A.N., once you were settled into the ground floor apartment with Mr. Tamaguchi's bonsai in the garden, what did life feel like then?

O.G., It was great. I was loving life, enjoying Kuji and the garden. My teaching was going well. My Japanese less so, but I didn't mind. Then, about two weeks after the funeral, there was a knock on my door, it was a man I didn't know. He explained that his sister, a local teacher, had told him about me taking Mr. Tamaguchi's tree. He said his father's bonsai needed a home. I was very hesitant but he was desperate. I said that I would think about it and would give him an answer in a few days. He explained that his family home had been sold and that it needed to happen today! Eventually I agreed and we drove two hours to his family home. It was fairly obvious that it was very last minute! there were people clearing out the house and workers doing various jobs. In the middle of the empty family room sat his father’s bonsai - it was very beautiful. We gathered up the tree and headed back to Kuji - we stopped halfway and had a lovely meal in a roadside Yakitori restaurant - it was a nice drive and we chatted the whole way. We got along well and when we got back to my apartment in Kuji I invited the man in for a drink. We chatted and then he left, we exchanged pleasantries and I thought that was that. After he left I returned to my living room and contemplated his father’s incredible bonsai (I was now developing a real appreciation of a good tree!). As I was sat there, drinking a beer, I noticed an envelope on the chair where my guest had been sat. I picked up the envelope and it had my name written on the front in English and Japanese, inside was a note thanking me for helping his family - it was also stuffed with cash! He had already gone and I had no way to reach him. My name was written on the envelope and a thank-you note in English was inside. So that night, I told Yudai at the restaurant.

A.N. Wait, who is Yudai?

O.G. Yudai is a young guy that I befriended in Koryu after Mr. Tamaguchi died. He was a young guy, kind of stuck in Kuji but liking it, a bit like me! He was originally from the southern city of Fukuoka but for some reason he was desperate to get away from there. He found a college in the most northern tip of Honshu - as far away from Fukuoka as he could get - and decided to study there. He was studying computer science and seemed to be a bit of a whizz in that area of study! He got pretty dark when he talked about his upbringing in Fukuoka but we always enjoyed chatting! We met many times in Koryu and got drunk on quite a few occasions - he was just a fun guy to be around.

A.N. Okay, so you told your new friend, Yudai, about your unexpected windfall…

O.G. Yes, and Yudai thought it was hilarious, and honestly, after a few beers and some sushi, so did I. As I said, Yudai was studying computers, bright, funny, always full of ideas, and he suggested building a website. I had no idea what that was in 1994, but he explained that it was like a book on the Internet but with pictures and that we can add information or pictures every day, or change it in an instant! He got pretty excited and I loved watching his excitement! He talked about pages on Kuji, the bonsai, even my story. At first a few photos, then more sections, then my background. Suddenly it was much bigger than I'd imagined. I had truly no idea what Yudai was talking about half of the time but his enthusiasm was infectious!

A.N. You mention your background, we've talked about what happened once you were in Kuji, but what I've always wondered is, why Kuji in the-first place? Japan I understand, but why this town?"

O.G. Well, when I was growing up, my mother was English and my father Welsh, but I mostly lived with my mother. During the holidays, we'd stay with relatives. We didn't have much money, so no big holidays abroad. We'd go up to my grandparents' cottage in Towyn, North Wales - a little place by the sea. I remember watching my grandmother cook in that tiny kitchen. And in that kitchen was this postcard on the fridge - it had a waterfall, autumnal trees & calligraphy. It just mesmerized me. And on the back it said Kuji, Japan. My grandmother told me that years earlier, in the mid-60s, she'd spotted a drenched backpacker waiting for a bus in the rain outside of her small cottage. She felt very sorry for him as she knew that no other buses were due that day so she invited him in for tea, fed him, gave him a sofa for the night. He was a Scandinavian guy, maybe called Jonas. He promised if he could, he'd send a card from the farthest place he reached. And more than a year later, that card arrived from Kuji, Japan.

So when I was 22 and determined to go to Japan, I didn't want Tokyo or Osaka. I wanted to go to a place where no-one else would be, foreigners that is!, and I couldn’t decide on a destination. So I thought why not just go to that name on my grandmother’s postcard! It took a long while but I eventually located Kuji on a map. It was small, remote, somewhere I'd never heard of, but it felt right. So that's where I went.

A.N. What a wonderful way to end up in Kuji!

A.N. So while Yudai was building the website, you were becoming close friend You too. You mentioned he'd fallen out of love with Fukuoka. Did he say why?"

