Before
One of the questions you get asked (a lot) here at Obubu is along the lines of “So what brought you here?”. Typically, this line of questioning comes from our wonderful tea tour guests, with their abundant curiosity or our incredible interns, who spend their entire 80+ day stint here at Obubu learning – about us, about themselves, about tea and then some. Sometimes, it comes from the volunteers we host here at Obubu or the tea farmers we encounter during tea related events, like the Kyoto Global Tea Conference or the Handrolling Preservation Society’s ‘Handpicking and Handrolling’ event. My point is, you end up having to respond to this question on what feels like a daily basis. And if you’re anything like me, and it feels like you live in a million different worlds, sometimes it’s a little difficult to respond.
I have moved between Australia’s South-East, the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand and Iceland’s Westfjords (and back) in quick succession over the last few years. I studied a Master’s of Coastal Communities and Regional Development whilst in Iceland, and during that time, my interest in Japan’s rural communities evolved following a trip I took in 2023. I moved back to Aotearoa for a few months to finish my Master’s thesis research, before making the jump over to join Obubu, in order to experience and build on what I had been learning whilst I was in the Westfjords. This was intertwined with my curiosity and eagerness to learn about Japanese tea, with my knowledge at the time mainly consisting of matcha and hōjicha.
During
My time as an Assistant Manager, alongside staff, interns and my fellow AMs, was not quite a blur, but it came pretty close. During my time in Iceland, I’d made a point to post every week on the anniversary of my arrival to the country and for my time in Japan, I decided to restart this on my ‘travel’ account, as well as posting monthly on my ‘regular’ account. This meant almost every week, bar a handful, I have a pretty good documentation of my time at Obubu.
Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn
After
I am headed back to Aotearoa New Zealand, for how long, who knows? But now I have a lot of new connections from Obubu, so chances are, I’ll be seeing previous interns and Assistant Managers soon.