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| Some of the beautiful flowers in the garden |
Six stations away from Fussa where we are staying is Showa Kinen Park, a
vast garden with lakes, cycle paths, forests and swimming pools. Of
particular interest was the Japanese and Bonsai gardens.
We met a group of students and, surprisingly, one of the stayed behind
to talk as the rest of the group moved on with their old teacher explaining the
layout of the landscape. He spoke English. This is rare in Japan as
very few people know the language. He told us he was part of a group
studying gardening and that it was very difficult, especially the cultivation
of bonsai as it needs attention on a daily basis.
The miniature trees in the bonsai area were especially beautiful with
small, balanced trees, as all the gardens we've seen in Japan are.
We ordered a snack from one of the many restaurants. Being vegetarian, we were stumped. None of the ingredients were in English and we had a hard time explaining that we didn't eat fish or meat. Pork! he asked hopefully.
No, no meat of fish! By this time, the cooks were having a good laugh that here were foreigners who didn't eat meat or fish, a rarity in Japan as it is in other countries in the east.
Nevertheless, there was a suspicious gelatinous piece of what could have been squid on the plate and I left it there along with other fishy morsels.
Altogether, a great memory of Japan a couple of days before we leave.
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| Canal leading to the Emperor Showa Museum |
