who writes Notes from Emiko’s Kitchen.
A Request to Support My Work
I just want to take a moment to thank you for reading and for sharing in these small joys of life in rural Japan with me. It means so much to know that you’re on this journey with me.
If you’ve been enjoying what I share and are in a place to do so, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. I have chosen not to paywall any of my writing but your support helps to keep this newsletter going. Whether or not you’re able to upgrade, please know that I appreciate you all the same.
And if you’re new here, I added a special discount just for you!
With love and gratitude,
Kana
Notes from loving subscribers:
“Thank you for your beautiful newsletters. They ground me in the way you focus on nature, simplicity, reality and your gentle humanity. We need these things at this time in the world.”
“Your thoughtful, quiet reports from rural Japan remind me to slow down and look around. Your writing is beautifully evocative of the Japanese countryside.”
“I'm so glad there are people out there like you, and that you are willing to share your life a little with the rest of us. It has given me little bursts of joy during the day.”
