My Experiences at ARI Before I came to ARI, I did not know what to expect. I didn’t know what kind of work I would be doing and I had no idea what kind of atmosphere it would be. Although I had seen some pictures and explanations on the internet, it was difficult to grasp a preview of everyday life as a working visitor.

During the winter of 2004, my parents, who heard of ARI from a long time ago, suggested to me about spending my summer at ARI. I said to my parents, yea, that sounds like a good idea, but I wasn’t really thinking about what I was getting myself involved in. For one of my classes during High School, I wrote a research paper about Japanese agriculture and self-sufficiency. Currently in University I am studying Geography, and I am interested in different cultures and different countries. Lastly, I love nature. I figured coming to ARI connected all three interests, and would deepen my understanding.

When I first came to ARI, I was welcomed extremely warmly. I came to ARI as a working visitor for 2 months during May 2005 to July 2005. I felt very comfortable to be in ARI community life from the day I got here. I was told by one of the staff that I was to be in the kitchen everyday. I had zero experience in cooking and I was worried if I would be able to contribute to the cooking process. Of course at the beginning I made mistakes and I may have been slow, but so many people around me encouraged me and supported me to gain my confidence. Now almost 2 months have passed, and I have a great time in the kitchen everyday experimenting with the various types of spices available to use. The meal service volunteers and staff are extremely fun to work with.
One of the reasons I came to ARI was to experience agriculture. I was born and raised in Tokyo, so the urban life makes me feel very far from the agricultural areas of Japan. But in reality, ARI is only 2 and a half hours away from Tokyo. Just by taking the initiative to step out just a little bit lets you enjoy a whole different world. First off there is the slightly rural city life of Japan to experience. However, ARI cannot be defined as being part of Japan. First off everybody uses English as the base language of communication. I was told that there are participants from more than 15 different countries. I thought over and over again how special it is for all these amazing rural leaders to gather up in Japan and live together to build a community. Many of the participants shared stories that I would have never heard other than ARI. Each one of them has their unique character and I appreciated it so much. One of the things that impressed me the most is how great their smiles were. Many of them don’t have abundant supplies of money, and may not lead to luxurious life, but their happiness shined greatly with their huge smiles. All the participants were so happy to live here and work here. To share that happiness was very much an honor.

I worked in crops and vegetable section everyday, and I was able to experience filed work. Not only from the participants who worked with me in the field, but from the staff I learned something new everyday. At first I learned basic techniques to maintain a field, such as sowing, transplanting, weeding, and netting. Later on, I found out there are more detailed things to learn, such as taking care of disease, different techniques of weeding, timings of harvest, and so on. Since I learn something new all the time, it will be endless to put on paper. I feel extreme gratitude to everyone who helped me acquireÅ@new knowledge.
As I mentioned earlier, I worked in the kitchen everyday for meal service. The relationship between meal service and field work may have been one the greatest sensation I felt here at ARI. It is truly wonderful to eat what you and your field members as well as other friends have spent effort and energy to harvest. I feel very fortunate to work both in the field and in the kitchen, since I can experience in first hand one of ARI’s philosophy on the relationship between food and life.