A Moment of Truth

In the modern world that I live in, it seems that people are connected all the time because of Internet and technology. We are all used to communicate through phone, email, instant messages, Facebook, and all kinds of social media. But at the same time, I often feel...

What Is ‘Good’ Food?

In addition to writing online blog posts, we students write personal journals about our experiences abroad. We continually find ourselves sharing in unfamiliar cultural practices, and reflection journals help us step back from these experiences and interpret the Japan...

Religion in the ARI Community

I am not religious. I grew up going to church with my family (and still go on Christmas Eve and Easter), and I was a part of a youth group for a couple years. Regardless, Christianity plays little to no role in my world view. When I found out that ARI was a Christian...

Fermentation for the Future of Farming

Much to my delight, our time in Japan has revealed to me that the Japanese diet includes a wide variety of fermented foods. Miso and soy sauce are two staples of Japanese cuisine that are both comprised of various forms of fermented soy. Walking down the streets of...

Alternatively natural

After rounding off our first week at the Asian Rural Institute and taking a short break from farm chores to explore other parts of Japan and reflect on our experiences thus far, I feel as though I have a decent sense of the happenings at ARI. In dramatic terms, we got...

Baking Up A Storm At ARI

Today marks my sixteenth day in the wonderful country of Japan, and to date the most unexpected experience has been my participation in a multinational team of wedding cake bakers assembled to prepare the cakes for a wedding held on January 11, 2016. Two members of...