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What we do
Bringing new life
to the precious local treasures of Kisawa.
We believe that preserving the natural environment and promoting lifestyles of a small rural region connects directly to the preservation of our future natural habitat on a global level.
This illustration sums up what we do in a nutshell—protecting mother nature through revitalizing regional local communities.
Our future vision
To have many people all over the world COPY this lifestyle!
Our aim here at Yonroppa is to have more people resonate with the truly rich lifestyles that remain here, while preserving the untampered natural environment and traditions. Businesses would normally say “don’t copy our ideas!”, but we would never say that. Our hope is that the people around the world take notice and choose to live a lifestyle similar to ours.
- We create added value by bringing something new to the nature and traditions that still thrive here. We help grow the community of those who respond to the amazing lifestyle this region has to offer without hurting the ecosystem so that more have access to safe and delicious food and other life resources. That is Yonroppa and that is our mission.
- We offer the chance to experience a fun and rich lifestyle that coexists with nature.
- We practice farming that hands down long lasting indigenous crops, that doesn’t rely on agricultural chemicals and boasts a minimal, if not zero ecological footprint.
Who we are
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Miki EBINA
From Osaka. Administrator at Yonroppa. Currently learning skills for living a rich and peaceful life in the mountains of Japan’s countryside.
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Kaz EGASHIRA
From Kyoto. A farmer of many talents. Loves climbing trees and music.
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Kana
The duck who thinks she’s a human.
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Nana
Kana’s loyal sidekick / new country girl.
Miki EBINA
Besides spending two years in rural America (Iowa) in her school days, Miki has lived most of her life in the City. After building a career in both Tokyo and Osaka, she came to the realization that she wasn’t making her own food. After this personal eye-opener, she decided in 2017 to move to Kisawa, in Naka town,
Tokushima, where she began a life completely opposite of the one she left. When pressed with a major decision in life, she would rather try and not succeed, than to have never tried at all and live with the regret—a trait that she displays in many facets of life, not just work. Some days you can find her drawing, playing the piano and playing volleyball.
Through her past endeavors, she has gained quite a knack for organizing and throwing events and developing crops into products and promoting them, but when she’s in the fields these days she can really work up a sweat. As a seasonal worker, you can also find her interpreting and attending to overseas artists on site at events or even coming up with graphic designs, a side job that she also commands well. As the number of hats she wears continues to grow, she is gradually losing all sense of titles.
Kaz EGASHIRA
One day in 2017, he opened his eyes and he found himself in Kisawa. The very next instant he was hard at work plowing the fields. One look at the infinitely green thumbs of the locals and their vigor and resilience towards life, and Kaz was hooked. He has learned from the senior locals here how to grow indigenous species of crops that have been handed down for ages without the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers or any such thing. As a lover of books, he goes out of his way to research the land while learning what grows well through trial and error.
He currently commutes between Tokushima and Kyoto, constantly on the move in hopes of spreading the joy and importance of farming to other earthlings.
He is a talented translator with an addiction for vinyl, and even used to DJ/host his own FM radio show while attending university in Hawai’i. He has a deep appreciation of music from Japanese Soul to Jamaican Reggae and an acute sense for musical and linguistic expression. This is his fifth year as a farmer.
Kana
Arriving in Naka town on an unexpected whim, her playful personality has made her the sweetheart of Yonroppa.
Hobby: food.
Special talent: eating and soothing tired humans.
Speed: her own pace.
Enjoys: humans more than ducks, but is a reliable “big sister” and is teaching Nana the ropes of how to get by in Kisawa.
Nana
We actually took her in thinking that HE would be a good partner for Kana, but boy were we surprised to see her lay an egg the very next day. She grew up in a duck society so she’s still not used to humans.
Special talent: sleeping on one foot.
Personality: slightly timid.
Appetite: healthy. Almost as strong as Kana’s.
Loves: Kana.
FACILITY
We renovated the former Kisawa Kindergarten, which was no longer in use, and turned it into a community space, which we named Yonroppa. With the cooperation of many supporters, we used crowdfunding to turn one of the classrooms into the Yonroppa Cafeteria, which was finished in February 2020. We DIY’d what used to be the faculty room into a general store and turned another classroom into a workshop room. The playroom was transformed into the Yonroppa Theater, fully equipped with a projector, lighted stage and piano. With a shower room as well, and a separate kitchen from that of the cafeteria, the facility is perfect for various kinds of events.
Cafeteria
Shop
Workshop room
Theater
OUTLINE
| Name | Yonroppa |
|---|---|
| Address | 176-3 Mukae Sakashū Naka, Tokushima 771-6106 |
| Phone | +81 (0)90-5124-6169 |
| info@yonroppa.com |
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS
There are many traditional farming methods and other hands-on tasks to learn in rural countryside mountains, or as locals call them, “Satoyama.” Through immersing oneself in a lifestyle that utilizes the rare and unique culture of a dwindling and aging community, you are able to not only make discoveries about how to revitalize such areas and gain hints for a sustainable lifestyle, but put that to further use in other activities that contribute to society.
From University seminars and extracurricular activities to corporate team building, Yonroppa will arrange programs to meet your needs. We can of course accommodate to English speaking groups and individuals as well. Please feel free to contact us to find out more. We’re more than happy to answer any questions.
As of Autumn 2019, we have been conducting a program on abandoned Yuzu farms with students taking the Food Study Course in the Life Planning Department of The Arts and Sciences at the Osaka Shoin Women’s University (Higashiosaka City).