I split some cedar before remembering that it’s best not to burn it in a stove. I was told there were neighbors with less worry about a coated chimney and I said I’d be glad if they took the logs off my hands. And so I met the Okamotos who farm in the adjacent valley. They have what’s best described as a community that attracts both free spirits and the marginalized. They still cook and heat the bath with wood, and people at a nearby facility for the mentally challenged help with the farm work there.
Suzuki-san is a new staff member at that facility, and he had the vision of holding an outdoor movie showing at the Okamotos this spring. I met him when he came to collect the logs, and I suggested a documentary called アラヤシキの住人たち(Arayashiki no Junintachi/The people who live at Arayashiki). It was filmed at a community farm in rural Nagano Prefecture where I once stayed and taught English. Suzuki-san said that was exactly the movie he was thinking of showing because he saw the similarity to the Okamotos’ farm.
Last night the event was realized. The Okamoto residents served curry to about 50 of us, after which we retired up into the woods where we sprayed ourselves liberally with mosquito repellent and sat on mats on the ground for Okinawan music, followed by the movie as darkness fell. It was eerie and even surreal to be watching the scenes of the Nagano countryside with the sounds of bush warblers, insects and frogs while, at the same time, the sound of local frogs drifted up from the valley, and the occasional night insect flew across the screen.
It’s an amazing coincidence that I once stayed in one community, and now discover that I live next to another. I hope I can be of help to them in future.
--Julian
The DVD of アラヤシキの住人たち has English subtitles, and is available at Amazon.co.jp and elsewhere.
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