On one of the back streets near our house there is small wooden house a bit hobbled together with a very sweet and obviously beloved garden, nestled in among all the concrete and skyscrapers. As I was walking home with Marlena today the woman tending her garden called out good morning stopped us and gave us these beautiful flowers. She pointed to a little terracotta pot hanging near the gate and told me ( I think - it was in Japanese ) that the flowers in that place are for anyone to take. This just melts my heart. I don't think I could ever fully express how incongruent such a gentle garden and lovely act of kindness seems, at least to the Western mind, in such a huge and densely populated city and yet this sort of thing happens all the time here.
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That same day, as I was walking home from our meet-up, it started raining. We only had hats to cover our heads and weren't frantic about being wet or anything. A lady rushed out of a building and insisted that we take her umbrella. We truly were fine with the rain and only 50 feet from our apartment door but she insisted. Domo Arigato... strange and wonderful country.
I think I know exactly which little house.
How fine, too , to have Mel's comment!
yes, strange, wonderful and, very often, sweet.
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