aWa life

December 2017
# 328

Making Iya Soba
in Iya Valley
From Urban to
Rural: The
Becoming of a
Mikan Farmer
Awa Shoku: “Tea”
is for Tokushima

1

Awa Life is a Monthly Publication of the Tokushima
Prefectural International Exchange Association

Christmas is a magical holiday season that brings with it joy, love, and heartwarming thoughts. Winteris the time of the year to enjoy building snowman or simply shooting snowballs at everyone. Maybe
there will be snow in Tokushima too this year? Even without snow you can enjoy the frosty time byeating a hotpot with your friends. We at Awa Life and TOPIA wish you and your family a very Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this joyful season greet you with health and happiness.
For all of those who like writing, please feel free to submit an article to us at any point in time aboutbasically anything. There are a few limitations though, such as you can’t write about religion, politics,
commercial activities or businesses or anything that we deem inappropriate. But, other than that, we
would be more than happy to receive articles about anything and everything including but not limited
to, concerts, lectures, other events, culture, sports, community group information or anything cool that’s
happening in your local community.
We highly appreciate all of your articles and we love reading them. So if that writing bug of yours isbuzzing about, grab a pen or a computer and write and send away! Please send all submissions to ouremail:

awalife@gmail.com

Your editors,
Daralyn, Franzi, and Tom

Tokushima Prefectural International Exchange Association (TOPIA)
1-61 Terashima Honcho Nishi, Tokushima City 770-0831 JAPAN, Clement Plaza 6F
Tel: 088-656-3303 Fax: 088-652-0616
http://www.topia.ne.jp/
Download a PDF file of awa life or view the online version by going to TOPIA's website!

Editors:
Daralyn Yee, Franziska Neugebauer and Tom Wehrmann
Contributors This Month:
Kazue Inoue, Lance Kita, Karen Lee, Sho Ishikawa, Toshiko Yamamizo, Junko Kimura

Contents2

Pg. 2-3:

Journey to the West: Making Iya Soba in Iya Valley

Pg. 4-5:

From Urban to Rural: The Becoming of a Mikan 				Farmer

Pg. 5:

Letter from SUKETO NAKAYOSHI

Pg. 6:

Japanese Lesson

Pg. 7:

Awa Shoku: “Tea” is for Tokushima		

Pg. 8-9:

Events and Memoranda

Journey to the West: Making Iya Soba in Iya Valley
By Karen LeeA

s a resident of Miyoshi (dubbed the Wild and a phone call, I found myself driving throughWest of Tokushima by yours truly), I often the mountains of western Tokushima on a Sunday
drive past restaurants advertising teuchi soba morning to go make soba. During college, many
( 手 打 ち そ ば ), or handmade soba, on my way of my housemates in the co-op I lived in liked
to work. For newcomers to the Japanese food making pasta from scratch, but I had never tried
scene, soba are noodles made from buckwheat, making Asian noodles before.
which gives them a characteristic grayishThe workshop I went tobrown color when cooked
was located deep in the(interestingly enough, yaki
mountains on a narrow,soba, a popular street
winding road, as many
food and perhaps theof the roads are out west
most well-known 'soba'(drive carefully!). A few
dish, is actually not madetimes when I met a carfrom buckwheat but
coming from the opposite
from wheat flour). Soba
direction one of us wascan be served multiple
forced to back up until weways, including in brothfound a space in the road(kitsune soba, tsukimi
wide enough for us to passsoba), or with shredded
The workshop space.
each other. There were
nori seaweed and a salty
dipping sauce (zaru soba). Out west, the local also multiple times when I had to pull over to an
specialty is Iya soba, whose noodles are thicker almost nonexistent shoulder to let cars pass me;
and shorter than regular soba, and some places I had thought I was going at a reasonable speed,
even hold workshops teaching participants how but I had apparently been driving too slowly byto make soba from scratch. After some googling local standards. The workshop space itself was

3

Journey to the West: Making Iya Soba in Iya Valley

brightly lit and spacious, with two long metaltables, a sink and stove area, and a corner piled
with lacquer bowls and zaru (draining baskets forsoba made of bamboo or plastic). I was the only
participant in the workshop, and after putting on
an apron and a bandanna, I was instructed byan obaa-chan to start grinding the dark triangularbuckwheat kernels into flour using a stone mill.

noodles, and the whole process took less than anhour.
The workshop turned out not only to be a sobamaking workshop, but also a restaurant. Afterboiling my soba in hot water for 30 seconds, I
joined a tour group from Kagawa for lunch, where
the soba was served with fresh fruit, tempura, andwhat I later realized was deer jerky.

