Parks - a creation

There are numerous parks in any city or village. I like what they do to the parks. There is normally a design and a plan. There is a conscious landscaping with fountains, ponds, lakes, streams and hills. This takes me back to a short story i read (i think in reader's digest) about a city lady buying a wineyard in rural france. She goes onto make some very good wine. She hires a landscaper to make a garden with a swimming pool that would clean itself and keep up a regular supply of clean water. Now that i talk about this lady with a wineyard, this takes me back to another article i read here in the "Daily Yomuri" about a girl who has taken up her father's business of making Sake. She is a the master brewer and her variety of Sake has been winning the national prize in Japan for 2 years consecutively. It was nice to read about her determination and resolve in mastering this art.

Coming back to parks after the diversion above, i have visited a few parks here like the one in the imperial palace premises, Yoyogi park and so on. Have always been impressed with the creativity exhibited in making something out of it. Would love to have something like this done in my "estate" sometime in the future..

Nature here in Japan..

Nature is another aspect that i love about Japan. Inspite of its industrialization, there is little pollution and a marked abundance of trees and grenery. One can't say greenery as the colors change in every season of the year - be it the cherry blossoms in April or the greens in spring or the colors in autumn. Imagine seeing greenery in Tokyo - an equivalent of Mumbai city. Be it a city or the rural area, greenery can at times get to be an eyesore. I have travelled to Nikko, interior Nikko, Hakone, Yokohama, rural side of Tokyo and never has there been a barrenness akin to what we see in india.

Milk Mystery - quite confounding

I found it quite surprising that the benefits of milk and poulty products were unknown to the Japanese till way into the 20th century. The general belief was that milk was for the small ones of the cows or the horses. People seemed surprised when milk was used for drinking by the westerners during Meiji Restoration. I think, i remember reading about Laflacio Hearn consuming milk (or was it someone else?) and people being quite shocked.

Chickens were bred for their eggs and not for their meat. In the travels by Isabella Bird, there was this section, where her guide bribes villages to get chicken so that they can be killed and cooked. There was this funny incident when a villager after parting with her chicken was so traumatized that she returned the money and took back the chicken grieving as if a family member was being affected.