My trip to Suo Oshima

Hello, my name is Sofiya, and I work for SES in Hofu.

こんにちは！ＳＥＳ防府校で働いています、ソフィヤです。

One day, a while ago me and my fellow foreign teacher friends from Hofu organised ourselves to drive in two/three cars and go to Suo Oshima, where we could eat all the Mikan we wanted off from the trees, and bring back a full bag of Mikan each – free of charge.

先日、私と友達の先生と一緒に2，3台の車で周防大島に行ってきました。そこではミカン狩りをすることができて、袋いっぱいのみかんを無料で持って帰ることができました。

That was a great and such unique experience to me. Eating fruits from the branches is not foreign to me, as my grandparents used to have something like a private farm. However, the fruits I’ve seen growing on trees up until now have been – for example – pears, apples, cherries, plums, but never mikan, or clementines, or anything of the citrus family ever! We just don’t have that kind of climate suitable for them. So this was so exciting and fun! 

祖父母が農場でフルーツをもぎとって食べていたことがあったので、枝からフルーツをもぎ取って食べることは私にとってなじみのないことではありません。梨やリンゴ、サクランボ、プラムは今まで見たことがあったのですが、ミカンなどの柑橘類は初めてでした。私の地元では柑橘類が育つ気候ではないので、ミカン狩りはとても楽しかったです！

We collected all days, and afterward, we had a bento lunchbox organised for us by our hosts. It had loads of fish in there, and although not a big fish eater myself, I tried all the different things in that box. Also, there were plenty of alternative options in there. 

ミカン狩りの後は、お弁当を頂きました。中にはさまざまな種類の魚が入っていました。

This will also forever remain in my book the first day I ever drove for four hours in one day! I was absolutely exhausted by the end of that day, but it was good to have the company of my fellow passengers, who kept the conversation going.

１日に４時間も運転したことは忘れることはないでしょう。その日の夜は疲れましたが、同僚と話をし続けたことはいい思い出です。

What I found most fascinating, however, was when I came back and shared my adventure with one of my Japanese students. She explained to me how back around the 1950s, if I remember correctly, this specific island was going through a very difficult time, economically. Yamaguchi as a prefecture, apparently although struggling, still had some jobs to offer, whereas this island had nearly none. So a large group from this island specifically organised themselves and migrated to Hawaii, USA.

一番興味をそそられたことは、周防大島に行った話を私の担当生徒に話した時のことです。1950年ごろ（記憶が曖昧ですが）の周防大島は経済的に苦しかったみたいで、そのためアメリカのハワイに移住をした人もいたそうです。

As the years went on, some of them came back, whereas others remained there. And apparently there is a large group of people from Suo Oshima in Hawaii, living there to this day.

数年後に周防大島へ戻ってきた人もいればハワイに残った人もいたそうです。現在でもハワイには周防大島出身の人たちのグループが残っているとのことです。