Robert

for what it's worth;
I'm much older than most readers of this thread. I'm in my mid 70s.
I'm originally from Brooklyn, N.Y.....from an immigrant family(German)....originally din't know "nuttin from nuttin"....but went through school, developing a curiosity about lots of things. Lived in Brooklyn tenements....but lived a sort of double-life going to museums, botanical gardens, (yes, the bonsai garden in Brooklyn where aI saw my first bonsai) etc. I even went to school at NYU for a couple of years....then along came Korea, and rather than go into the army, I enlisted in the Navy...for 4 years. ...but I didn't go to the east....I went to sea in the Atlantic visiting Europe and the Caribbean, mostly. When I got out of the Navy I wanted to go back to school, but also didn't want to live in New York city,( I considered it "a cancer on the side of the earth). I didn't like it.
I applied to lots of schools, including UC-Berkeley, was accepted at several, but since Berkeley was about as far away from Brooklyn that I could get, and still be in the continental U.S., decided to go there. That's where I encountered, for the first time, elements of Japanese culture. The Fuji restaurant on Telegraph Avenue, where most people ate with chopsticks. (I immediately bought myself a pair and practiced at home, so I could return to the Fuji and eat with them in public). I saw Japanese paintings, fell in love with Hiroshige, (the wave, etc.) Listened to Shamisan on recordings; saw "Gate of Hell" and "Roshomon" at the "Cinema Guild" on Telegraph Avenue.
I also went to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park and had tea in the Pavilion.....(during the war they changed the name to Chinese Garden, but it was still Japanese garden to all who had eyes.)
.....and there it began....my love of gardening(which I never knew I had in Brooklyn) combined with an appreciation for things Japanese. In Berkeley I lived in a "rear cottage" and converted the little garden into a Japanese Garden, bought a mallsai which I nurtured for many years.....and here I am, many, many years later, having travelled to Japan, having a son who lived in Japan for a couple of years and my wife and I having visited him...and now, being retired from my "secular" profession for many years. I have a good bonsai collection, most of which I developed myself.....being a member of the Sta.Cruz Bonsai Kai, having held most officer positions in the club; now I regularly write the Newsletter; I am a regular docent at the Golden State Bonsai Federation, Collection North in Oakland,and I go to the GSBF Conventions most years, I'm deeply envolved with Bonsai and I love it.
I'm sure each of us has his own unique story, so , here's mine, in a nut shell. Hope it satisfies your curiousity to some measure.

Robert........in Sta.Cruz

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Robert.........in Sta.Cruz