It will be held at MUYA on December 8, 2024.
On the occasion of ARC & hoho's mandarin orange event
I had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Ueda from ARC.

Hello, Ueda-san. Could you please start by giving us a brief introduction of yourself?

My name is Ueda and I run a cafe called ARC and a podcast called kisen radio in Arita City, Wakayama Prefecture.

First of all, could you tell us what inspired you to start ARC?

It's difficult to say why I started ARC. Before ARC,
My friend and I run a club called Arita Running Club.
So, while we were running together, we thought it would be nice to open a shop or something, and so we just did it.

I see. So, is it fair to say that you started Arita Running Club as a hobby?
ARC is the abbreviation for Arita Running Club.

I've been running since I was in college,
Around 2019, there was something like a running club boom all over Japan.
So, being a fangirl, I thought I'd like to try it too.
So that's how I invited Tanaka to join us and we started doing it.

How long ago did that happen?

That started in December 2019.

December 2019. Then, gradually, I started doing it as a hobby,
When did you first start thinking that you wanted to open a shop?

I had wanted to open a restaurant for quite some time, and when I was 30, I moved to Wakayama.
It was after I met Mr. Nuya that I decided I wanted to open my own restaurant.
It was probably around 2015 or 16, when I was around 31 or 32 years old.
This ARC was created in 2021,
Chronologically, I came back here in 2014.
So, I met Mr. Nuya in 2015 or 16. That's when I thought, "There's a cool guy in Wakayama, isn't there?"

It's not us, it's not Otani from FROM FARM or anything like that.

No, Nakeya-san is definitely first.
I first learned about FROM FARM through a post on Nakeya's Instagram.
That was 2016.
And then I thought, "Wow, there's this cool place near my house!"
From then on, my husband and I started going there together.
So, when I saw the enthusiasm of Mr. Nakeya and Mr. Otani, I always thought, I'd really like to be able to do something like that.

Fluffy. I thought it was fluffy.
In fact, this is the opening of ARC stores in 2021.
I thought maybe I should try this seriously. There must have been some trigger for that.

It was something like that, when I was running and talking with Tanaka-san, and we were like, "Let's do it!"
If I was alone, it would have been difficult to take the plunge, but with two people, the cost of opening the store was half,
Since there are just the two of us, things are progressing smoothly.

It started as a running club, but the current form of the ARC cafe is,
When you opened the shop, did you have an image in mind?

It's like a cafe. It's easy to come in.
I wanted to create a place that anyone could come to, so I thought a cafe would be a good fit.

What about the T-shirts and other merchandise currently available in the store?

No, we didn't. We did make clothes, but we only wore them ourselves and didn't sell them.
After all, everything I do is something I only do because I admire someone.

No, that's not the case (laughs).
This is the main point this time,
In addition to your current activities, could you tell us what led you to take over the mandarin orange farm?

I took over the mandarin orange farm because I had a friend who was a full-time farmer, and his son developed an eye disease.
It felt like I could no longer see out of one eye.
Tangerine fields are quite terraced, so if you can only see with one eye, it's hard to get a sense of distance and it feels dangerous.
So we decided to keep the flatland fields and give up the mountain fields.
So it feels like I've taken over part of the field that is being given up.

But what would you say if the opposite happened?
It's like a lot of pressure, isn't it really hard to grow oranges?
Did you ever feel like, "Can I just do it straight away?"

I didn't think about it that deeply.
My grandmother used to do it, but she did it all by herself.
I helped out a little bit throughout the year, so I started off with a general idea of ​​what it was like.

In fact, I think the mandarin orange harvest has begun, but what kind of mandarin oranges are there?
Are there any other varieties of mandarin oranges, such as Arita mandarins and hassaku oranges, that Mr. Ueda is currently running?

The only type of mandarin orange available is early-ripening.
I hope you'll be born soon.
As the seasons progress,
Even Unshu mandarins are divided in a similar way.

