Hi there! I’m Madeline, intern #229, and I had the privilege of spending three months at Obubu for the spring harvest season.
Before Obubu
I stumbled upon Obubu somewhat misshapenly last year when a targeted ad appeared during my habitual Instagram doom scrolling session. The communications major in me admired the cheery brand image, and how everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives working in the picture-perfect town of Wazuka. I tend to forget about the accounts I follow (which was definitely the case here lolz), so it was somewhat of a miracle that Obubu’s story appeared at the frontline of my feed promoting internship applications an entire year later. Despite knowing essentially nothing about tea besides the fact I liked having cheap Sleepytime tea before bed, I decided to apply for Obubu’s internship on a whim. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend their summer in countryside Japan with National Geographic-worthy views? After submitting my application (literally) a minute before the deadline, I was surprised to find I’d been selected for an interview.
My first introduction to Japanese sencha was quite recent, when I was gifted a rather large bag of yamecha (八女茶) tea bags last summer. I loved the vibrant greens of the tea that poked through the mesh tea bags, and its light and slightly bitter taste when left to cold brew overnight. I’d brought up yamecha during my interview and remember how Pau, one of my interviewers, looked amusingly shocked at the fact this random American girl was drinking a well-renowned Japanese tea that she knew (literally) nothing about. After embarrassing myself in front of my future colleagues (if you were a tea, what would you be?) and surviving the painstaking weeks awaiting final results, I eventually received my Obubu blessing email that I was now officially a part of the team and found myself on a flight to Osaka airport shortly thereafter.
During Obubu (aka my Side-Quest Summer©)
I remember stepping into Obubu house for the first time, seeing the kotatsu on the tatami lounge area and thinking, “heck yeah, I’m gonna like it here.” (I’d always wanted to try kotatsu — it feels so Japan to me). I was the last intern of my slot to arrive, so I was nervous that everyone had already found their person and it’d be hard for me to integrate. Instead, I was greeted with smiles and immediately invited to share a meal with everyone at staff lunch. Things took off pretty quickly after that, as spring harvest was all about go go go! Although it was easy to get overwhelmed, I’m so thankful I had the emotional (and sweet treat) support from my slot and the rest of my Obubu family to help me keep truckin’ on.
While I can’t truly put my time here at Obubu into words, it would be nothing but an understatement to call it less than completely transformative. These are just some of the many memories that I hold dear, inserted not only for the purpose of this blog post but also as my fugal attempt in stringing my time here into a somewhat coherent narrative.
- Discovering my undying love for (and eating wayyy too many) Crunky chocolates after George brought a plethora of snacks for a tea lounge (curse you!)
- Marusya’s sly smile as she exclaimed, “You are secretly nerdy about tea!” during my black tea making process
- The relief whenever Akky-san would give the occasional thumbs-up or “good” while harvesting together
- Late night Hama Sushi adventures in the suspiciously American-looking strip mall (complete with an Anytime Fitness!) and discovering my love for grilled unagi
- Random yap + bullying sessions with David in Obubu house kitchen about music, coffee, films, and life
- Obubu house turning into a bakery
- Driving in Japan + me being equally as terrified as my passengers (wait, am I on the right side of the road?)
- Birthday harvest in Aoimori with Miwako-san and Glenda – and getting to process my own tea the same day!
- Thursday pizza + DJ set nights at Tsunagiba Café and getting to chat with the local community
- Hiro-san assigning random tasks and “thank you very mucheeeee”
- Seeing the same five workers at the Wazuka Lawson (and them seeing me – in all my forms)
- Akky-san’s worm finding competition with Katrina habibi and I (yuck)
- Solo evening walks after work and seeing some of the most stunning sunsets
- Still thinking tabi are ちょっと weird looking, despite being essential for the local Wazuka drip
- Deep conversation and incredible Indian food at Raja for weeknight dinners with my slot
- Ching and I bonding over our love for Chiikawa ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧
- Everyone’s omiyage they’d bring after adventures outside Kyoto and how it would vanish from the office almost instantly
- Becoming “human rope” aka sitting on top of harvest bags skillfully piled into the back of a tiny keitora
- Marusya’s evening yoga sessions and realizing I’m not as flexible as I’d initially thought
- Driving up to Aoimori and the canopy of red pines
- Happiness coming home to a genkan full of shoes and laughter trickling from the living room
- Showing up to almost every morning meeting with jam on toast or an Oikos Greek yogurt cup
- Knowing who was in the next room just from the sound of their laugh
- The smell of tatami and rain
After Obubu
While the shape of my future is still coming into focus, I hope to incorporate tea more intentionally into my daily routines than before. There are so many things I want to do after completing my undergrad in December, but to quote Hiro-san, “many things happen,” so I will try to embrace the uncertainty and stay present throughout the process. But first, I think I’ll have a cup of tea.
みな, thank you :))
“You must try your best, and that’s the best anybody can do.” – Sebastian J. Cricket