Stone mill with buckwheat kernels.
We then sifted the flour into a paper funnel andmixed the dark flour with regular flour and water
to make a dough. After kneading the dough, weflattened it out by shaping it around a long rolling
pin to ensure that it was uniformly thin. The last
step was to fold and cut the dough into strips ofnoodles.

Cutting the dough into noodles.
What had been only a handful of kernels at
the beginning yielded more than 5 servings ofLunch with fresh soba!
The owner of the shop is 70 years old and has
been teaching customers how to make soba for
15 years. While we ate, she told us about her
experiences growing up in Iya Valley and how she
wants to maintain the soba-making tradition byteaching it to others. After my stomach was full,I decided to drive an hour further into the valley
to visit the Oku iya niju kazurabashi ( 奥 祖 谷 二
重 か ず ら 橋 double vine bridges), which I highly
recommend seeing over (or in addition to) the
Iya-no-kazurabashi. The area is less touristy andmore peaceful, and there’s also a yaen ( 野 猿 ),an old cable car that hanging over a small riverthat you can manually operate by pulling on thecables.
If you're looking to explore some of Tokushima’s
natural beauty, come out west on a day trip,
or stay for the weekend! We have beautiful
mountains (to look at or climb), relaxing onsens,
and hidden spots where you can just sit andmarvel at your surroundings.

From Urban to Rural: The Becoming of a Mikan Farmer
By Sho IshikawaL

ast year, my wife and I came here to Katsuura
from Tokyo to become mikan farmers.
Katsuura is next to Tokushima City. It’s about 30
minutes from Tokushima Station by car. Katsuura
is famous for mikan (satsuma orange) farming.
For the last year and a half, while we have tended
to our mikan fields, we have been repairing thefirst floor of our house by ourselves and turning it
into a guesthouse. At last, we finished it this pastsummer!

- About our move Last year in March, we came to Katsuura andtook over some mikan fields and a good oldfashioned Japanese house. Before moving, we
hadn’t known about Tokushima at all until we met
with some recruiters for mikan farmers in Tokyo.
We had never learned about farming before, but
we were intuitively interested in the recruitment.
When we first visited Katsuura, we soon took
a liking to the house’s beautiful view. Then, we
discovered that there are many opportunities
here that we couldn’t have in Tokyo, like living
in wonderful nature. Before long, we decided tomove to Katsuura.
- About my work and life in Katsuura My wife and I work together as mikan farmers.

4

Our work and life are sometimes hard but mostly
happy because we can always see the rich nature
while working. The tweeting of birds, the soundsof the flowing river, the wind from the mountains,
the green of the mikan trees, and so on. All thenature around us is so wonderful that it makes
us content. One of our hopes for our work is to
run not only one business but also some sidebusinesses, because having more businesses
leads to more opportunities to meet with various
kinds of people and make good memories. For
example, we would like to try agritourism andprocessing industries for mikan. In our area,
there are many chances to create small sidebusinesses. This is also one of the reasons we
decided to move.

- About our guesthouse Our guesthouse is on a mountain surrounded bymikan fields. You can have traditional Japanesefarming experiences here, such as mikan picking
from the middle of November to the end of
December. Picking mikan directly from the tree on
the green mountains is a wonderful job such as
you’ve never experienced before.
Making a bonfire and doing BBQ with a shichirin (aJapanese clay cooking stove) on the mountain isalso nice.
Of course, there are a lot of experiences in other5

From Urban to Rural: The Becoming of a Mikan Farmer

seasons and other spots that you should visit
around Katsuura. For example, camping by the
Katsuura River in the summer and experiencing
the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage by taking a shorttrip from
Katsuura
to Jigen-ji(a temple
where youcan train in
the cave)are verynice. We
want totake guests
anywhere

they want to visit.
If you want to know more about Tokushima’s
nature and culture, please visit Katsuura. You willfind many interesting spots!

