I spent the summer of 2025 at a small tea farm called Obubu, nestled in the countryside village of Wazuka, Japan. I was in a little car, went through the forest, moving from one tea field to another, living a life that felt straight out of a Ghibli film.
I captured these moments through my own eyes and transformed them into Obubu’s merch designs, a cap and a t-shirt.
T-shirt (Akky-san’s truck in the front and Tenku tea field in the back )
Cap (Akky’s truck with harvest tea bags and with the tea field mountain)
One of the most memorable days was at the start of the summer harvest. I joined Akky-san (our president at Obubu) and Katrina in the fields. We spent the whole day trimming and shading, paused for lunch at a cozy Okonomiyaki restaurant, then treated ourselves to ice cream at DanDan Café before heading home. That evening, we returned to the sencha factory and worked late into the night, processing tea. It was also my first visit to one of Obubu’s highest fields, Tenku. In Japanese, Tenku means Heavens, and the name couldn’t be more fitting for the view over the small village of Wazuka. During a tea break, we even spotted a little anaguma, a Japanese badger, wandering peacefully across the field.
This photo isn’t mine. It’s one I borrowed from Flickr, but this is exactly how the anaguma looked!
Shading in the morning session and a tea break in the afternoon session
Afternoon was for trimming, and afterwards we enjoyed ice cream at DanDan Café
At the end of the day, when I looked back, I saw Akky-san’s white truck resting in the middle of the tea field. The scene was so beautiful that I decided to sketch it.
My illustration of Tenku tea field