Assistant Manager Blog by Mia: Seeding

Hi! My name is Mia, and I’m Assistant Manager #9 at Obubu! Welcome to the first chapter of my blog series about my time here. My interest in tea stems from time spent enjoying tea with my family. This interest grew as I explored tea through art, incorporating it physically and thematically into my work […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Alix [Winter 2024]

Hello everyone, Alix here (AM #6) ! In this blog I am writing about my experience of my last quarter at Obubu, which seems a bit surreal after such an amazing and intense year. Winter is the most quiet period in terms of activities at Obubu since there is little to no farming and tourism […]

Winter in Japan – Assistant Manager Blog by Mac

As the first signs of winter creep into the valley, the landscape slowly transforms into a serene tapestry of soft whites and deep greens. Wazuka takes on a quiet beauty during this time and this winter has been no different. The mist rolls through the hills, tea bushes are dusted with frost and mountains are […]

秋: Assistant Manager Blog by Katrina [Autumn 2024]

Hey hey, Katrina here! I am back! In autumn 2022, I joined Obubu as an intern (#138), and while I was volunteering at the sister project Ikedoki in Higashi Sonogi last year, also made a brief return to Wazuka, where I had a great time getting involved in the construction shenanigans during the renovations of […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Alix [Autumn 2024]

Hello everyone! Welcome to my third blog about my adventures as an Obubu Assistant Manager! Autumn in rural Japan is the season of higanbana (red spider lilies), persimons, chestnuts, beautiful fall colours everywhere, and cooler weather (we finally brought out kotatsus in Obubu house!). It was also my third quarter at Obubu, marking my transition from […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Alix [Summer 2024]

Hello everyone! You might have read my Spring Blog about my first quarter at Obubu. If you are interested in learning more about what assistant managers get up to in the summer and what I did in my second quarter here, keep reading! Summer in Japan is no joke: 37°C at 80% humidity is what the […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Pau [Summer season]

After the spring harvest, we had a bit of a downtime from extensive fieldwork like harvesting. Soon after, we switched to farming mode again to prepare for summer harvest and also had the chance to do some deep cut trimming in our somada field, where we harvest our kabuse sencha. Usually, tea bushes get a […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Pau [Spring season]

Spring is by far the busiest period of the year at the farm. It is high season for tourism, so we welcomed many guests for our 4-hour tours and our other experiences. For farming, the season started with a late winter harvest for Kyobancha. Then we started with early trimming, shading and many other preparations […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Alix [Spring 2024]

Hello everyone ! My name is Alix and I am Assistant Manager #6 at Obubu. I come from the North-West of France (Brittany and Normandy !) and I studied agriculture and food engineering. My combined interest in Japanese culture and high quality products of origin pushed me to apply for this amazing opportunity. I am so excited […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Pau [Winter season]

After the Autumn harvest, and having had the chance to process the autumn moon tea and plenty of Bancha, we headed to the fields to do some trimming work. Trimming quickly became my favorite filed work activity, it is a bit more technical than harvesting or other activities. It requires a lot of attention to […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Mac [2024.04月]

Hi! I’m Mac :) My journey with Obubu Tea Farms began in 2015 when I was accepted as an intern to the Obubu Internship Program. This incredible program takes place in the heart of Japan’s beautiful countryside. It’s a place where the art of tea cultivation blends with centuries-old practices, and where every leaf represents […]

Assistant Manager blog Sarah [2023.12月]

Hello again! Hope you are all staying warm in this winter month! Sarah here writing about flowers, for the month of December! This month, in all private gardens and on the side of the houses, manryō (万両) has been proudly displaying its red berries, appearing so vivid in contrast to the grey sky of winter. Manryo, […]

Assistant Manager blog Sarah [2023.11月]

みなさん こんにちわ! This is Sarah, and for the month of November I would like to write about a very special flower: the tea flower! Camellia sinensis is an evergreen plant that, besides its delicious leaves, also produces flowers and seeds. The flowers are around 3 cm, they have white petals and yellow anther and filaments. […]

Assistant Manager blog Sarah [2023.10月]

On a cold Thursday evening of October, as we entered Nakai Sensei’s tearoom, Sara, Jean and I noticed an unfamiliar object. Moe, another student of our teacher, was practicing sado (tea ceremony) using a mizusashi (water container) that was particularly tall. Nakai Sensei explained to us that this shape of pot was only used in […]

Assistant Manager Blog by Pau [Autumn season]

Hello, my name is Pau, one of the new assistant managers here at Obubu. This is my first monthly journal in the blog. I hope to show you my experiences living in Wazuka and working in its beautiful tea fields. I arrived on the 7th of September, already three weeks. Time has gone by so […]

Assistant Manager blog Sarah [2023.09月]

みなさん こんにちわ! My name is Sarah and, together with Pau, I have recently joined Obubu as a new Assistant Manager. Actually, you might have seen me before, trotting around Obubu’s blog and social media [The (not so) Secret Life of An Intern – May 2023] as last spring I first joined Obubu as an intern […]

Assistant Manager blog Jean [2023.06月]

Konnichiwa! Jean here to tell more stories about Obubu Tea Farms. May was busy with the spring harvest. But June is time for the summer harvest. So exciting! We prepare the harvesting machine and tea bags to collect the tea and interns and I often ride at the back of the truck. Riding in the […]

Assistant Manager blog Jean [2023.05月]

Hello everyone! It’s Jean again. On my previous blog post, I shared about my arrival at Obubu in Japan and everything I’ve been up to on my first month. We are now at the end of May, and it is time to share with you some of my adventures. May is the month of the […]

Assistant Manager blog WJ Justin [2023.02月~03月]

Hello everyone! It’s me, WJ Justin! Coming back with updates from February to March. It feels like time flies so fast! February and March passed in a flesh! How was your February and March? Well, for me, I think it was very intense with a lot things happened at Obubu. And, I would like share […]

Assistant Manager blog Jean [2023.04月]

Hello everyone! My name is Jean, and I am working as an Assistant Manager at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms in Wazuka. I am also a former intern at Obubu. You are presently reading my first blog post! Yaaaaaay! This blog will be about my life in Japan and what Obubu has been up to. You […]

Assistant Manager blog WJ Justin [2022.9月~2023.1月]

  Hello everyone! Welcome to my first blog! I’m Justin and you can call me Woo Jae also. Right now, I have been working as an ‘Assistant Manager’ since September last year. So, I’ll be uploading a blog each month, showing you guys how Obubu is, what we’re up to and giving you guys some […]