Saba is so cute. Eight years ago we also got a cat; a short-legged breed called a Munchkin. Even if our cat finds a “G,” she doesn’t seem to have the agility to catch it. But we find our cat’s lack of wildness sweet.
Something that I always do in summer…. lots of little things I won’t go into, but going to a beer garden is a fixture at the top of my summer “to do” list. I’ve always loved beer, but on a slightly humid summer night an ice-cold beer is something else. On that topic, my mom says to swallow the beer after warming it in your mouth a little, so you don’t get chilled. I wonder if there are actually people who drink beer like that. Every time I feel cold beer going down my throat, I have a fleeting image of my mom’s face.
Beer gardens in Tokyo have made remarkable advances: awful beer garden food is a thing of the past. The number of places with high-grade food and atmosphere is increasing every year. One that I discovered recently and really love is the beer garden which opened this May on the roof of the Atré Ebisu West Building. I heard from ‘plant hunter’ Seijun Nishihata that a roof garden he designed was opening in Atré Ebisu, so one day I had a look on the spur of the moment. The roof had become a temporary beer garden, of all things! It was filled with plants from all around the world, like a 500-year old olive tree, the pretty pink flowers of crepe myrtle, and alpine plants. The beer I had there was fantastic, in that exotic place you wouldn’t believe was just in front of Ebisu Station
So anyway, this is our final written exchange. Mr. Hayamizu, I really enjoyed writing with a pro like yourself, and having the opportunity to write whatever I wanted. Thank you for your splendid comebacks to whatever I threw at you. Please forgive my many wild pitches!