Letter from SUKETO NAKAYOSHI

By Kazue Inoue (Center for Early Childhood Education and Care SUKETO NAKAYOSHI)I

n recent years, the decrease of children's
athletic abilities has become a serious problem.
Places where children can play safely havedecreased and the time children spend inside
the house has increased, with the wide spreadof games and smartphones as one possible
reason. Recent studies came to the conclusion,that children who play outside have higher
athletic abilities. You can say that it is essential forchildren to play a lot outside these days. Here are
five benefits for children who play outside.
① Gives children a chance to use all five senses:
This keeps the brain active.
② Helps children gain physical strength: Prevents
them from catching a cold.
③ Gives them a full night of rest: Resets one's
biological clock and sets a steady daily life
pattern.
④ Strengthens social skills: Teaches children toplay by the rules and how to interact with others.
⑤ Ability to concentrate improves: When thefrontal lobe of the brain is activated, learning
ability improves as concentration levels increase.
Let's get our children to play outside, especiallythe younger ones.

＊＊＊
Handmade Toys: Paper plane shooter

1. Tape two chopsticks, 1cm from the upper part,
together with plastic tape and put a rubber band
between the chopsticks.
2. Roll a thick paper around the chopsticks andcreate a handle. Stick two thick folded papers,
cut in to 5mm x 5cm thin strips as shown in the
picture,and fix them well with tape.
3. Fold the paper which is standing out of thelower part of the chopsticks to the back. Whenyou pull the rubberband to this part, your paper
plane shooter will be ready.
＊ Place a paper plane on the shooter and adjust
the rubberband to the lower part. If you press the
thick paper up, the rubberband becomes loose
and shoots the paper plane in the air.（Check
online about how to build a paper plane.）6Japanese Lesson
By Toshiko Yamamizo

いらいひょうげん べんきょう

依頼表現の勉強
Learning about Making Requests
When you ask a favor from a stranger or your superiors, what words do you use to ask them? In thislesson, you will learn how to make a request politely with 「～ V ていただけませんか」and「～ V（さ）せていただけませんか」and will be able to express your requests politely in Japanese.
しゃ

うけつけ

（A 社の受付で）
た なか

しゃ

た なか

えいぎょう ぶ

すず き

め

田中さん：

すみません。N 社の田中というものですが、 営 業 部の鈴木さんにお目にかかりたいん		

ですが…田中が来たと伝えていただけませんか。

うけつけがかりしょうしょう受 付 係：

少 々 お待ちください。

		…お待たせいたしました。申し訳ございませんが、ただ今、会議 中 で、あと１０分		

た なか

き

つた

ま
ほど

		

もう

お

わけ

いま

かい ぎ ちゅうぷん

よ てい

程で終わる予定とのことですが…

た なか

ま

田中さん：

そうですか。では、ここで待たせていただけませんか。

うけつけがかりい す

受 付 係：まはい、どうぞ。あちらの椅子におかけになってお待ちください。

つたけい「 伝 え て い た だ け ま せ ん か 」used in the conversation originates from the sentence pattern「V て 形(Verb-te form) ＋いただけませんか」. Using「いただく」,which is the potential form of「いただく」,
this expression is used to politely request something.
まAlso,「待 たせていただけませんか」is formulated with the sentence pattern「V（causative verb）teform ＋いただけませんか」. This is an expression used when politely making a request in regards toan action you would like to do.

し かた

よ やく

し かた

よ やく

		
かいしゃ

〔予約の仕方を教えていただけませんか。
〕

やす

きょう

かいしゃ

：熱があるので、今日は会社を休みたいです。
〔今日は会 社 →
きょう

		
い

			

〔今日は会社を休ませていただけませんか。
〕
みち

みち

〔道を→
１．阿波おどり会館へ行きたいんですが、道がわかりません。
と

と

			

２．写真を撮ってほしいです。
（わたしを撮ってほしい）
〔写真を→
と

と

３．写真を撮りたいです。
（あなたを撮りたい）

〕

			

〕

			

〕

			

〕

			

〕

〔写真を→

き

き

４．コピー機がこわれています。

		〔コピー機を→へ や

へ や

５．会議があるので、この部屋を使いたいです。

〔この部屋を→

せつめい

せつめい

６．その説明をしたいです。
（わたしがしたい）〔その説明を→み

５．使わせてつか（以下「いただけませんか」を 省 略 ）１教えていただけませんか。
い か

かい ぎ

			

しゃしん

４．見て／なおして

しゃしん

〕

しゃしん

おし

しゃしん

〕

やす

かいとう

かいかん

かいしゃ

解 答 Answers:

あ わ

〕

と

きょう

		

おし

３．撮らせて

ねつ

し かた

と

よ やく

〔予約の仕方を→
例文：チケットの予約の仕方がわかりません。

２．撮ってPractice:

れいぶん

しょうりゃく

６．させて

7

A

Awa Shoku: “Tea” is for Tokushimabunch of sticks and leaves in a cup may notsound appetizing, but it’s what makes tea inTokushima special. Two unique teas, two totallydifferent approaches to making it…one starts in
the heat of summer, the other in the dead of winter.

