Hikari no Tane: Organic Food for Kochi and Help for Thailand

“Irassyaimase! Osukina seki douzo,” welcomes a young woman warmly, telling guests to sit where they like. The entrance sign says this bright wooden interior is the café Hikari no Tane. The delicious smells of coffee and food fill the air.

“I can always provide delicious food to customers,” says the owner, Ms. Otani. “Our café sticks to using natural food as much as possible. I want to the importance of food and want people to be interested in food.”

Hikari no Tane is a café that uses organic food made in Japan and organic coffee beans from Thailand. Hikari no Tane buys organic coffee beans from Thailand at a fair price including the aim to help indigenous people in Thailand.

Hikari no Tane uses organic coffee beans from Thailand, natural food, and traditional seasoning made in Japan.

“We know artificially-made foods are bad for the health,” says Ms. Otani. “So we stick to using natural food and seasoning.”

In Japan, this organic coffee can be enjoyed only here. In fact, many of the producing countries are cultivating the coffee plantation. But when the land becomes overfarmed, many use agricultural chemical and repeat it. Using agricultural chemicals is bad for health and the environment. Some workers work at cheap wages to support the consumption of coffee and eroded by pesticides.

“This coffee tree is about 30 meters high, and it crosses the river where beautiful water runs and is where the sunlight falls in Thailand,” says the shop owner, Mr. Tamaki. “These coffee beans are picked up by indigenous people and sun-dried by orphanage students in there.” This coffee is not only gentle to the body, but it can protect nature and protect the lives of distant people in Thailand.

Mr. Tamaki also runs an orphanage in Thailand.

“I like to drink coffee,” says Ms. Otani. “When I went to Thailand and found the organic coffee, I was very impressed and thought ‘this is amazing!’ because this is unusual in the world. At that time I wanted to sell this coffee in Japan.”

Unfortunately, indigenous people didn’t know how to drink coffee, so they drink instant coffee that is expensive. Ms. Otani shocked that.

After that, Mr. Tamaki and Ms. Otani opened the café Hikari no Tane to drink the coffee.

“I was interested in eating since junior high school student. I often thought why the butter is not good for health and so on,” says Ms. Otani. “My family and his family always eat natural foods, so we wanted to use natural foods.”

They don’t use white rice, butter, frozen processed food, and chemical seasoning. They use enzyme brown rice, rice oil, food made in Japan.

Mr. Tamaki, the chief priest of a Buddhist temple, teaches people how to fast.

“Many people have toxins in their bodies, says Mr. Tamaki. “These are related to foods like used chemical seasoning or food additives.” These days in Japan there are a lot of instant foods and frozen processed foods that can cook for a short time. However, these kinds of food are bad for health.

The shop staff member like to cook something with time and effort.

“I don’t like tell staff member what to do for every little thing,” says Ms. Otani. “So I respect the autonomy of the individual and values their creativity.”

“I think that being healthy by eating good foods is a major factor in happiness,” says Mr. Tamaki. “And I wish people in the world to be healthy.”

Unfortunately, Hikari no Tane is going to close in December. However, they plan to reopen after a renovation of the shop and changing the location.

“I want to do many things,” says Mr.Tamaki pleasantly.

They continue to serve healthy foods and message to think about food, background or something. Hikari no Tane keeps a safe and secure place for everyone.

“I want to make it a little better little by little,” says Mr. Tamaki. “I want customers to be more pleasured.”

–Tomoka Fujita