Hirosaki's apple farmer's "gout" T-shirt is currently trending.

In early August, heavy rains in the Tsugaru region caused landslides and flooding of apple farms. While the disaster situation is being reported in the news every day, an interview with an apple farmer wearing a T-shirt with the word "gout" drawn on it is trending on Twitter. "(I was curious) I couldn't remember the contents of the news" and "I blew on my T-shirt".

Mr. Shunya Tamura of Tamura Apple Orchard attracted a lot of attention. It is said that the "gout" T-shirt has been worn on a daily basis as work clothes since 10 years ago. In addition, there are "broken bones" and "ends", etc., and they are worn around. “It started when I started wearing it to stand out at parent-child events. There are many people in Hirosaki with the last name Tamura, so I use it to help people remember my name,” says Tamura.

Farmers have come to call him "Tamura of gout," but Mr. Tamura smiles and says that he does not have gout. At one point, the T-shirt was red, but since the impression of crisis was strong, it is now unified to yellow. Since Mr. Tamura broke a bone last year, he began to wear "Bone fracture".

The reason I was interviewed as a disaster victim was because I uploaded videos and photos of the disaster area on my Twitter. It is said that it was introduced as a news video and was also interviewed. Mr. Tamura said, "My orchard suffered little damage, except that the waterways around the orchard overflowed. It may be difficult for farmers who are really affected by the disaster to respond to interviews."

For the interview, I wore my usual work clothes, the “Gout” T-shirt. Although he was laughed at at the shooting site, Mr. Tamura himself said that he did not feel uncomfortable. After the broadcast on August 12th, I was contacted by a relative and learned that it was trending on Twitter. Tamura's wife, Kimiko, posted on Twitter where he purchased the T-shirts and said that Tamura's sense of T-shirts is a "hobby".

Mr. Tamura said, "The disaster is not someone else's problem. I want people to know about the current situation. Even if it's just the 'gout' T-shirt, I would like them to know a little more about us and be interested in the actual situation of apple farmers. If you can," he says.