In this largest category, would it be Unshu mandarins?
And do some of them have different names depending on the season?

Yes, that's right.
Among those Gokuwase products, there's yn26.

Um, wait, what do you mean?
There's a whole lot of variety?

Yes, the variety name is Yurawase.
Ours are pretty standard, with names like Miyagawa and Taguchi.

If you classify them, there are about 100 types?

I wonder if there is. I don't think there is that much.
Arita itself is mostly made up of Satsuma mandarins.
In addition to Unshu, there are also other varieties called Zakkan, such as Hassaku and Kiyomi.
Everyone is making things like that.

The ones Ueda is making are Unshu mandarins.
Does the mandarin orange harvest end in November or December?

There are various kinds of goods available from January to May.
Hassaku, Kiyomi, Valencia oranges, and calamandarins.

Ueda-san didn't do that, did he?

I haven't done it.

Once the mandarin oranges are harvested from October to December, what do farmers do after that?

After that, there was a lot of work to do, like spreading fertilizer, pruning, and weeding every day.
This year, I think January and February were really busy for me.
The plan is to pull out all the tangerine trees in the fields that we weren't in today and plant new seedlings.

Wait a minute, there are oranges, peaches, chestnuts and whatnot. What about oranges?

Maybe 3 years. I don't know lol.

But will it bear fruit in three years?

I guess that's the case.
However, it will probably take about 5 or 6 years before you can start getting them easily.
It's quite difficult.

This is the first harvest and we are now finally starting to sell the products.
If you look around, you'll see that they're organizing a lot of events, right?
As for how I got to know him, we started teaming up pretty quickly, right from our debut match.
There are a lot of people working together. Was there a connection between them from the beginning, or did you ask them to work together?

Apparently it was someone Shouji knew.

Who is Shouji?

Shouji is the one who does the design for us,
Now, ARC FARM is a project that I've teamed up with Shouji to get into action.

So, the people who organize events in Kyoto and the surrounding area are people Shouji knows, or something like that.

I agree.

There's also Saitama.

Saitama is Shouji's designer friend.

Oh, Shouji-kun (laughs).

Pan-chan is a customer from Hiroshima who comes to our house.
Yes, Pan-chan works at USHIO CHOCOLATL, so we were able to do it at USHIO.

And what about Fukuoka?

Fukuoka is also Shouji's friend.

Why are you such good friends with Shouji? Was there a particular reason why you two became friends?

It all started when Shouji used to come to the store regularly and lived in Kyoto.
So, he came several times.
Yeah, I was shown some designs.
So, our graphic, the triangular ARC.
Shouji gave me some presents and I thought it was really cool, so I made some merchandise.
Then we did something like an exhibition of Shouji.

By the way, how old are you and Shouji?

I'm 40 and Shouji is 38.

Why did Shouji come back?

<Shouji appears>
S) I'm Shoji, a designer. I'm working on the design for ARC FARM together with Atsushi.
My hometown is Hirokawa-cho, which is located in the southernmost part of the Arita region.
I was living and working in Kyoto, but every time I came back to Arita,
I had heard that there was a really cool coffee stand there.
So, one day, it was either the beginning of 2023 or the end of 2022, so it was really about a year ago.

We've known each other for about a year?

S) Yes, about a year and a half.
So, after coming here once, I realized that the atmosphere and Atsushi's personality were really good,
I started going there every time I went home, and then it just kept coming.

So what prompted you to come back?

S) At first, I was just visiting my hometown, but gradually I started coming to ARC.
As I continued doing this, I started getting work in Wakayama.

So, does that mean you're currently doing a lot of graphics work for projects around Wakayama?

S) Yes, there are a lot. Rather than saying the percentage, I'd say about four-fifths of them are in Wakayama.
I currently have a little bit of work to do in other regions outside of Japan, but my main focus is now on Wakayama.

So do you often work with people you know?