By Lance Kita

handful of leaves and let it sit. Even after a nightof steeping, the taste does not change or develop
a tannin overtone. (Personally, I put a good pinchof leaves in my coffee mug and add hot water to it
throughout the day as I drink it in my office.)

Further down south in the Shishikui region of
After the rainy season, the tea harvest for Awa Kaiyo Town ( 海 陽 町 宍 喰 ), the tea farmers use
bancha ( 阿 波 晩 茶 ) begins under the summer the bitter cold of winter to harvest a not-so-bittersun in the mountainous areas of Kamikatsu tea. The harvest of kancha ( 寒 茶 , literally “coldTown ( 上 勝 町 ) and Aioi in Naka Town ( 那 賀 町 weather tea”) starts after the New Year andcontinues until early March.
相 生 ). Unlike most Japanese
Mature leaves are picked,
tea whose young leaves are
steamed and dried. By waiting
prized for shincha ( 新 茶 ) in theuntil the dead of winter, the plants
spring, the mature leaves andhave cut off water to the leaves,small twigs are yanked fromand the flavor compounds of thethe bush in July. Normally, tea
leaves are more concentrated.
leaves are steamed, massaged
The tea bushes are also left toand rolled between hands, andtheir own devices in this rugged
then dried before the green color
mountain terrain, often plantedoxidizes. Awa bancha’s hardy
along the walls of the terraced
leaves are crushed gently underfields and relying on nothing but
a corrugated rolling tool that
requires the coordinated timing of Brewing whole tea leaves isn't what nature brings them.
two people. However, the unusual the only unusual feature of Awa
Bancha (left) and Shishikui
The kancha tea also has lessnature of Awa bancha shows
Kancha (right).
t a n n i n a n d c a ff e i n e , w i t h aitself before the drying step…thepleasant sweet flavor that is
tea leaves are fermented in leafreminiscent of herbal tea. Hard
lined barrels and weighed down
to believe that something that
so no air gets trapped. After a
was picked from a semi-wildmonth, the leaves are then driedplant can produce a gentle drink.
in the sun for a few days.
It’s also a rarity, since only about
twenty farmers pick kancha, so
The result is a fermented tea withthe annual yield is very small andsome not-so-tealike properties.
localized.
Not bitter? The fermentation
breaks down tea catechin
Kancha can be found at markets
compounds and reduces theanine
and local product shops in thewhile producing lactic acid, which
Awa bancha is one of the mostsouthern part of the prefecture.
means a wonderfully tart flavor
foolproof teas to brew.
Awa bancha can be purchasedwith no astringent aftertaste.
in
Kamikatsu
andNaka Towns, and is being
Also means less caffeine, so less bitterness andeasier to drink at night. Along with the lactic acid, distributed to other farmer markets and gift shops
a couple of other amino acids from the process throughout the prefecture. As we head into winter,rounds out the overall flavor. These properties try these unique Tokushima teas and enjoy theiralso make Awa bancha one of the most foolproof warmth and health benefits.
teas to brew. Just pour hot or cold water over a

Events & Memoranda

8

TOPIA will be closed from December 29, 2017 (Fri) - January 3, 2018 (Wed)2017 International Understanding Forum
平成２９年度 国際理解支援フォーラム
日時： 平成 30 年 1 月 21 日 ( 日）
13 時～ 16 時 30 分
場所：（公財）徳島県国際交流協会 会議室（徳島駅ビル クレメントプラザ６階 )内容： 第１部		
		
青木 弓夫 氏 による講話「半世紀にわたる世界の国々との関わりの中で～人口減少		
社会における外国人の受け入れと異文化理解～」		（NPO 法人和食文化とおもてなし促進機構 [ 食材や藍染めを発信 ] 理事長並びに				
ドルドイ・ジャパン [ キルギスの商業機構 ] 社長）
第２部
		