O.G. Yeah, sometimes after a few beers, he got pretty emotional. He came from a poor background but was brilliant. He'd gotten away from Fukuoka to come to college here in northern Japan. He was originally from the southern city , but he worried constantly about his younger sister, “Mei Mei’. It seems she had fallen in with the wrong crowd in her home town - she was hanging with some seedy guys and definitely using drugs. He even thought she might be turning to prostitution to pay for her habits.

Owen’s Story pt.2

Yudai in Kuji, 1992

Mei Mei, Fukuoka, 1990 (Yudai hated this picture!)

AN: 1994 was incredibly early for a small organization like yours to be thinking about having its own website. You've said that at the time you barely understood what Yudai was talking about. So once you agreed to let him try, what actually happened? How did the two of you even begin building what eventually became Bonsai for Life?

OG: Honestly, I had no idea what we were doing. Yudai was the computer mind. I was just following along. He'd talk about the internet, websites, all these things that meant nothing to me. But he was so enthusiastic. And by then, we'd been given those two bonsais, Plus, the money, so I wasn't panicking about income. I basically said, "Go on then, see what you can do." He threw himself into it. He'd show up with little sketches, bits of writing, half of it I didn't understand. I just nodded along. Then one day he said, "We shouldn't just show people the bonsai, we should show them Kuji." That I understood! Previously Yudai had been a mate who I’d meet and have a few beers and laughs with. Now we were involved in an exciting project together and I was truly part of it. We started walking around town with a camera, taking photos of the harbour, the streets, little restaurants we loved. We'd go into restaurants, talk to the owners, try to explain what we were doing, which was, well, pretty odd in 1994. It was great fun, though. We'd finish a day of photos. Go back. He'd figure out how to get it onto the computer. I'd sit there, pretending I understood. And I think that's when Yudai and I really became close. Before that, he was just this clever young guy I'd met, but suddenly we had this project together. At the time, I didn't grasp how driven he was. I thought he was just fascinated by technology, but looking back, he was already thinking ahead, asking how can this be more? At the time, I just thought we were friends wandering around Kuji with a camera.

AN: So you were financially stable, but you noticed Yudai was unusually focused on making Bonsai for Life sustainable. Did you understand why, at the time?

OG: Not really. I honestly thought maybe he needed money himself, which is why I offered to lend him some. But he refused flat out, very firm. He was grateful I'd offered, but absolutely wouldn't take it. That's what confused me. Here he was, not chasing money for himself, But he was determined that BfL (Bonsai for Life) shouldn't just sit there. He wanted it to grow, to go somewhere. And I didn't understand why, not then.

AN: So the website was taking shape through 1994. When did you finally reach the point of putting it online?

OG: It was right at the end of 1994. Yudai said, "I think it's ready," and I just nodded, still not really understanding what going online even meant. A few days later, he showed it to me on the actual internet, and it just blew my mind. There were our trees, the ones we'd been watering and wiring, sitting there on a screen for anyone to see. And the photos we'd taken around Kuji. It felt like magic. We were so proud we started carrying his laptop around town, showing people. We'd walk into a restaurant and say, "Look, you're on the internet!" Most people had never seen anything like it. They were genuinely excited to see their little corner of Kuji on a screen. And Yudai loved that. Not just the technology, but seeing people recognize themselves in what we'd made. It was a wonderful time. Everything still very small, very innocent, but we felt as if we'd done something extraordinary.

AN: Once the site was up, how did that affect your day-to-day life and the running of the garden?

OG: Honestly, day-to-day life didn't change much. The trees still needed watering, weeding, wiring. But there was this new thread. Checking email on a shared computer. Sometimes trekking into town and waiting on a slow connection. If a message came through, it was really thrilling. Meanwhile, the garden rhythm stayed steady. It was this funny mix, old trees and brand new internet.

AN: You mentioned that Yudai wanted the site to become commercially viable. Once the site was live, did you actually see that happening?

OG: Yes, though it happened gradually and in little ways. We opened a separate bank account just for the garden, to deal with the small transactions that we were dealing with. I put most of the remaining money that had been donated into that account. Then emails started to come in, not huge numbers, but people were finding us with questions and praise about everything on our website. Some emails were asking questions about bonsai - about how to care for them. Some wanted us to take in a family bonsai, so we'd quote our travel costs and they'd transfer that into the account. People who brought trees themselves would often leave a little cash in an envelope which would be put into the BfL account. Then Yudai added a donations page to the website with our bank details. And we started receiving small transfers from people we didn't even know. Some said thanks for advice. Others just liked seeing Kuji online. It wasn't huge money, but it felt like affirmation. And I think it meant even more to Yudai than it did to me.