Visit to Italian Embassy

My workplace (Mita Campus of Keio Univ) is right next to two large enclosed gardens.

One belongs to the Mitsui Tsunamachi Club. I have read that to join you need to be a senior executive in a Mitsui group company. I went to a dinner there in 2016 and saw the lovely garden in the back. Now that I know what is inside, it has lost its mystery and allure, and I do not give it a second thought.

The other walled compound is the Italian Embassy. It has a famous Japanese garden that dates back to the 17th century, when the site was the "naka yashiki" of the Matsudaira clan, close relatives of the Tokugawa rulers. After the abolition of the feudal lords, only the Tokugawa and Matsudaira were converted into new nobility. I still needed to see it, somehow.

The easiest way would be to visit someone who has a north-facing office high in the building on the north side of my campus. But no need. Today, I was invited to a launch reception for an innovative energy-related business that was recently acquired by an Italian company. Finally, my chance to see the inner sanctum.

But something even more magnificent awaited. As I walked toward the main door of the embassy, I saw it -- a De Rosa Protos carbon racing bike, with integrated seat post, and Campagnolo Super Record EPS electronic shifting, carbon rimmed wheels ... the bike was in a stand but not secured -- I could pick it up and feel that it was as light as a feather. Italian style!

De Rosa Protos - Bellissimo!

As I looked out at the Italian garden in the dark, I remembered "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", an Italian film I had shown at the Yale Law School Film Society during my days as a part-time projectionist. The film is about an incredibly wealthy Jewish family, living in a walled garden estate, during the rise of Mussolini. They try to shut out the world ... but in the end, the world comes in, and they are all sent off to the death camps. No man is an island, nor any family.

Photo of part of the garden in daylight, taken from the veranda.

The bicycle was more of a treat than the garden.

So I think I will avoid walled gardens and ride my bicycle(s) outside in the world.