Thinking about "care" new moon note December 2024

Ah!!! We've already reached the December new moon. Sorry for the wait, but this month's special juice is made with turmeric. We have many fans among our customers, and the demand is especially high during this time of year when there are more opportunities to drink alcohol during the year-end and New Year holidays. We see people drinking "the power of turmeric!" at convenience stores before drinking alcohol, but if possible, we would like to take it naturally. And in Japan, turmeric is strongly associated with drinking before and after alcohol! But it has much more hidden power. It has a high beauty effect, boosts the immune system, and suppresses inflammation. You may not take it raw, but just giving it a little boost in your juice, or just drinking a shot! Just drinking it will have an amazing effect on your body. Please try it fresh in our store, or frozen juice online. Experience natural turmeric.

We use turmeric at our Ebisu store and Kyoto Lab, but this year we had a hard time finding it. I was wondering if there was any turmeric around, when my friend Takuya Sasa, who lives in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, and Atsushi, who runs a curry seed business in Ehime, told us they had turmeric in their fields. Thanks to this wonderful connection, fresh turmeric arrived at our store again this year. I'm sure we can deliver the energy of the turmeric harvested by our wonderful friends to everyone. We've made a delicious, pure juice!

This time, the 2024 edition of the cultural magazine "Hanatsubaki" published by Shiseido has featured the "Cosmic Compost" project, which is being undertaken by Sunshine Juice and THE Farmers in Ichinomiya, to compost juice pomace and use it in fields. I wrote an article to accompany the beautiful photographs by Mayumi Hosokura. If you can find it, please pick it up.

The art direction for this issue of Hanatsubaki was done by French artist Clarisse. It was the first time that a foreign art director had worked on Hanatsubaki, which has been in circulation for over 100 years. The theme that Clarisse chose was "care." Each feature in this issue was wonderful, and you could feel the various forms of "care." I was impressed by what Clarisse said the other day: "Care comes in many forms, such as care for family and friends, care for the earth and environment, care for yourself (self-care), and care for details." A book that I read some time ago and was very impressed by is "A Caring Planet" by Kimiyo Ogawa. It made me really think about the word "care," which I'm ashamed to say I hadn't really thought about before, and it gave me the opportunity to reexamine myself. Ogawa spoke about this in an online interview.

"There are words like 'care for' and 'care about'. The former means to look after people directly. The latter doesn't necessarily involve providing concrete care, but rather complements one's feelings of care with money, such as 'how much money can I earn for my family?' Both are noble acts, but the ability to care for others, which tends to be carried out by women, remains poorly regarded. (Omitted) We must be grateful to those who work in the care industry and create a society where it is easy to live. To do this, each and every one of us must use our imagination and listen to the voices of those who have been made invisible. It is important to use this to reveal the existence and value of invisible labor. I believe literature exists to hone that imagination."

Of course, there are visible forms of care, but there are also many invisible forms of care. I think it starts with paying attention to them. I think that by featuring compost in Hanatsubaki magazine with beautiful visuals, more people will be able to pay attention to them. Art has a wonderful power.

On a different note, the Sunshine Juice Beppu 2days event held in November at the natural food store "Tsunagu" in Beppu was also wonderful. In these days when connections tend to become weaker, I felt that they value their connections with producers and customers. This time, I spoke about "stay juicy theory" in conjunction with the juice bar, and it was heartwarming to receive so many wonderful comments. At "stay juicy theory," we share with the participants what Sunshine Juice has been working on, what we are doing, and what we are aiming for, while drinking juice. I would be happy if it gave participants some insight or sparked a new idea.

I hope that Sunshine Juice will make not only your body but also your mind and heart juicy, and by talking about this and listening to your thoughts, opinions and stories, I feel that I also receive great energy. Talking and sharing is also a form of care. I would be happy to hold the "Stay Juicy Theory" in another location.

As Ogawa-san said in his interview, I want to use my imagination as much as possible and think about what other people, the earth, and myself are asking for, and what I can do about it. How can I deal with them? And I want to live without forgetting to respect those who are engaged in providing care.

Many people will be busy with the New Year holidays, so please take care of your health. I hope Sunshine Juice can deliver natural energy to you all. Have a great December! With juice! :)

Tune in for this month
My favorite song, full of love!

https://open.spotify.com/track/2paHUe6TT3OYzjQ8I4kRTb