Niigata Taro Relay: Connections Made on Note Through Taro

One day

(Ding-dong)

The doorbell rang.

"Coming!"

"It's me."

It was Grandma.

When I went to the door...

Potatoes had arrived.

In our family,
Grandpa and Grandma farm the land.

(Though from my perspective, they are my father and mother-in-law)

"Autumn harvest" is a well-said phrase.

There are many harvests.

Blessings of the field

I can enjoy the seasons along with the vegetables from the field.

Because the field only has what is in season.

The other day, too, I tried picking chrysanthemums

I tried digging up peanuts

I tried digging up potatoes

There is no shortage of vegetables.

Recently, it even comes with a harvesting experience.

For our family with children, it is something to be grateful for.

Then, a surprise for me.

It's always like this.

The goods arrive at the most unexpected times.

What arrived this time was...

A cardboard box full of taro and sweet potatoes.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but

there are about 4kg of sweet potatoes.

As for the taro,
there are 13kg in there.

It's always like this.

They arrive as a surprise.

That is
Grandma and Grandpa's specialty.

Taro can be stored for a certain amount of time.

In the right environment,
it can survive the winter,

and the taro will connect to next year's "seed potatoes."

However, in a normal house,

there is no proper place to store them.

In the shed outside, they get "frostbitten" and
quickly go bad.

(Meaning they are ruined by cold and humidity)

So,
what Grandma set her sights on

was our children's room,
which we aren't using yet.

"I'll give you these, so keep them stored at your house."

You can eat as much as you can.

That was Grandma's stance.

And this is what arrived.

Are you convinced?

However,
even inside the house, they start to rot little by little.

The taro are slowly being eaten away by time.

I know this because I experienced it last year.

Not all of them
can survive the winter.

To think you're going to eat them
only to find they've rotted

isn't that sad?

In that case,
while they are delicious

don't you want to eat as much as you can?

And

if possible,

don't you want to share
this bounty with someone?

Alright, I'll send them to someone special.

I decided to send them to
a dear friend who lives far away and whom I cannot meet.

I busily prepared the cardboard box and got everything ready for shipping.

(Even so, that's a lot of taro.)

(With this much taro,
I'm sure 'that person' would be happy to receive it.)

There was someone whose face kept crossing my mind.

My connection with that person exists only in the online space.

We have never met in person.

We have never even spoken.

Let alone exchanged any private messages.

(It sounds suspicious, doesn't it?)

(They will definitely think it's suspicious, right?)

(But I'm sure he would appreciate these taro roots.)

For some reason, I am convinced of that.

Even though we have never met,

I know why.

If it were him, I'm sure...

(I'll just ask and see what happens)

(If they don't want to, they can just say no)

I opened the "Contact Creator" feature on note for the first time.

I typed out a message.

A while later, a reply arrived.

It was from him.

And
inside, it said this.

"I would love to have some"

That was the moment the taro relay began.

And then
a shipment of taro potatoes harvested in Niigata

will travel by courier
all the way to the Kanto region.

Little taro,
please be well taken care of.

I'm sure he
will enjoy eating you...

A few days later, a notification arrived from note.

"Your article is trending"

(Oh, someone must have talked about it.)

I open it.

And there, on that page, was

The taro that set off on a journey from Niigata

was described in great detail
as being received with so much love.

Yes, it was that person to whom I sent the taro package.

It wasn't just about eating them deliciously.

He truly loves the potatoes,
adores the potatoes,
and cherishes the potatoes.

A 'deep love for potatoes' was evident there.

Looking at the photos,
I saw the Niigata potatoes that had set off on their journey.

There,
the potatoes were surely happy.

Has there ever been someone who loves potatoes this much?

From his writing,

I was moved by the 'potato love'
that overflowed from every word.

And

I never imagined that through note
such a connection would be formed...

I was moved.

The circle of note connected by taro

The person who moved me is this individual.

Manga artist Daisuke Umekuma

I wonder why, even though he is a manga artist, I have such a strong impression of him related to taro.

And

Here is the article that moved Kireimichi.

Mr. Umekuma

Thank you for eating the taro
so deliciously.

And thank you for writing an article to let me know how the taro were doing happily after they set off on their journey.

The world of note is warm.

And it was kind in every way.

The end

If you'd like, please like and follow.

Your small actions
are my encouragement.

Feel free to leave a comment, even just a word!

● Profile ishere

● For inquiries, clickhere

📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirei_do/

📤 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ayafull_kirei