It has been almost five months since FarmMart & Friends opened in a corner of our Yoyogi office.
At the back of the store, where ingredients are bustlingly lined up, is donut chef Homma, who fries donuts every day in the kitchen, which can be seen through the glass.
If you are a member who commutes to Yoyogi, you may have seen him exhausted, collapsing onto the sofa in the evening.
Honma-kun will be taking the whole of August off to tackle a long trail in America.
I've heard of long trails before, but I was wondering what it actually involves. So, just before I set off, I decided to ask about it.
-You're usually in the kitchen in the back, so there are probably many Monosus members that you haven't met yet. Could you tell us about how you first met Monosus?
Yes. I spent some time overseas and came back to Japan in 2020. A friend invited me, saying, "I'm going to open a restaurant called GEN GEN AN Gen at Ginza Sony Park, but I don't have anyone who can cook."
Kamapan & Friends used to be on the third basement floor of that building. After the limited-time store closed, I was invited to open a store in Yoyogi.
-You created a collaborative menu in Ginza. Have you always worked in the food industry?
I was doing it as a part-timer, but I kept doing it. After I graduated from school, I worked as a bike mechanic. Just when I was thinking about quitting, Spectator magazine was doing a feature on long trails. I thought this looked interesting.
So, in 2015, I walked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a mountain trail that runs along the west coast of the United States from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. It took me five months to cover 4,260 km.
- Five months and 4,000km walking is incredible, I can't really comprehend it.
I went there without knowing anything. A proper hiker's backpack without food and water weighs about 6kg, but mine weighed 23kg. After walking for three days, I thought, "This isn't good!" and when I got down to the town, I sent it from the post office to the next town.
At the Canada-US border in 2015
- Weren't you worried about doing a long trail with no knowledge or experience?
I was just worried. But I thought, "Oh well, things will work out somehow."
I could barely speak English. I was frustrated by that, so the next year I studied at an English school in Fiji. After that, I went to the mountains on the border between Spain and France, so I didn't use English at all.
My English came in handy in 2017 when I walked the same path as in 2015.
-It 's the same place.
But it's not like that. The Mexican border is like a desert, and there was a lot of rain in 2017. It was called "super blooming," and the cacti were blooming like crazy. It was really beautiful.
There was a lot of snow at higher altitudes, so I gave up going there. At the time, I didn't have enough experience or equipment, so I couldn't go any further. Oddly enough, this year's starting point is right where I got off the mountain.
Hiking Cecil Peak, an iconic mountain in Queenstown. The mountain that awakened me to the joy of cross-country hiking.
-You're going to attempt the same route this year too.
Yes. I will be hiking the Southern Sierra High Route and the Sierra High Route. I plan to hike 400km in three weeks, half on trails and half cross country, using route finding on uncharted ground.
- A trail is basically a path that people can walk on. So route finding means going off that path and exploring new paths?
Yes. However, there are pebbles piled up in popular places and there are traces of human presence. It's fun to proceed while considering your physical strength, skills, tools, food and the terrain.
- I don't even do trekking, so just thinking about it makes me anxious. Do you have any goals this time?
To come back alive. Of course, I don't intend to do anything reckless, but I have signed up for a PLB, a device that can call rescue by GPS. Just as insurance.
There aren't many people who go solo. It's safer to form a team with a few people and walk while sharing various ideas.
-But even so, Honma-kun is going solo.
The walking speed varies from person to person, and when it comes to 100km or 200km, the difference becomes quite clear. It can be hard to keep up, and you can get annoyed. I also think that being alone will broaden the opportunities for encounters on the spot.
- Travelers sometimes talk to each other.
There are a lot of strange people out there. An Indian-American veteran named Doc whom I met in the desert saw my sunburned, saggy arms and told me to soak them in the juice from a can of white beans. I tried it, but I'm not sure if it worked.
I also met Iwashi-kun, who did the illustrations for the Hikers Zine we sold at FarmMart, in 2015. We met through a completely different channel, so it was a chance reunion. He's also quite strange. There are an infinite number of strange people out there.
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HIKER'S GIN developed from the perspective of hikers
Direction: Yasuhiro Kawahara @yasuhiro_0926 Movie & Photo: Keitaro Endo @keitaro_endo
When I walk alone, people are very kind to me. They let me stay at their house, treat me to meals, even though I'm a dirty Asian hiker. I feel so sorry for them.
-So that's one of the joys of it. I get the impression that you try it quite often, but what do you find fun about it?
What can I say? All you have to think about is where to sleep that night, where to find water, and what food to eat. You don't have to think about anything else.
You can see beautiful scenery, stop by a delicious brewery in town, and make friends along the way. It feels like playing a real RPG.
-It feels like an adventure.
When you become an adult, you don't get hurt, you don't eat something weird and get a stomach ache, you don't get confused on the map and go somewhere else.
I'm forever 15 at heart, and I like that kind of thing.
I spent three years in New Zealand from 2017. Hiking in the mountains behind my house
But I haven't been climbing mountains recently, so I don't really know what's fun about it. I'm sure I'll remember when I go, so please ask me again. This time I got new equipment and a new camera. I wonder if there's anyone who would like to listen if I hold a report meeting.
- That's a good idea, let's do it. Are the preparations going smoothly?
Physically speaking, I ride my bike to FarmMart every day. It's been three years since I last went to the mountains, so I hope my physical strength hasn't deteriorated.
-You don't prepare by climbing mountains in Japan.
I haven't been. Not even once. There are so many people in Japanese mountains, I'm not really good at it.
-I see. I'll be waiting for you to come back safely. Have you ever felt in danger before?
No, no, there are quite a few. When I was walking in the Mojave Desert, there was a place where there was no water source on a 48km mountain path. I don't know what I was thinking, but I went in without a drop of water and only with one 500ml can of beer. That was a serious mistake.
The water sources along the way that I thought there would be had dried up. It's a desert after all. I knew I'd be in trouble if I didn't get water today, so I ran the rest of the way at full speed.
At the end of the Camino de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela
-Even if something like that happens, you still want to go. By the way, what's it like working in the food industry, even though you love it so much?
Ever since I was a student, I've wanted to open my own cafe.
There is a brand called Deus Ex Machina in Australia. It is a hub of classic entertainment culture, such as surfing, motorcycling, and cafes. Rather than aiming for a standardized trend, the concept is that it is okay for each person to enjoy life in their own way.
I would also like to someday create a place that can become a hub for people who enjoy cultures like music, art, nature, cars, bikes, and food.
I've been trying a lot of things and it feels like I'm taking a bit of a detour, but I have no intention of giving up, so I'll keep going.
One week after this interview, Homma left for America.
As I watched him enjoy talking about his time in the mountains, I felt a little uneasy and thought, "I haven't been on any adventures lately."
I can't wait to come back and hear more stories.
Be careful. And have fun!
NAKAJIMA Kimi
Freelance, living in Ryukazaki, Ibaraki. I first encountered Monosus through an interview with “Nihon Shigoto Hyakka” and am now involved in several things, a bit outside of Monosus.