BEFORE OBUBU
Before applying to Obubu, I was working in a regular 9-to-5 office job. I am a half-Japanese, half-Danish guy living in the capital – Copenhagen, in my thirties, and wanted to do something different. I thought, why not go to another country that I have a huge love for, and where I still had many things left to explore.
Since I was a young teen, I knew I wanted to move to and live in Japan, but I didn’t know exactly how. Since 2015, I had spoken with my big brother about Obubu Tea Farms several times, and because he now couldn’t (the usual story with kids and whatnot), he proposed that it might be a good idea for me to go to Obubu. It was a roaming idea for 10 years, becoming clearer that I should do it.
My motivation for coming to Obubu was that I wanted to try to live in rural Japan, work outside in nature, and just enjoy Japan in another way than usual. So, the tea drinking and theory part of the internship interested me a little less, to be honest.
I applied, got in, and suddenly the plan was settled. For the first part of my move to Japan, I would stay at Obubu for 3 months. The truth was, I didn’t know much about Japanese tea other than the common knowledge in Japan – e.g. the taste and the names (and boy that changed). I drank lots of Japanese tea as a kid, but when I moved away from home right before high school, I became an avid coffee drinker and have been ever since.
My expectations for coming here were a mixed bag of feelings and thoughts.
On the worrying side, I was not quite sure if I would be the oldest intern (I’m 34 years old), if I could cope with being an intern again, if the summer would be too hard to work in, and if I would be too restless living in a small tea village. Conversely, I was very much looking forward to working outside in the fields, being out in the extreme heat, living in a rural area, and meeting new, interesting folks. Expectations aside, I finally came to Obubu!
DURING OBUBU
Besides Obubu-related things (e.g. project work, workshops, etc.), I did a lot of different stuff. There were a lot, so I will just mention some here: Senchadó classes, (studying for the) JLPT test, Obon Matsuri for three days, Osaka for shopping, partying, and salsa lessons. I also participated in a tea conference, went to an onsen, joined pizza nights at Obubu and Tsunagi Bar, had drinks at Kitené Bar, sang karaoke at Sakura, and did a lot of tea tasting both within and outside of Obubu. Compared to other Obubu people, I did not go to many shrines and hotspots, both because it didn’t interest me much and because on the weekends, I had other practical stuff to do.
What I enjoyed the most were maybe three things. The first was farming. It was very hard in the summer heat, but working in Wazuka’s beautiful tea fields made the heat disappear somehow. I even loved weeding, when you can sort of drift away in your own thoughts and sometimes fool around with the other Obubu people.
The second thing I really enjoyed was making black tea. Doing my own experiment was very interesting for me, and consequently, you really learn the process of tea making in a whole new way – understanding tea itself from another perspective. And for your information, it is a super delicious tea, so you need to be fast if you want to buy it. Delicious, limited, and super expensive. But it’s worth your money, I can tell you that.
The other thing I enjoyed was speaking to the people of Wazuka and interacting with many different people. I talked to all sorts of people, from government officials (city hall), to bar owners, to customers at restaurants, tea shop owners, and many more.
The way I contributed to Obubu was by doing small projects here and there. First, I helped out Kayo-san and George with product management and created an Excel document where I wrote all the data for English and Japanese products. This way, they could have an overview of all the products and their information, and they could quickly change values in one master document if needed.
I fixed the bikes by buying and changing tubes, cleaning the bikes, tightening the chains, and just making overall improvements.
After around one and a half months in, I organized an English/Japanese language café by designing flyers and distributing them to all the local shops and places, and hosting it on a weekly basis.
Lastly, my Obubu project consisted of creating four short videos that could go on the Obubu course page. These interviews were with the four local artisans that host regular events at Obubu – one short video for each page. I started this project because I thought it would be a good idea to “meet” the artisan before someone attends the course. Video tends to give a better impression of the artisan, and they also have a chance to introduce the course in their own words.
AFTER OBUBU
My future plans I am still not sure about. Although one thing is for sure: I want to stay in Japan. Obubu was my first stepping-stone. I have not yet decided completely how to do that, as I don’t feel I have had time to focus on it during my Obubu stay. There was constantly something I was doing, so I generally felt quite busy.
Although one thing I have decided, after being at Obubu, is that I am going to start a small tea wholesale business together with my brother. My brother has studied Japanese and business, and for some time he also has wanted to start a business. Personally, I want to have some connection to tea in my life, and this is my way to do that. I might in the future expand this tea wholesale business to include some tea brewing/ceremonial events or open a shop if it becomes successful. So, I want to have tea as part of my work, a side project, or a hobby – that’s for sure.
Another potential plan is to work as a seasonal farm worker, become a farmer full-time, or apply to Japanese tea companies for more office work. I really enjoyed the farming work, and when I got back home before Obubu, that was what I wanted to pursue. I am a little afraid that working in farming every day might be too much, so I might try out seasonal work first. If not, then I will just come and volunteer at Obubu once in a while ;).
Has Obubu changed my life? The short answer is yes!
Now I will start a wholesale business with my brother. Also, the idea of living in a rural area is less “scary” because I have been a city boy for most of my life.
Furthermore, I have also had experiences that have developed a more “let’s get it done” and “can-do” attitude, with all these projects I have done here. ありがとうございましたーまたね！
