Warashibe Workshops and Classes

Warashibe offers workshops, classes and volunteer positions designed to take participants deeper into the story and background of the food we often take for granted. Some examples of our programs include:

• Explore the history of traditional foods from a socio-economic and geographic vantage point. Find out what and why people eat what we do and how diet and recipies have changed through the years.
• Explore a typical supermarket from the perspective of health and sustainability.
• Meet with local producers and processors of the food you eat for a rounded discussion of what issues, political, social, and natural weigh on their minds.
• Learn the secrets and wonders of fermentation and traditional preservation methods.
• Learn to make and preserve traditional foods from Japan's snow-country.
• Learn to see ways to revitalize and preserve leftovers and "waste" food.
• Take part through each process of food production, from farming or foraging, to processing, marketiung and selling.

Follow the Warashibe blog, twitter, and facebook to learn about new seasonal products and activities, information and ideas on sustainable life and eating in Japan, updates on the progress of the Warashibe fields, and an inside view of rural life in Japan from the perspective of an International couple making the transition from Tokyo to rural Japan.

Tomoe Kawafuchi

かわふち ともえ（ 川渕 友絵 ）

Tomoe graduated with undergrad and graduate degrees from Tokyo University with a focus on business and environment. Eventually she moved from a prestigious executive track position at a major multinational corporation, to a consulting position with Japan's premier Sustainability Consulting firm where she focsued on understanding and the needs of the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) market.

Eventually, her passion for health and human betterment, along with her craving to know and appreciate real food, led her to where she is now - a small agriculture based rural village in Northern Nagano prefecture. Here she lives with her American husband and two-yearl-old daughter growing their own rice and vegetables and moving closer to a self-sufficient life. It is here that she feels she can finally enjoy a sense of truly "living".

At Warashibe, through her food and workshops, she shares the joy and sense of discovery that has so greatly impressed her.

Activities

• Cultural interpretation, sharing the regional lifestyle with foreign visitors through experiential education with One Life Japan.
• Vegetable & Fruit Somlier vegetable organizing activities to share the livelihood of the regions agricultural roots. Member of "Vegetable Somlier Nagano"
• Natural Farming (rice and vegetables)
• Product development and sales using regional produce
• Recipie Development
• Seminars on farming, vegetables and fruits, and country life
• Cooking seminars
• Environmental Education Seminars
• Rescue and research of regional cultural treasures
• Mapping of the historical and cultural highlights of the region
• Geen Business / LOHAS Marketing Consulting
• Food, culture and agriculture related translation (English - Japanese / Japanese - English)