I'm feeling rather strange, "camping" alone in the former family home built by my boss Chakiko's grandparents. The house is on the Noto peninsula - the "finger" that juts north from central Japan's western coast. Across the road is the Japan Sea and on a clear day I can see the faint outline of the Japanese alps on the horizon. It's a km+ down the road from the new hotel, award-winning "Flatt's by the sea", where Chakiko lives with Aussie husband and chef, Ben Flatt. I'll be based here for 6 days, travelling between the two places by bike and helping Chakiko in the veggie garden, and with any other (wet-weather) jobs she and Ben care to throw at me.
"Flatt's by the sea" has an elite clientele who come to enjoy Ben's Italian-Japanese cuisine, and his range of home-made pickles, spices and seasonings. Talking with Ben, and his new spin on the traditional ingredients for which remote Noto has a reputation, is part of why people visit.
The veggie garden is the connection with Woofing. But the atmosphere of hotel and restaurant is worlds away from a farm, and my relationship with Chakiko and Ben is different from either of my previous hosts. The couple only started Woofing this summer and are feeling their way with it. On my first evening they recounted their experience with a previous woofer, a dreamy, time-unaware hippy with a very different rhythm to theirs. Their expectations; Ben's piss-taking, live-and-play-hard banter; and the absence of the tlc I experienced with the Morimotos and Sakamotos mean that I'm feeling slightly ill at ease. Their working day, spent largely in the industrial, windowless kitchen, necessarily revolves around their customers. So, perched around the stainless-steel island, we grab a bite before or after normal meal times. There is no area to relax in - the dining and sitting areas out of bounds while guests are in house. Consequently, I don't get a break. After 6 hours standing in the kitchen, today, processing yuzu (a potent, viciously thorned citrus with myriad culinary uses) I was cream crackered.
My "home" may have a sea view and Chakiko and Ben are clearly very attached to it. But it is also smack on a main road. With each passing car, the glass rattles in the window frames; there's a pervasive smell of damp; I had to clean cobwebs and dead flies out of the bath tub, the first time I used it, and rusty water then poured from the cold tap; odd noises perpetually make me think I have intruders; and it's bloomin freezing! Plus my reason for coming here was to see something of this far-flung area. But, without a car, I am effectively 'marooned' - as I was at Kashimo and Hongo. But in those two places my hosts did everything possible to give me 'treats' and time off. Nothing could be further from Ben and Chakiko's minds. I wasn't even thanked for my 6 hours of work today. Instead, they talked to me about their plan to have a group of woofers help them next spring because Ben reckons people work more productively when in 'competition' with each other.
For the first time I am getting an unpleasant whiff of exploitation. It's the old thing about the business owner expecting employees to give body and soul as he does - Chakiko and Ben work a 6-day week, and incredible hours. (I learned this evening that, on top of everything else, Chakiko will be getting up at 3am to drive her daughter to a tennis tournament 3.5 hours away. Same daughter has tennis practice 3 hours a day, plus 6 hours on Saturday. This is not extraordinary in Japan.) But that's not the deal with Woofing. I'm not getting an apprenticeship that will allow me to set up on my own in the catering business, or learning how organic farming works with a view to doing my own thing. So I need more than a bed and a bit of food (ironically, we don't eat very well!) to feel in balance with what I'm giving.
It's not Chakiko and Ben's fault. I didn't ask the right questions at the outset and took a chance, coming here. Also, my previous hosts were perhaps exceptional in the way they linked me up with public transport. But, all in all, it's just as well that I will only be here for a short week. On 6/11/14 I'll be travelling back to Tokyo before flying to the UK 9/11/14.
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