‘She was crammed in by a boatload of human bodies, thinking of her father and becoming overwhelmed, slowly, with loneliness. As much loneliness as fear. Concentrate, she told herself. And she did-forcing herself to concentrate, if not-if she was unable to-on the thought of her family, then on the contact of fl esh pressed against her on her every side, the human warmth, feeling every square inch of skin against her body and through it the shared consciousness of –what? Death? Fear? Surrender? She stayed I in that human cocoon, heaving and rolling, concentrating, until it was over.’ -from Nam Le’s The Boat (2008), which won the Dylan Thomas Prize

Nam Le, as a baby, was smuggled by his parents from war-torn Vietnam on a tiny boat, which landed in Malaysia and then found refuge in Australia. So was Ngo Chanh, Chairman of Shoei Trading Company. His boat headed north for Japan, instead of Malaysia. Chanh was probably in his late teens then. He landed in Tokyo and the Tokyo Association of Refugees transferred him to Matsuyama, Ehime (my birthplace), where he got local support and shelter. There he fi rst engaged in shipping secondhand fi shing boat engines to Vietnam on a small scale and gradually expanded his business to bigger machines and vessels. As he succeeded, he returned to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to manage plastic treatment factories. It took him more than 30 years of perseverance and hard work.

What amazed me was the construction

of the Japanese garden ‘Con Vien Rin Rin Park’ near his plastic plant of about 5 acres (7000 tsubo), which opened in early 2014, 20km northwest of Ho Chi Minh in an area called Hoc Mon District. I have a Japanese friend living in Ho Chi Minh who is a Japanese language teacher. She brought me news of the garden since she knew I was involved in the San Diego Japanese Garden. She made an arrangement for me to interview Ngo Chanh.

Accompanied by his son Ngo Kim Thuan, sharp-looking and debonair Ngo Chanh, appeared before me as I fi nished the tour of his garden. Both father and son are fl uent in Japanese. Ngo wrote down his Matsuyama address in his impeccable Japanese kanji. Doidacho was his address. We talked about common topics about Matsuyama. Doidacho is southwest of Matsuyama Castle, not so far from Shieki. His son graduated from the nearby sports-loving Yushin Junior High School.

Ngo Chanh was motivated to build the Rin Rin Japanese park to show gratitude to Japan, as well as to introduce true Japanese culture to fellow Vietnamese. He therefore paid enormous freight charges, transporting 4000 tons of Japanese stones, including ‘Iyo’ blue stones, ‘Uwajima’ sperm whale stones, Mikame-cho stone walls, Oshima-made stone Pagoda, drum stone bridge, stepping stones, stone lanterns sculptured stones, 50 thick needle polocarp trees and 20 pyramidal junipers and Imabari gravel, per

A Brand New ‘Tung Son Thach’ Japanese Garden in Ho Chi MinhRio Imamura

Yasuhito Kido, President of Ehime Kenjinkan in Ho Chi Minh.

In addition, he airfreighted 200 varicolored golden carp from Konishi Farm in Hiroshima. He hired Kiyohiro Takahashi, a professional gardener born in Iyo-shi, a year after ground-breaking. The park, called ‘Tungson Thack Pak’ (meaning Matsuyama Stone Park) in Vietnamese, offi cially opened in March 2014 with 1000 well-wishers in attendance. Ehime Governor Nakamura visited the park before the offi cial opening and thanked Ngo for his fantastic conception and power of execution.

Looking at a map online, I expected to easily fi nd the park, but in reality, it is hard to locate. I circled around the crowded housing area for a quarter of an hour searching for it. I had been quite obsessed with pictures of the park and knew what to expect, but standing in front of the central stone-themed landscape, ‘Spirit of Stone’ and ‘Spirit of Tree, I felt quite at home, serene and exhilarated and wanted to congratulate Ngo for his dream-come-true project.

He is planning to open up the park for Japan-Vietnam Friendship, Trade and Exhibition activities, attracting Japanese visitors and I’m sure it will be further developed for fun, leisure and entertainment.

(Excerpt from the September 9, 2014 entry on the Riosloggers bloghttp://riosloggers-riodan.blogspot.jp/2014/09/a-brand-new-tung-son-thack-japanese.html)

5 I-News 103 April/May 2015 The Spring Issue