Hello, how are you doing ??
Self-restraint life will be shortened !!
Now, where do you get groceries ?
I have gone to a supermarket last week after a long time.
I was overwhelmed by the number of items and very excited like I saw a museum or an amusement park,
Wow, how luxury !!　There is so many to choose from even only grocery!

Tongan life is very simple. NO CHOICE.

Vegetables are at the market until 4p.m.
I can buy tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, capsicums from September to December. If farmers don’t harvest, no vegetables at the market.

And also December is a holiday season for farmers ,too.

They plant veggies not to work during the holiday, so veggies do not show up.
After the holiday, final of January ,farmers start to plant , and maybe now veggies are showing again.
It’s a big different from Japan where we can buy anything at any time.

Fish is available to buy from fishermans at the wharf in the early morning.
We can eat the same fishes because there is no season like Japan. It’s sell by weight. So we can only choose whatever we want and it’s a tip of tasty that we cut with the seawater.

Meat is almost imported frozen. Chicken , duck tail ,lamb, pork and beef. We can buy whole chicken and have to remove bone by yourself. Lamb means fatty ribs parts which Aussie or Kiwi don’t eat it .I don’t know why beef is salted meat in Tonga.

All other foods and daily goods are in small shops.
Every shop has the same things , bread is white bread . It’s not like Japan . I went to every 5 shops every time I go shopping but nothing special .

In that way, everything is minimum selection.
Still, all we need is set and the staple foods such as root crops and bananas were received from someone ,so local production for local consumption is commonplace. I lived without feeling cramped.
Tonga has a wonderful sea , refreshing sky, fresh air. and because my backyard was the sea,I always “stay home” I felt real ‘ affluent ‘ in the life of Tonga ,which is a self-sufficient lifestyle, and I felt that was ‘luxury ‘ with a sense of fulfilment even without things.

The life of Tonga would have been a comfortable fit for me.

But now, It’s a lot of fun to go shopping at a supermarket for me.
I’ve already been there several times after returning and I”m still excited.
A supermarket is really super !!

All kinds of vegetables, fruits, fishes, meat according to by parts and more than ten kinds of same processing food !?
By manufacture, flavour or production area,,, if I want to eat something and go in front of its corner, I can’t choose one from too much choice.

Before going to Tonga, it was normal so I had no doubts about this abundant lineup.
When I traveled overseas, I enjoyed watching difference of the sales way and difference of products from Japan.
After all, I was surrounded by many products in anywhere.

“ Product”

I guess it’s not simple , it’s complicated. Until one product will be finished, many people are engaging ,things are gathered from everywhere, money goes and back ,energy crossed a lot.

People who make raw materials, people who pack it, people who make packages tor it, people who make a machine for it, people who get raw materials of that machine, people who transport product, people who introduce it, people who sell it,,,,

And then, there are so many companies which selling resemble products. It’s like always competition.

I wonder how many people might relate and compete to obtain various things without any inconvenience.

There are so many things. What we can choose means another kind of luxury.
I can understand that society has been treated as a symbol of ‘abundance’ after my life in Tonga.

The lives of many people have become indispensable to each other, affecting the lives of others who are invisible.

Many have begun to seek face-to-face consumption and connection with producers, but I’m feeling right now that our working has been working not only for an acquaintance but also for furthermore. That’s a kind of awesome thing.


It is said that the world will change after corona.
However, how will the world change ??
What kind of life I want ?
What kind of life you guys want ??

Author ; Miki Kato