We Are Tomodachi Summer 2018

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23From his experience with agrariansocieties, he knew that to gain theirtrust he would have to sweat andtoil alongside them. Over time, heforged a bond with the community,and their skepticism toward himturned into a belief in his cause.The time had come to bring theseseedlings back from the brink ofextinction. With the locals on hisside, Kawashima could switch hisfocus from the seeds to the fi elds.Deforestation along the hillsidescombined with heavy rains haderoded the land, wreaking havocon the plantations. To curtail this,the locals and Kawashima usedterraced fi elds and planted shadetrees as well as underbrush to preventsoil runoff. To rejuvenate lessproductive trees, they employed a“cutback” technique to offsetunchecked growth.“The farmers knew the trees woulddie if over-trimmed, which was alittle disturbing for them, but a fewmonths later, the trees lookednoticeably better, and they saw thatI was right. That lifted everyone’sspirits,” recalls Kawashima.Two years into the project,Kawashima believes the Mibirizibeans will be ready for market inabout fi ve years, thanks to steadyimprovements in cultivation. Aftercultivation, the next step is beanselection, followed by processing,sales, and exporting. All are connectedand important steps within theindustry.“I’m nurturing these new skillsin the locals. This way they caninstruct new generations,” saysKawashima.Soon, Rwandan coffee will beone of the most coveted coffees inthe world—elevating the countryand its people—thanks to passionateyoung farmers who learned fromthe Japanese Coffee Hunter.As the son of a wholesale coffee roaster, Yoshiaki “José”Kawashima, known as the Coffee Hunter, has spent hisentire life around coffee. He studied at the SalvadoranInstitute for Coffee Research and then worked for a majorcoffee company, developing plantations in Jamaica,Indonesia, and Hawaii. Then, in 2008, he foundedMi Cafeto, achieving his dream of creating a sustainablebusiness importing and selling coffee in Japan.Yoshiaki “José” KawashimaAs he crushes the berries,Kawashima shows that theripeness of the berries can bedetermined by their juices.One of the secrets to delicious coffee is the “selection”process of the coffee berries. Kawashima instructsRwandan producers not to mix mature berries withthose that haven’t ripened.Rwandan coffee producers listen to Kawashimaas he explains how to make terraced fi elds.