Farewell to the farmstay (polaroid image)

“Singaporean Students meet Farmstay, Nostalgia Happens(?!)”

by Tan Jing Ting 

This picture was taken at the end of our farm-stay at Saconue no Kaeru (さこんうえの蛙 – http://saconue.com/), in Nakabaru, Minami-Oguni Town, Kumamoto Prefecture. The women stayed here, while the men stayed at a different farm-stay house about a 10-minute walk away. While learning about regional revitalization, we spent two nights here, with all our meals made from fresh produce. With a vegan among us, the meals were 100% without meat, and still 100% delicious. The farmers in the village creatively utilize their existing resources to create farm-stays in order to diversify their businesses beyond just farming. In addition, we learned that the men stayed with a different family in order to spread the farm-stay business evenly within the village. Our host father said that for the entire village to prosper, the community should progress together. This is one of the essential elements for regional revitalization: a strong community spirit.

One concept we learned prior to the trip was furusato (literally ‘old village’), which appeals to nostalgia. While the farm-stay was not exactly nostalgic to us young Singaporeans, we were nonetheless able to have first-hand experience of some aspects of an old village. A huge part of this was due to the hospitality of the host mother (center, with the handkerchief around her head). I have fond memories of her rushing in and out of the main dining room (wooden structure which we were standing in front of) to deliver dishes and fervently explaining all the ingredients used in them. I couldn’t understand much of what she said (note to self: enhance Japanese vocabulary on fruits and vegetables), but her enthusiasm was infectious. It made us Singaporeans wonder if we could be as strong and lively as her in our old age. Indeed, what is furusato without old people?

You might have noticed that this is a photo taken with a Polaroid photo. This is not by chance – the Polaroid produces an effect unlike digital or film cameras, making it seem as if a long time has passed since the photo was taken. It is my attempt to induce nostalgia. Secondly, this is also an example related to the “tourist gaze”, a concept by Sociologist and tourism scholar John Urry (1990), who argues tourists “choose where to go in order to capture places on film,” a process that builds on the tourist experience. No digital camera can produce such a nostalgic effect. This Polaroid photo captures the “perfect ending” to my memory of the farm-stay.