Smoothie Therapy

A Sanctuary Near the Sea

I went to the Kawamura Farm Café in Miho on a Sunday to buy some small, sweet tomatoes. I sometimes feel the need to go there after watching the news.

During the week, the shop sells a few varieties of tomatoes and fresh vegetables, but their café opens on the weekends and offers delicious, frosty-cold tomato smoothies. I ordered one and waited for it to be delivered to my seat.

After getting my smoothie, I thought it would be nice to share it with you, wherever you might be. I will also tell you about my inReach Mini 2, a small device that could save your life.

iPhone case, inReach Mini 2 displaying four o’clock, delicious tomato smoothie

The inReach Mini 2 is a GPS satellite communicator. I put it next to my beat-up iPhone case to show you how small it is. If a disaster shuts down all communication services here in Japan, I can send a message with a map showing my location within a few meters to rescuers in the United States.

Why the United States?

Imagine a big earthquake here in Japan. Everything is broken. Buildings are on fire. Emergency services are staffed by panicked workers overwhelmed by an emergency and almost no ability to communicate with each other. Some emergency workers, or their loved ones, will have been killed or wounded during the first shocks. If I am alive and able to push the SOS button on my inReach Mini 2, where will my message be received?

My message will be received way over in the US by a couple of guys having coffee and sharing pizza. All their communication systems are working fine. They will keep trying to get through to their counterparts in Japan until they know someone is on their way to my location.

More importantly, I can also use my Mini 2 to send a map showing the location of a café to someone who wants to have a tomato smoothie.

The inReach Mini 2 is around $500, but this small device could save your life if you are lost or injured.¹

I sent a message to myself. Now, I will share the link with you. If you scroll down, you will see a map. If you keep scrolling down, keeping the caret over “J. B. Laing” in the center of your screen, the map will disappear, and you will eventually see a photograph of the cafe where I was having my lovely smoothie. Here is the link:

The Kawamura Farm Café

This small—rustic, you might say—café is a refuge from the chaos of the rest of the world. Mr. Kawamura makes very nice smoothies (melon, chai, and tomato) and seems to love his work. I always get a warm welcome when I order my cold smoothie. He very kindly agreed to have his picture taken.

Mr. Kawamura standing in his cozy shop. The golden sign "川村農園—Kawamura Noen" says Kawamura Farm. The kanji 川—“kawa” in his name means river, and 村—“mura” means village. So his name means “village along a river.”

We need more people like Mr. Kawamura in the world. He creates tasty drinks and dishes and serves them in a cozy place where people come to heal. He and his wife have built a happy, therapeutic place.²

Could Mr. Kawamura's small, cozy café save lives? With everything happening in the world now, I think it just might.

1. When I use my inReach Mini 2, I sometimes think of the very sad case of Geraldine Largay, a lost hiker who died waiting nearly a month to be found. She would have been quickly rescued if she had an inReach or a similar device. NBC News article here: Lost Hiker Was Two Miles From Appalachian Trail When She Died. Accessed February 10th, 2025.

2. Here is a link to the Website of the Kawamura Farm Café with a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Kawamura and some of their offerings (in Japanese):

https://kawamura.eshizuoka.jp/#google_vignette

Here is another link to a guide to the area around the cafe. There is not much information, but I like the picture of Mr. Kawamura and his wife so much I want to share it with you.

Tokaido guide