July 4, 2025. Aya recently moved to Singapore from Japan and is bringing the sencha of Shirakawa-cho along for the journey. We learn about her transition to life in Singapore, why she’s trying to share her love for the green tea of Shirakawa-cho (different from the more famous Shirakawa-go!), and learn her connection to this city amidst Japan’s rural revitalization efforts.
Aya is a recent expat from Japan in Singapore. She loves exercising and cultural exploration. In her past 3 years in rural Gifu, she has met beautiful people, discovered the green tea called Shirakawa-cha, and is currently on a mission to bring awareness of this tea to people of Singapore. Follow Aya on IG @usualexplorer.
Ben talks about movies on his film podcast at deepcutpod.com, and writes about film at thekinetoscope.com. He lived a past life working in film production. Find him online at benjaminyap.me
The Space
This episode was recorded in a Public Living Room, a crowd-funded community space in 195 Pearl Hills Terrace. If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to help us keep recording, please support the Stranger Conversations crowdfund. This supports their mission to build a third place at the intersection of self-exploration and collective good. You can follow them on Instagram @strangerconvos or go to linktr.ee/strangerconvos where you can find links to the crowdfund and find out more about what they do.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:53 Relationship to the space
07:17 Aya’s transition to Singapore
10:43 Aya’s Sencha project
18:47 Shirakawa tea
28:14 Why share Shirakawa tea
36:15 Being welcomed to new places
44:01 Sencha is not matcha
48:05 How tea regions differ
50:53 Where her project is right now
58:40 Iron ricebowl question
