But Where Is the Owner? Or, A Wizard's Garden; Or, Ged of the Golden Stars (opens in new tab)

The other day I took a walk with the kids to a plot of land, near my in-laws’ place in rural Japan, which is devoted to community use. There are some allotments, a little river walk area, a slide, and so forth. And, it being close to Children’s Day, there was a big display of koi nobori - the fish streamers that are hung up everywhere in Japan as part of the celebrations of spring. On a weekday in term-time it was deserted. The only sounds were the croaks of frogs from nearby rice fields, the...