We had our fill of rural, laid back life in my husband’s hometown in Japan last summer. Life there was simple: people tend their farms, grow vegetables and shops close before 9pm. My image of Japan as a place with lightning speed  technology and ultra busy lifestyle changed when I first visited this quiet town.

My father in-law works in a confectionery factory and tends to his rice plantation for hobby. My mother in-law stays at home and grows a lot of vegetables for family consumption and public donation to the visiting racoons, rabbits and other farm creatures. 🙂

MIL took us to her potato garden one afternoon with Pristine wearing oversized boots. I wasn’t there to do any work except to take photos and shoo away the mosquitoes!

Grandma shows Pristine the spots where the potatoes are:

Then start digging:

Voila!

Proud potato moments!

Then out of the blue, probably out of sheer excitement with her harvest with the combination of oversized booties, she fell face flat on the dirt road.

But when I asked her if she would do it again (the potato  harvest, not the falling of course), she let out a big YES!

I am happy we were able to do this – reconnect with nature and learn a little about farm life, something that we wouldn’t be able to do here in Dubai! Not in a million years!