S) Yes, we recently worked together to make a T-shirt for Jinko (Roasters)'s 10th anniversary.

Well, I'm glad you came back.

S) That's great. It's really just the right place, with the right people. This area around Arita.

Ueda-san, after this pop-up tour, from January to October,
Once the tangerine harvest is over, you'll be free.
How will you continue your activities from now on?

U) Well, we do make bottled juice as well.
I would take some of it and go out selling things again.

I see, it's mandarin orange juice.
Did Shouji design the part where the label is attached?

S) When I put it on, I really wanted to bring together all of Ueda-san's various connections into one.
I really want to bring together the connections that Ueda has cultivated with artists and designers,
I do things like putting together all the artwork they've created into one piece.

You've found the best supporter ever. Your wife (laughs).
Is the mandarin juice simply bottled?

U) It's bottled, and we also have freshly squeezed juice.
It won't be my own mandarin oranges, but I'll be buying some vegetables from a friend's farm and bringing them along.

Is that a different type of juice from the mandarin orange juice that FROMFARM (KAMOGO) makes?

U) Some are the same and some are different.
There's a little bit of movement there too.
There was no planning involved, and I just seemed to be unable to see anything but what was in front of me.

No no. That's enough.
If you're going to use a mandarin orange jar, you'll have to put it in beforehand, like in December.

U) So, the ones you picked up in large quantities yesterday were for bottled juice.

Is it just something that has a little scratch on it, or something like that, so make sure you choose carefully?

U) No, I didn't choose it.

Are the things that you can just buy normally also for juice?
If it's bottled, how long is the shelf life?

U) If you bottle it, it will last for a year.
Like a small 180 and a big 720 wine.
I also want to do wholesale.
So when I go out selling, I take it with me and go around to different places to say hello and ask people for drinks.

I think I'd like to buy them as souvenirs in sets of two, four, or six.
If you do that, you'll probably think, "Maybe I should bring a little gift."

U) That's right. The packaging, too,
I got to think about what kind of thing we should create together with Shouji.

Excuse me, but what about the fee? How is the fee divided?

S) I did receive a guarantee at the beginning, but I'm starting to not really understand what's going on.

U) They are doing far more than what they are being paid.
At first, they tell me how much they will charge me in one lump sum, and I have already received the payment.
First delivery.

Is that right, like a major leaguer? Like a one-year contract?
Please keep it this way this season,
So the contract will be made public around April next year? It's like, "I've hit so many home runs!" (laughs).

S) This year, I feel like I've hit a home run, even more than just my initial reward.

U) No matter how you look at it, they are doing more than what the guarantee would allow.
So, I want the mikan to be a success so that I can pay Shouji properly.

Would it be a problem if I asked you about your particular preferences for mandarin oranges?

U) Our commitment to mandarin oranges.
I think you first went to consult with Mr. Nakeya before you started growing mandarin oranges.
At that time, I was told to just act normal.

No, no, I'm not being arrogant like that.
I was saying that steady efforts are the only way to go.

U) Steady. And prices and things like that are normal, not too high or anything weird. Just do it normally and don't do anything weird.

No, I'm not saying that in such an arrogant way (laughs).

U) I took that to heart and acted completely normal.

So, it's about selling in a fun way, but also selling honestly?

U) That's right. I don't do anything weird.
Since mandarin oranges are a natural product, I don't think there's a correct way to make them.
However, since Arita is a mandarin orange producing region, our predecessors have established conventional cultivation methods to a certain extent, so we decided to start by doing that properly.

Isn't Arita a mandarin orange region? I don't know how many mandarin orange farms there are, but what percentage of them are sold directly?
The image is that it will be sold wholesale to a market or agricultural cooperative or something like that, and that will be the end of it.
Do you have a brand that you sell directly to?

U) No, I think it's very few, and most of the people who are doing branding just send it to the agricultural cooperative.
So, I'd like to try selling some special mandarin oranges individually.

