After attending a charity event for Tohuku at the International Community House here in Kyoto, one of my students invited us over to his farm. Recently I`ve been helping him with a speech he gave at Kyoto`s International Conference Center. It was his first `in English` to several hundred people at a medical seminar. Originally, he and his wife are from Toyama and like myself, both have an appreciation for the outdoors and sports in our free time. The land they grow a sizable portion of their food on is just around the corner from their house. It reminded me of an area I assisted with log house construction back in Canada. Some of my other students joined us and were surprized to observe the number of familiar food products growing that we normally buy at the local supermarket, such as vegetables I`m very fond of (green peas, edamame) and others that make me feel like throwing up (cucumber, tomato). This fit well with the topic earlier in the day since one of the presenters discussed farm contamination in Tohuku. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we had dinner outside under their fruit trees until after sunset. Afterwards we all went back to their house for a nightcap. My student and his wife feel very fortunate they have some private green space nearby that they can attend to on weekends and share with friends. Thanks Junichi!!
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