Oct. 29 - Did you know there is a beehive located in the heart of Ginza? I did not know that surprising fact until Ann told me about the Ginza Bee Garden Project.

This group of volunteers is attempting to build a closer community and promote awareness of our natural environment while raising 300,000 honeybees. Their beehive on top of the Paper and Pulp Building in Ginza produced over 800 kg of honey last year. The volunteers who help harvest and label the honey range from department store workers to bar hostesses.

When Ann took me along to visit, her friends at Ginza Bee Garden explained that the working radius of Japanese honey bees can extend up to 4 km. This means that the bees fly as far as the Imperial Palace Garden to collect their honey. They pointed out that honey bees can fly from their hive to Hama Rikyu Garden in about five minutes - much faster than a taxi cab can make the same journey. These bees fly high in the air to reach their destination, so they rarely come into contact with the tens of thousands of pedestrians below. A diligent bee might make 20 round trip flights a day to collect honey. I thought Ginza office workers worked hard, but the bees seem to outdo them.

Ann and I met with many of the Ginza Bee Garden volunteers and heard about the innovative ways they have developed to use honey. We sampled a delicious "inari" sushi made with honey. Several volunteers who run bars in the Ginza area have invented new cocktails using honey. They donate 100 yen to a project to beautify Ginza each time a customer orders a honey highball.

The Ginza Bee Garden has also established strong bonds with other volunteer groups raising organic food. Bees are very social insects. Ann and I were glad to see the humans living and working in the Ginza learning something from the bees about building strong social networks.

Until next time,

Jim