Crimson Leaves and Lifelong Connections in a Kyoto Garden
“Sensei, look! Look! A maple leaf is floating on the water! Wow, it’s beautiful!” Kanako cried out to me, her eyes shining with the excitement like a young girl in elementary school.
It’s been about a year since I last saw Kanako. We have been friends for nearly 30 years now.Throughout her junior and senior high school years, she won numerous awards in various English speech contests and achieved great success.She currently works as an elementary school teacher in Yokohama. Since she was a child, she has had a strong sense of justice, has been very diligent in her studies, and approaches everything with great enthusiasm. She is a person who loves nature and people, and possesses a strong capacity for empathy.
It is late November, the depth of autumn. The tearoom garden in the backyard is a tranquil space where the newly crimson maple leaves create a striking contrast with the deep green moss covering the ground.
I reunited with Kanako for the first time in about a year. This time, she brought along Derek, whom I would readily describe as a “bosom friend” for her.
This phrase, which Anne used to describe Diana in Anne of Green Gables, signifies someone who you can trust completely and express your true, unvarnished self to.
In my eyes, Kanako and Derek embody the very essence of that ideal “bosom friend” relationship.
Derek is a language master who speaks at least five languages, including his native language English, German, and French, not to mention Japanese. When he speaks with me, his Japanese is so excellent that if I close my eyes, I would think he was a native Japanese speaker. He used to live in Seattle for a while, but now he resides in Florida. He is working hard as an emerging painter. I asked him, “Why did you move from Seattle to Florida?” Seattle is a city I love, where Naoko and I spent a year together 20 years ago. “The winters in Seattle are depressing because the sun sets so early,” he replied with a smile.
Kanako and Derek first met when Kanako studied abroad in the U.S. during high school, and Derek was the host brother in the family that welcomed her. Later, when Derek came to Japan to study abroad, Kanako’s family, in turn, hosted him.
Since then, they have developed a relationship where they essentially have two families, one in the U.S. and one in Japan, and this bond has continued for nearly 30 years. On this occasion, Derek traveled all the way from America to visit Japan to celebrate Kanako’s father’s 77th birthday.
I was very happy that Kanako and Derek took time out of their limited stay in the Kansai region to visit my home in Kyoto. Although I only get to see Kanako about once a year, I was truly touched that she thought of Naoko and me. I really hope to see Derek again. He is one of the people I would gladly fly all the way to America to visit.
