Q. Mr. Kojima, what are the roots of your food?

When I come back here (Kochi), I rarely eat out. If you think about it, you can make your own food that you can eat at a restaurant. But I can't make what my mother makes. So I eat at home. When I was about 40 years old, I realized that, and then I thought, "Oh! There are so many things I don't know about Japanese food culture and things that my mother and grandmother used to do." Gone. Local cuisine and mother's taste are rooted in the climate of each land, and they make good use of it, and are completely different from the food in the city. This is what Japanese mothers have been doing for a long time.

In the midst of that, I experienced 3.11 in Tokyo, and suddenly I changed from being a sweets person to being that kind of person.

Q. Is that the reason for the miso book that will be published next time?

I agree. But what I'm really stuck on right now is that even if we simply think that we are precious things that must be passed on to the future, for example, the government doesn't think that way, the prefecture doesn't think so, and the town doesn't think so. If you don't think about it, you won't cooperate at all. Lately I've often wondered why I'm doing this without being asked to do it, even though it's not like I'm making any money. However, when I meet someone like the father of the miso shop, I feel like I'm going to do it! , My current goal is that if I don't make it work properly, it won't last long.

Q. Mr. Kojima, please tell us about the person you are aiming for and your vision for the future.

I guess it means living with relationships. Don't live without getting involved, live with a purpose and a relationship with people.

For example, if you don't know who made it, it's easy to throw it away, but when you meet someone and wonder if this person made it, you naturally feel attached to it. It's going to come out, and it's no longer someone else's problem.

I think that if everyone does more to draw the faces of the creators and live with gratitude, the world will be more smooth, and it will not be someone else's problem. If you can't see it, that part will be cut off and it will inevitably become sloppy. There are so many things like that now.

So if you don't dare to go, you'll meet people you wouldn't meet.

In my case, I go to see soy sauce makers, miso makers, and other such people, and then I wonder who makes the miso barrels. It feels good now to get involved more and more and get involved.

〈After the interview〉

The girl's dream, which began with admiration for the sweets that appear in Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie, repeats "something is different" in various experiences, and each time she seeks her own personality and corrects her trajectory. Get to know the food and lifestyle of your hometown. I think the reason why I didn't notice or lose sight of what was important to me was because of my heartfelt and rich life in the countryside. Everyone gets lost and stumbles over something. How you feel and think at that time and how you act depends on how seriously and correctly you face your inner self. I think that Ms. Kojima's strength and flexibility, who continue to accept "something different" that goes against her inner self without fear, may be a bit like Anne of Green Gables.

Interviewer: Yuko Goda (Japakaru)