So, as my educational experience in Osaka, Kyoto, first … well I was very fortunate to have a good teacher. Teacher was very instrumental for me to become a Japanese gardens designer. Then … so, professor Tadashi Kubo, in Osaka, he guided me to be landscape architect, who should be based on Japanese gardens. Then I went to Kyoto, studied farther in Japanese gardens. So those are kind of academic experience. My experience of Japanese gardens is a little more academic at that time. So when I came out [to] this country, I wasn’t sure really I can do Japanese gardens. I had just a few experiences before I came, Osaka I had some, but it’s very still immature-ish.
So, when I had a project in Corona Del Mar, that project really opened up my practice into Japanese gardens.
I*: How did you get to become involved in that?
That one, my, one of my students, his brother was a landscaper. And they needed someone to help Japanese garden for his firm. And that was Mr. Swedlow. We started from very small Japanese garden project to become entire property Japanese gardens.
* “I” indicates an interviewer (Sojin Kim)
Date: August 10, 2016
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sojin Kim, John Esaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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