Today was a quiet day, it was very cool and even started to rain a little in the afternoon. Today was also the day the gardeners came, and they took a whole day for their work. Ebisu’s has not much of a garden to speak of, at least not for European conceptions, but here in Japan, even in this neighborhood, it is considered quite large. Our landlady occasionally tends to the garden herself, but once a year she hires the professionals. Or so I hope they are…
I am not sure whether this is because they only come once a year or whether this is the general Japanese concept of gardening, but their approach to the idea can be described as “brutal”. All day the two of them were hacking away at our little jungle outside; I could hear power saws cutting through arm thick branches, leaf blowers, and brushcutters. They even cut the trees and bushes at the top of the steps, although technically this would be the upstairs neighbour’s responsibility (that house is not inhabited though).
When I returned from a quick shopping trip in the early evening, the garden looked more like a sand desert than a green refuge. The trees have been severely cut back, no more grass can be seen at the front of the house (my landlady keeps toying with the idea of simply paving it over) and all the bamboo is gone at the back of the house. It looks quite sad indeed. The only consolation I have is that in this hot climate, it will all grow back again next spring…