The last few days I’ve been doing field work (enchi) up at the mountain base.
There, I’ve learned how to pick mandarins (mikan) 
and persimmons (kaki) which are in season at the moment. We don’t have many persimmons in Australia so it was really interesting (and tasty) to learn more about them. There were two types, Taishu and Kinokawa. We were only picking the Taishu variety, so I had a quick lesson on the difference – basically they’re slightly bigger, have a darker stem and are sweeter. It was peaceful work in the early morning sun. 
Out in the field, we also fixed the fence surrounding the fruit trees. Apparently there are wild boars (inoshishi) 
which often try and have a snack on the Kannonyama fruit. Our task was to reinforce the existing fence with metal stakes and secure them with zip ties. Hopefully, that’ll keep them out!
Enjoyed finally meeting the enchi group and torturing them with my bad Japanese. ごめん！Looking forward to trying out the other departments too 
[By Taylor – Kannonyama intern from Australia]
