Hello reader, thanks for being here! I’m Kana and this is the Sunday edition of Tending Gardens, which you can read about here.
If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing.
Kamikatsu Paradise
Earlier this week I was asked to contribute to a local website that showcases what it’s like to live in Kamikatsu. The website is called Kamikatsu Paradise (only in Japanese). It’s funny to think that the village is described as paradise. I wonder if it is?
The website currently features stories and voices of local people to give an insight into what it’s like to work and live here. The website was created several years ago alongside a short TV series that was produced in and about Kamikatsu.
The TV show is called Kami Para short for Kamikatsu Paradise. The story follows two salarymen from Tokyo. Salarymen are the classic office workers in Japan, often characterized by the cycle of working overtime and drinking with colleagues after work. Their work is often mundane, stressful, and repetitive; however, coveted as a safe job.
After continuously feeling unmotivated by work and dissatisfied with life in Tokyo, the two salarymen pick up a pamphlet about Kamikatsu and decide to try living in the countryside. It follows their journey trying to understand what makes the village a ‘paradise’. It’s a simple, but wonderful, short story to get glimpses of rural Japan.
The show finished and can now be found on YouTube. The website continues to run as a place to showcase daily life in Kamikatsu. I was invited by one of the website managers to be featured. She asked me, “In a couple of words, describe what it’s like to live in Kamikatsu.”
The question made me think about what is it that makes a Kamikatsu-like lifestyle. How do I describe what is unique about living here? Here are several short descriptions that paint a picture of what life in Kamikatsu is like for me.
To live with nature in nature
自然の中でボーとしている時も幸せ
I'm happy when I have nothing to do in nature
I can feel that people in Kamikatsu live both with and in nature. Nature is not only our backyard but it’s our front yard and neighbour. It’s all around us, all the time. It’s probably true of most places in the countryside that it’s both a necessity and a richness to live with nature.
The connection with nature is deeper than enjoying the scenery but to live ‘with’ nature means that they are making use of the land—many people grow their food and use natural resources in daily life (such as mountain water for drinking and wood for fuel). In my first post, I wrote about how most of the people I’ve met in Kamikatsu know how to do things with their own hands and this I think is tied to the connection with nature.
In Kamikatsu I’m gifted with opportunities to find moments of stillness in nature. I don’t feel bored even when I have nothing to do. Going for walks early in the morning or waking up to the song of birds, is a reminder to put aside distractions and focus on the present. ‘Nothing to do’ sounds like boredom at first, but ‘nothing to do’ is a choice to be in the moment. Nature prompts this choice.
Appreciating the gifts of the seasons
自然の草木でお部屋を飾れる
Decorate your room with nature
I remember several years ago when I was living with a roommate in Slovenia, I found an entire cherry blossom branch outside our apartment. It must have snapped off from a nearby tree. It was at least an arm's length and I brought it inside the house because I thought it was so beautiful. “Who brings in this much nature indoors?!”, she said and we laughed.
In Kamikatsu it feels normal to pick something from a branch or the ground and use it as decoration. There’s such an abundance of beautiful flowers and plants growing wildly, that it becomes wonderful house decoration. It’s less about bringing the outdoors, indoors; but more about blurring the hard lines between inside and outside and appreciating the gifts of the seasons.
I also enjoy learning about the produce that’s in season. At the local farmer’s market, I can see what farmers are growing by the availability in the store.
Around a small group of friends, a community forms
初めての日本暮らしなのに友達が急増
My first time living in Japan but my friends and community grows
I’ve picked up and moved a handful of times in the last decade and I know the challenges of being foreign and trying to create a new home. In some ways, I anticipated living in Japan would be easier than other countries and in other ways much more difficult. Being half Japanese (born and raised in Canada), I had a grasp of the language growing up but I knew that it would be isolating to be on the fringes of understanding Japanese culture.
In spite of the worries I had before coming, I’ve been fortunate to connect with people who motivate me to create and find my own purpose for living in Kamikatsu. I feel supported in my growth and I also feel strongly to help others in the village.
I’m not sure what factors are at play that allows such authentic relationships to form (perhaps it’s living in the countryside, and not the city, or maybe it’s the kindness of the villagers that are at the fabric of Kamikatsu) but whatever it is, I’m grateful because it allows me to call this is my home. Around a small group of friends, a community forms.
Thank you for being here with me for week 3! I’ve been feeling inspired to write every week and I can’t wait for this project to continue. Leave a comment to help me grow!
Take care,
Kana
I’d love for you to think of me as your penpal—sharing a note from a tiny village in Japan. With Tending Gardens, I want to bring you a small joy in the form of a newsletter. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing.
Love this! Who needs 'safety' as defined in the corporate world when you've got right what you need?