The doorbell rang. It was the mailman with a delivery. What? I hadn’t ordered anything. What could it be? Who was it from? Aside from my name, “Keiko Moriuchi” was written on the address label. My Gutai godmother!

What did she send me? A box of sudachi citrus fruit. You might have heard of the lovely golden yuzu; this is another citrus fruit that is not well known outside of Japan. Think of it as a Japanese lime. It goes perfectly with the foods of autumn: grilled sanma fish (saury or mackerel pike) and matsutake mushrooms.

Why did she send these to me? I am not sure but I think this letter must explain why. With this calligraphic style of writing, however, I cannot read most of it! Many Japanese people will not be able to help me read it either. Wah! I will just have to ask her when I see her in Kyoto. I hope I can see her this time… The last time I called she was on a mountain in China!

I love that she always uses actual postage stamps instead of those boring stickers printed out by the postage machine at the post office. I know those types of stickers save the post office money, but these have so much more charm.

I hope I will get to see her again in person. She is a fascinating woman. I seem to have made a good friend at the Tokyo Art Fair a few years ago.