Laughing with the most welcoming tribe in Japan: Living in steep citrus fields and by the sea for 3 days and 2 nights (Ehime)

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Orange orchards stretch out over the steep mountain slopes, and as you descend the mountain slopes you'll find the sparkling blue sea. Nestled between the mountains and the sea is Karie, a tiny village with a population of about 700 people, which is the setting for this experience. Most of the residents here are orange farmers or fishermen. The residents are close both physically and psychologically, and the village is overflowing with smiles. This is true even when they are with outsiders. A culture of hospitality is deeply rooted in the residents, and they have developed life-sized interactions with them. Proof of this is that in the past five years, 12 young people have moved here from other towns, becoming new residents and livening up the area.

The special feature of this product is that you can "stay like a local" just like a local resident of this town.
Over a three-day, two-night stay, you can experience life in the village. You can rest assured that an "attendant guide" will support you throughout your stay in the village. They will guide you through the entire daily program, allowing you to smoothly interact with local people. Attendant guides are professionals who act as liaisons between the community, but they are not necessarily fluent in English (their English is at a conversational level). It may take some effort for you to communicate your thoughts to your attendant guide. However, please think of this as part of the fun of the trip. This is because the difficulties of communication between you and your attendant guide are what it means to live in this region. Rest assured, your attendant guide will always be eager to serve you and will make every effort to understand your thoughts. (If you would like an interpreter guide, this can be added as a separate option.)

The village offers a variety of experience programs. There are many recommended experiences depending on the season, such as mountain and sea harvesting, downhill cycling, cooking local cuisine, and festival experiences. One of the most recommended experiences is the "stone wall restoration experience," which can only be done in this village in Japan.
As mentioned above, the main industry in this village is mandarin orange farming. This farming style involves building stone walls on mountain slopes to create farmland. These stone walls, built hundreds of years ago, support the local mandarin orange farming. However, these stone walls are prone to collapse due to rain and wild boars. In the past, mandarin orange farmers would repair the walls themselves, but today, due to the aging of farmers and a decline in the number of people working in agriculture, repairing the stone walls is no longer possible. This has led to the creation of a new role: the "stone wall restorer," an expert who restores collapsed stone walls. During the experience, participants will actually participate in the restoration of stone walls while receiving lectures from these experts. You might think, "It's just stacking stones," but once you try it, you'll realize how fascinating this experience is. It requires ingenuity and physical strength, like a real-life Tetris game, to consider the relationship between the small stones that support the soil and the larger stones that are visible, and to align the stacking center with the natural shape of the stones to complete the work. Above all, the enjoyable process of assembling the product itself contributes to the local community by helping to support local industries, which is what makes it so meaningful to experience.

In the evening, a meal with the local community will also be arranged, and you can expect to make many new friends. After the meal, you can experience the local festival drumming. These festival drums play an important role in leading the procession and livening up the movements of the floats at the Kasuga Shrine Autumn Festival, a fall festival in the region. This festival is a traditional event that has continued since the Edo period, and is the largest festival in the region, with heroic floats such as Ushioni, Gotsuka, and Mifune parading through the village. The climax is the impressive "Miyairi" ceremony, in which three portable shrines race up steep stone steps in one go, and it is a festival where you can experience the passion and bonds of the community.
The "Matsuri Taiko" allows you to experience a part of this festival, characterized by its powerful rhythm and unique intonation, and the sound of the drums reverberates off the mountains and sea, further enhancing the exhilaration of the festival. The moment when the Ushioni and mikoshi begin to move in time with the sound of the drums is one of the highlights of the festival. Practice takes place on the night of the first day, and the unveiling ceremony is held on the night of the second day. By the time you return, you may find yourself with a second home in Japan.
Experience a program that allows you to "interact with the locals and live like a local" in Karie village, which is still little known to the world.