The best part about traveling for me is not really having an agenda.

I have almost five weeks of Japan exploration ahead of me. I don’t make a list of places to see or experience. I just meander.

Yesterday morning while walking to an exhibition, I passed a beauty salon. It wasn’t flashy but rather old time-ish. Outside was an older woman tending to a small array of potted plants.

Her kimono was simple. Oat coloured. Her silver hair coiffed into a perfect chignon. I smiled at her and behind her mask I could see her eyes light up so over I went. As soon as I did, she pointed to her ginger lily.

“Jinja,” she said, stroking the petals.

“Hai,” I replied wishing I could remember the Japanese word for ‘beautiful’.

(side note : Ginger lily in Japanese is ジンジャーリリー and is pronounced “jinjariri”)

I pointed to her Cosmos, saying the name in English.

She replies, “Hai, Cosmos.”

She went down the line, pointing to her Camellia with tiny buds. “Kore wa tsubaki. Red!”
(This is camellia.) And her eyes shine because she knows the English word.

It rained most of the afternoon yesterday but with my trusty umbrella — gifted to me by my niece as a thank you present for taking care of her cat — I just ambled through Akasaka, the neighbourhood where I’m staying, ending up at Connel Coffee, a beautiful, if swanky café in the area.

There I stayed, drawing on my iPad for a few hours while the rain pitter-pattered against the huge glass windows.

Later that night, lying under the covers, I thought about the woman and her potted garden outside her beauty parlor and it occurred to me that it was the best part of a pretty perfect day.

---

Copyright © 2024
Lisi-Tana.com
All Rights Reserved

Thanks for visiting my blog. Consider signing up to be notified when there is a new post, or become a monthly subscriber to have access to all my posts.