I Like Ike-bana

So it turns out Anita Pratap, the featured speaker at today's Ikebana program, is not only the wife of the Norway Ambassador to Japan but also a native of India and a former war correspondent with strong opinions about lobbyists employed by U.S. defense contractors. Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed much the same viewpoint as Pratap's shortly before stepping down from the presidency nearly 50 years ago. Still, for a few awkward minutes I couldn't help wondering whether 100 Japanese ladies with an average age of 70 were going to turn on the 20 American military spouses in the room and start beating us with flower stalks and umbrellas.

Then Pratap told us about Norway. She said seven million people live in Norway these days. So many people left Norway during an economic downturn 50 years ago - I figure just when Ike was leaving office - there are now more Norwegians living in the United States than in Norway.

I don't know what Pratap talked about next because this is when I turned to the Japanese lady on my right, a total stranger, and whispered, "How nice of America to offer them a home and economic opportunity. I guess Americans aren't all bad." And that's when Akusara became my friend. We became even better friends during lunch when she told me I didn't have to eat the shiitake mushroom and tofu chunk in my bento box.