Picking Vegetables & Tombs

I was invited by one of my teachers to join him, his wife and his daughter to pick vegetables at his friend's farm.

This teacher is really nice and I also talk to him in English so he can practise his English. He's a maths/table-tennis teacher and he likes to talk about his family and has such a kind heart.

His daughter just entered high school and enjoys English, so she wanted to meet me. He asked if I could spare my time to 'play' with his daughters so they could speak English.

They picked me up at the station and we drove somewhere in Suma and hiked to this little area of rental farms surrounded by forests and hills. A lot of people rent space to grow vegetables and set up their own little farms. It was so random that in the middle of Kobe city suburbia there are these little vegetable farms that made me feel like I was way out in the middle of nowhere.

His friend had this amazing farm set up with rows of carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, garlic, spring onion, pumpkins, corn, eggplant, raddishes, cabbage, beans and more. We put on our gloves and happily picked vegetables and filled up several plastic bags. It reminded me when my mum used to take me to the vegetable farm on Christmas Island to buy fresh veges. The heat, the smell of dirt and lush greenery, the creepy crawlies and the snapping sound of fresh vegetables.

They then took me to a Japanese style restaurant for lunch where I had a mini shabu-shabu set. Then we went to Goshiki Auka/ Kotsubo Tamulus which is an ancient tomb and burial ground from the Edo period (built at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century). The total length of the tumulus is 194 metres. It was then later reconstructed but since the reconstruction work was given priority to the investigation of the mound surface, no investigation could be made of the burial facilities. It is believed that Lord/King/some important person is burried there.

It also offers a great view of Akashi Bridge and Awaji isalnd.