Returning to Kagoshima - A Journey Back to My Coffee Roots

Travelling through my hometown in Kagoshima for the first time in 8 years was a truly grounding experience. Reconnecting with people, soul food, and walking through the small narrow streets, which once felt wide and big, now seemed aged in some ways rundown  but the calmness and peaceful energy and people I love remained exactly as I remembered.

Blessed with incredible weather, the Shinryoku -the vivid, bright green leaves of early summer - welcomed us with the most stunning lime-green shades wherever we went. In my hometown lie many small hidden gems of all kinds. It’s a prefecture known for its onsen, black pork, sweet potato Shochu and wagyu beef to name just a few, but it is also a place full of artists who quietly yet passionately remain busy being makers and creators, all with a common purpose to enhance people’s everyday lives.

The pace seemed slower. Eating seasonal produce, preparing to pick the new season’s green tea leaves - it felt like time was spent more in tune with the rhythm of nature.

The powerful statement piece is, of course, the active Sakurajima volcano, which greeted us with great big puffs of ash most days. Its presence always feels like a Samurai watching over us, with integrity and strength from within.

We stayed at our traditional family home, where my sister now resides. Built almost 300 years ago, it still stood gracefully, even while more modern renovations nearby looked as though they had already done their years and were ready for an upgrade. Recognising the house and observing it from a different perspective alongside my partner, who laid his eyes on it for the first time, allowed me to feel grateful for what is still standing for us to enjoy today. But it also made me realise that things made well, made with purpose, made with love, have their place for as long as we allow them to.

Not all things need to be made new. Not everything needs to be replaced - just cared for. In this current time, there is so much desperation to create something completely new, but all new things are inspired by what already exists, what has already been done, created, and held within our consciousness. Sometimes it’s nice to simply pause and go back a little - to observe where we’ve come from, and to remind ourselves of things that were once quietly enough.

All the artists I was lucky enough to meet were creators using natural sources and transforming them into beautiful things - a brass maker, a potter, a painter. All enjoying every step of the process, without the greed of needing more than what was already given to them in that very moment. As one would say, the journey rather than the destination is what matters most and everything else will-follow.