協会登録在住外国人講師による国際理解プレゼンテーション
		
車 載貞（チャ ゼジョン）氏 [ 韓国 ]Aparna Matale ( アパルナ マタレ ) 氏 [ インド ]第３部
		
意見交換 交流会
料金： 入場無料* ティーパーティーでご歓談のひとときを。ふるってご参加ください。

Family Sports Carnival 2017
ファミスポカーニバル 2017
Family Sports Carnival 2017 will be held inTokushima where you can do sports together
with your family, and try some unusual sports thatyou have never tried before. We hope to convey
the amusement and attractiveness of sports at
this event. This time you will have the chance totake a physical strength assesment, and join a
curolling contest. There will also be a dodgeball
tournament for elementary students with
Tokushima's own Indigo Socks, and comediansfrom Yoshimoto.
When: December 3rd (Sun) 9:30-15:00
Where: Naruto Otsuka Sports Park
Fee: Free
Tel:
088-621-2112

徳島県では家族で一緒に体を動かし遊んだり、触れる機会の少ないスポーツなどを体験すること
で、スポーツの楽しさ・魅力を伝えることを目的に「ファミスポカーニバル」を開催しています。
今年度は、インディゴソックスやよしもと芸人等と小学生によるドッジボール大会や体力測定会、
カローリング大会も開催いたします。
日時： 12 月 3 日（日）9：30 ～ 15：00
場所： 鳴門・大塚スポーツパーク
参加料：無料TEL： 088-621-2112

Santa Clause is coming to…Shinmachi River!
川からサンタがやってくる
Santa Clause is coming to Tokushima by boat andwill distribute a total of 3000 presents to children.
When: December 23rd (Sat) –25th (Mon)18:00-21:00
Where: Tokushima City Hyotanjima Cruise(Many rounds)

イベント期間中、川から船に乗ったサンタクロー
スが子供達に約 3000 袋のプレゼントを持ってやってきます！
日時： 12 月 23 日（土・祝）～ 25 日（月）18:00 ～ 21:00
場所： 徳島市ひょうたん島一周

9Events & Memoranda
Shinmachi Countdown
新町カウントダウン

Let’s celebrate the New Year’s countdown again in 「 今 年 も や り ま す！ 新 町 カ ウ ン ト ダ ウ ン
Shinmachi! There will be many live performances, 2018 ！！」 徳 島 で 活 躍 し て い る ア ー テ ィ ス
a ramen eating contest and many other events. ト の ラ イ ブ や ラ ー メ ン 早 食 い 大 会 な ど、 盛り 上 が る コ ン テ ン ツ が 盛 り だ く さ ん で す！
Please join us with your family or friends.
家族やカップル、友人と一緒に 2017 年のカウン
トダウンを楽しみましょう。
When: December 31st (Sun)
Where: Tokushima City,
日時：12 月 31 日（日）Shinmachibashi East Park
場所：徳島市新町橋東公園
Fee: Free
料金：無料＊ URL: https://www.facebook.com/CountdownInTokushima/

Illumination Events
イルミネーションイベント
Winter time in Japan is also illumination time.
Because there are so many of these events taking
place in Tokushima, we made a short list of four
really beautiful light-ups that you shouldn’t miss inthis cold season!

冬と言えばイルミネーションですね。イルミネーションに関するイベントがたくさん開催されるため、短いイベントリストを作ってみました。この
4 つのイベントをぜひお楽しみください！

What

Where

When

Further Information

Anan Luminous
Town Project

Ushikijoushi
Park, City ofLights Station,
JR Anan Station

2017/12/23 (Sat)- 25 (Mon)

TEL: 0884-22-2301
www.anancci.or.jp/altp

GermanHouse Naruto
Illumination

German House
Naruto2017/12/1 (Fri) 2018/1/8 (Mon)

TEL: 088-689-0099
www.doitsukan.com

Ishii WinterIllumination

OK Ishii Park

TEL: 088-674-1292
2017/12/11 (Mon) 2018/1/3 (Wed） www.tsci.or.jp/ishii

TakagaiIshizumi
Light-Up

Yoshinogawa
City Misato

2017/12/16 (Sat)and 17 (Sun)

TEL: 0883-43-2888
www.tcu.or.jp/misato/hotaru

Counselling Service at TOPIA・トピアの相談窓口
TOPIA offers a counselling and advisory service to all foreign residents to help with issues involving
accidents, working conditions, housing, visas, international marriage, and more. Counselling isavailable in English and Japanese. Please note that although every effort will be made, we may not beable to deal with all cases.
Everyday, 10:00 - 18:00 (closed during the New Year's holidays)
Tel: 088-656-3303 or 088-656-3320 (allows three-way conversations with an interpreter)