takahara, japan, 2019
i just arrived in a beautiful, rustic mountain oasis at the start of spring to spend ten days volunteering at Kiri-No-Sato Takahara Lodge. it sits among cedar forest, with views over the endless Hatenashi mountain range and is the first overnight stop on the Nakahechi tributary of the the sacred Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail. there is a strong cultural landscape and spiritual countryside, and most of the guesthouses bring fresh organic produce straight from the land to the table.
Kiri-No-Sato is the kind of business that employs a mixture of local people and international volunteers all willing to contribute and share their skills to build a beautifully functioning community environment, as well as being a traditional guesthouse and stopover for hikers. this results in cultural and language exchange and a blending of working styles, for example, the Japanese attention to detail and orderly ways combined with a Western approach of freedom of creativity, or the Japanese appreciation of the imperfect compared to the Western uneasiness with the imperfect. in an environment like this everyone is naturally encouraged to grow their skill set and share knowledge.
for a long time i have respected this type of living and working in another culture. taking money out of the equation means rather than earning wages, you acquire knowledge, skills and integration into a different culture than your own.
integration
noun
1. a. the act or process of integrating
b. the state of becoming integrated
2. the bringing of people of different racial or ethnic groups into unrestricted and equal association, as in society or an organisation; desegregation.
