Happy Dining and Peaceful Scenery: Seasonal Vegetable Harvest

Outline

Despite being abundantly covered with mountains, the denizens of Tokushima Prefecture have somehow been able to thrive agriculturally. During this experience visitors will have a chance to glimpse into the sometimes difficult but always satisfying life of the local farmers who pour so much effort into the land.

Rice paddies, fields thick with vegetables, as well as trees heavy with brightly colored citrus fruit dot the sweeping landscape unfolding in all directions from the towering peaks of rugged mountain homes where tea quietly grows underneath the indigo blue skies of Tokushima.

Whether amongst the almost impossibly green verdancy of the warmer months or in the cooler months when the changing leaves seem to set the mountains ablaze in hues of orange and red. It is here in the beauty and peace of the mountains that visitors are able to enjoy the rich bounty Tokushima provides with the turning of every season.

Background and Highlights

The rugged mountains of the Nishi-Awa conceal roughly 200 villages along the steep slopes and valleys of this sprawling region. Because of the relative lack of space experienced by many of these communities the people who call these mountains home have developed their own unique forms of agriculture and for hundreds of years have mastered the art of sloped-terrace farming.
One particular crop that has thrived due to these unique farming conditions is tea. However, due to the unfortunate and continual greying of the Japanese population there are now less and less tea farms as well as less volunteers to harvest the leaves.

To help his community, Kondo Hiroaki began to manage these farms on behalf of elderly owners in an attempt to revitalize local small-town industries and ensure a bright future for the mountain towns that seem to be too often at risk of being lost to the past.