Owen’s Story pt.3

AN: By 1995, Bonsai for Life was becoming more than just two trees in your garden. How did you and Yudai end up dividing the work?

OG: We never sat down and made a plan. It just sort of happened. I was still teaching English to pay my way. But more and more, I was spending time in the garden. Watering, wiring, tending to the trees. And Yudai became the one handling everything outward facing. The website, the emails. If someone asked us to collect a bonsai, Yudai would arrange that. He'd work out travel costs, talk to the owners, and more often than not, he'd go and collect the tree himself. Then something else started happening. People would see a bonsai on the site and ask if they could buy it. We never set out to sell trees, but if someone really wanted one, we were happy for them to make a donation and take the tree. If they came to Kuji, they'd come to the garden and pick it up. If not, they asked us to deliver it to them; Yudai would work out the costs and handle all of that. So without ever deciding it, we ended up with two roles. Me in the garden and Yudai running everything around it. And for a while, it worked really well.

AN: So by this point, the website was online, the garden had opened, people were contacting you, and money was beginning to come in. Would it be fair to say that Bonsai for Life had now become a proper business? And why do you think that came about?

OG: Yes, I suppose by then it had become a business, although I don't think either Yudai or I thought of it that way at the beginning. We certainly didn't sit down one day and say, right, let's start a bonsai business. It happened because there was a need for something that at least around here didn't really exist. You have to understand how important some of these trees were to their owners. Particularly among the older generation of Japanese men, bonsai could become one of the great interests of their lives. Some had been caring for the same tree for 30 or 40 years. And as these men became older, there was sometimes a question that nobody wanted to talk about: what happens to the bonsai when I'm gone? Families were changing. Children moved away. They lived in small apartments, maybe without even a balcony. So trees that had been cared for every day just stopped being cared for. That was the need Bonsai for Life began to fill. We could say to somebody, if no one in your family can take your tree, bring it to us. We'll look after it. And that gave people some comfort. It wasn't just finding somewhere to put a plant. It was about knowing that something you'd cared for, for half your life, wasn't simply going to disappear when you did. In a way, that's what Mr. Tamaguchi wanted, and maybe without realizing, that's what he gave me: the idea for all of this. So yes, eventually it became a business. There were expenses. We had to get more organized. But it never felt like a shop. It was closer to a refuge. The trees already existed, and so did the love. We just gave people somewhere to bring it.

AN: So we're into 1995 now. How were things going? Were there any big changes that year?

OG: Yes, actually, there was one very big change. It was early summer 1995 when Yudai came to see me. I remember he seemed quite nervous, which was unusual for him. Yudai was normally very relaxed about things, and I'd rarely seen him anxious like that before. He told me that during his summer vacation from college, he wanted to spend as much time as possible working on Bonsai for life. But then he said there was something else he wanted to ask me. Yudai wanted to know if he could bring his younger sister, Mei Mei, up from Fukuoka for the summer. I could tell immediately that this was very important to him. I didn't know all the reasons at that point, and I didn't push him too much about it. But just from the way he asked me, and how nervous he seemed, I knew there was more behind it than simply wanting his sister to come spend the summer in Kuji. Of course, I said yes. Yudai had done so much for me by then. He'd put an enormous amount of time and energy into Bonsai for Life and had never really asked me for anything in return. He never asked for money, never asked for any particular favor. So when he finally did come to me and ask for something, there wasn't much for me to think about. If bringing Mei Mei to Kuji was important to him, then I was happy to help. That weekend, Yudai went down to Fukuoka, and the following week, he came back to Kuji with Mei Mei. Looking back now, I think her arrival was one of those moments that seemed quite simple at the time, but turned out to be monumental in the story of Bonsai for life. We just didn't know it yet.

AN: so, what was your first impression of Mei Mei?

OG: I remember it very clearly, it was at Koryu. Yudai brought her in from Fukuoka and I was already there waiting. She looked completely out of place, really. Still very much like she'd stepped straight out of Fukuoka, city clothes, a certain edge, a bit of attitude. We sat down for sushi and tried to chat, but she barely spoke. She did want beer, which was fine, though she got a little drunk. I tried a few times to bring her into the conversation, but it was clear she didn't want to talk. So most of the evening, it was just Yudai and me talking. She went back to Yudai's place afterward, and honestly, that night, I had no idea what to expect from her.

AN: So, did Mei Mei start doing anything for Bonsai for Life straight away?

OG: Yes, just a couple of days later. Yudai told me a family up in Hachinohe had asked us to collect a tree, and he'd take Mei Mei with him. I said great, go. But honestly, I was anxious all afternoon. Then they came back, and there she was—still all in black and wearing garish make-up, full Fukuoka style, but carrying this bonsai so carefully, and smiling. Huge. A smile I hadn't seen before. She set the tree on a stone and just stood there, looking at it. Quiet. Beaming. It was a very beautiful moment. That tree became known as Mei Mei’s Tree. It always remained special to her, and to us. And still is to this day…

AN: I have to say, that's not quite the reaction I was expecting from the Mei Mei you first described. How did she fit in over that first summer?

OG: Honestly, that's where things really started to change. She'd come up from Fukuoka with only a limited wardrobe, but even so, the next time I saw her, she was dressed much more casually. No heavy makeup. And she just kept showing up, day after day. Super curious. She wanted to know how to do everything. She spent a lot of time with Yudai, out on collections and deliveries and started learning the computer side from him as well. What interested me most was that she also wanted to understand my side of it. Sitting with me in the garden, watching how I trimmed and watered, listening when visitors came and then gradually helping with that. By mid-summer, she wasn't just tagging along. She'd quietly become part of Bonsai for Life.

AN: You mentioned Mei Mei was helping you talk to visitors. So, by this point, you had people coming into the garden?

OG: Yes, we did. By then, we'd decided we wanted the garden accessible to the public. Not private or closed off. So, we used some of Mr. Tamaguchi's money and made a proper gateway with a sign that said Kuji's Bonsai Garden. It sounds small, but it changed everything. People wandered in, sometimes on their own, sometimes whole families, and they'd walk around and ask about the trees.

We put out a small donation box. Nothing was expected, but people were generous in their own way, and it helped with the daily costs. I think there was also some curiosity about me as the foreigner in town, looking after all these Japanese bonsai. But I was there most days, so people would just walk in and talk, and I really liked that. It felt like the garden belonged to the town, not just to us. And through those visits, people could understand the story behind Bonsai for Life, and that felt important.

The Gateway to the Bonsai Garden, Kuji, 1995

AN: So Mei Mei stayed with you for the rest of that summer. How did things develop from there?

OG: She did, and honestly, it was an amazing summer. I got to know her really well, and she changed so much. She blossomed, that's the only way I can put it. She was at the garden every day. Smiling, learning, talking to people, she had found her place.

Then towards the end of the summer, we three sat down. Myself, Yudai and Mei Mei to discuss the summer and how things were going to progress at BfL. Mei Mei got quite emotional. She said it had been the best summer of her life, and she didn't want it to end. Later, Yudai spoke to me privately and asked if she could stay on as a full-time employee. It made sense to me. It was getting busier, and she fitted in perfectly. Yudai was going to have to focus on his studies and the project was so busy that I couldn’t possibly handle it on my own without it interrupting my day-to-day life. They went back to Fukuoka briefly to collect her things. When they returned, Yudai mentioned there had been some difficulties, but that it was over. The important thing was that they were back. She seemed settled and ready to stay. That was how her summer stopped being a visit. Kuji had become her home. And Mei Mei became an integral part of Bonsai for Life!