For now, if you have 100, sell 80 of them and make sure you have enough to eat.
So 20% of them are just given names or something like oranges?
Is there anyone doing something independent?

U) No, there aren't any. I think it's 0.

So it's quite a narrow gate.
After all, it's about how we can set ourselves apart from other mandarin orange farmers.
If they sell it at the agricultural cooperative? market? store for 100 yen,
How much would they buy it for at the market?

U) We're trying to sell it for XX yen per 5 kilos.
If you go to the agricultural cooperative, it costs ○○ yen for 20 kg.

It's incredibly cheap.
Is that normal? Is it normal for 5kg to cost XX yen? If you go to a supermarket.

U) Yes, it's a normal price. I think it's a normal price that individuals can buy directly.
But the good thing about agricultural cooperatives is that they take over all the work.
However, there are quite a few different ranks among agricultural cooperatives, so prices vary somewhat, but they are still cheap.

What else may I ask you?

U) Personally, I think I may have told you this reason why I want to do this with mikan, but
They didn't make anything, they just gathered together nice people and made it seem like it was their own, which felt really superficial and I didn't like it, and then the offer to make mikan came up,
How should I put it, Mr. Nakeya and Mr. Otani are kind of similar.

No, we're already working in muddy water (laughs).

U) But I'd like to do something in a similar setting.

So, our future activities will be selling mandarin oranges, a coffee shop, and merchandise.

U) That's right. I want to make it so that it can be properly established.

Can I ask you about the event at MUYA on December 8th?

U) Hoho-san will bring me bomboloni,
From our house, we brought freshly squeezed mandarin orange juice, 5kg of mandarin oranges, small bags, and ARC FARM goods.

Is this the first event from Saitama to feature freshly squeezed sake?

U) This year, we will be holding an event called Sorakoto Biyori in Kimino Town, Wakayama Prefecture for the first time.

How do you feel about it?

U) It was pretty good.
It was way better than coffee.

Do you use about 10 mandarin oranges to make freshly squeezed juice?

U) No, about six.
Six of them will give you about 200ml.
Squeezing and juicing is good.
Fresh fruit always has that taste,
It also has a live feel to it.

I think I was able to hear most of what I wanted to hear.
On the day, freshly squeezed juice, 5 kg of mandarin oranges, ARC farm goods,
So you'll bring me hoho's bomboloni!

By the way, what about events in Saitama and other places?

U) We'll be doing it in Saitama.

What, seriously? By yourself?

U) No, everyone. Shoji too.

So, did you pack all the mandarin oranges? Hiroshima ones too?

U) Hiroshima is like that too. Fukuoka too. Packed to the brim.

lol lol
What do you imagine for the future?

<Shouji-kun appears again>
S) I'm thinking about the direction and the type of ARC FARM I want to take.
I've been doing design work purely with the idea of ​​making frames, although not picture frames.
What I mean by that is that, in the first place, Atsushi Ueda has worked with people like Isae, who does illustrations,
NOI, who created the graphics for the T-shirts, and the quality control...
There is a connection like that, and we should use it in a way that is similar to the creators of 2024.
Next year, I will meet many different people among those different people involved.
It's like we're going to come up with new packaging.

U) But the direction hasn't been decided yet,
I want to keep trying and failing until I find something.
I was saying that I would sell it as something interesting, but I haven't really decided what that means yet. It's still a trial and error process.

Even when selling something as entertaining, it's important to be cool and honest.
Something I can say to myself now.
But the fact that we actually produce and harvest the roots ourselves is another root.
If I can incorporate that knowledge into my own work, I feel like I can do something with it.
The community is so large and I know so many people, so I'm looking forward to future activities.
Thank you for sharing so much with me.
We look forward to seeing you on the day.

---

"ARC FARM Harvest Festival Tour 2024AW"
December 8th (Sunday)
12:00-17:00
MUYA
1946 Shirahama-cho, Nishimuro-gun, Wakayama Prefecture, 649-2211