"Furusato Nouzei" is a Japanese program called "hometown tax payment." It's a system where Japanese citizens can pay taxes to their hometowns or the municipality where they were born, instead of paying directly to the central government. Some local governments offer gifts or rewards to those who participate in the program as a way to thank them for their support.
We received a box of sweet potatoes as a gift for this program. My husband started paying taxes through this program about a year ago, and has chosen rice as his main return gift. Thanks to this, last year we hardly had to buy any rice. We have received sweet potatoes, as in this case, and oranges. In the first place, we should probably pay tax to the hometown where we were born and raised or to the municipality we want to support, but if there is a return gift, we will choose it based on its contents.... This sweet potato is a return gift from Nishihara Village, Kumamoto Prefecture. For me, it is a village with which I have no connection. My husband is from Kyushu, so we could barely call it his "hometown".
I am very happy to receive the big sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes and tried steaming them, making them into college potatoes, and so on. But in the end I found that baking them straight in the oven for 90 minutes is the best. With all this, I won't have to worry about snacks for a while.
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ふるさと納税の返礼品で、さつまいもが1箱届きました。
一昨年くらいから夫がふるさと納税を始め、返礼品は主にお米を選んでもらっています。おかげで昨年は、ほとんどお米を買わずに済んだと思います（実家からもらったのもありますが）。その他、今回のようにさつまいも、みかんを貰ったこともあります。本来は、自分が生まれ育った「ふるさと」や、応援したい自治体に納税するべきなのかもしれませんが、返礼品があるとなると、やっぱりその内容で選んでしまいますね・・・ このさつまいもは、熊本県西原村の返礼品です。私にとっては縁もゆかりもない村です。夫は九州出身なので、かろうじて「ふるさと」と言えるかも・・・？
大きなお芋が届いてとても嬉しいです。私はさつまいもが大好きなので。蒸かしたり、大学芋にしたりと色々試しましたが、結局オーブンでそのまま90分焼くのが一番美味しいことに気づきました。これだけあれば、しばらくはおやつに困ることはなさそうです。
