I was a naive 19-year old hanging out with women twice my age and they taught me ikebana, tea ceremony, social grace, friendship and the appreciation of nature. Now I find I still prefer the company of older women who now teach me the way to the top, relationships and how to relax. (Cie and I have coffee with Tita Vickie and Tita Carmina who are all too eager to flash out their senior citizen cards whenever we're out having coffee).
One summer in 2000, the gates of Obuse Flower Garden was opened to the public. I was working in Tokyo and took the shinkansen (bullet train) to the lovely town of Nagano, where my Japanese friends took me in during the summer holidays. Takizawa-san, our adopted otoosan (mother), who was also the one who introduced us to Ikebana, took me and Cie to the Obuse Gardens.
Oh I love Nippon. I remember walking from work to our apartment, we would pass by rows and rows of apple trees, with red, plumpy, juicy Fuji apples that are to die for. It was so ubiquitous that it was almost too tempting to just pluck the apples right out of somebody's yard, but we never did. There was too much respect for the land and the people. I think I tasted a bit of heaven in that place.
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