December 13, 2023
Extraordinary Chance Encounter
// Photo: Masako Shimomura
On December 13, I visited the Embassy of the Republic of Finland to Japan, to meet with Ms. Henna Knuuttila, minister-counsellor, deputy head of mission, and to present copies of “The Sisterhood of the Enchanted Forest: Sustenance, Wisdom and Awakening in Finland’s Karelia” and its Finnish edition, “Lumotun metsän sisaret” during my stay in Japan over the new year’s holidays.
I am a Tokyo-born New Yorker-global citizen who fell in love with Finland in 2015 while living in Joensuu for six months. The lifestyles and values of the people I became friends with, and the social and cultural structures I lived in had a life-altering effect on me.
My Finnish friends took me to pristine forests for foraging, told me that we could sip water from a pure stream running through a field, and invited me to sit in a piping hot sauna. Together we jumped into a clean invigorating lake to cool off. We dined on meals cooked with foraged mushrooms, berries and herbs, served with birch sap juice. I came out of these encounters completely transformed. I quickly realized that Finns had been thriving to advance their ways of life for a mutually sustainable ecosystem of all stakeholders: individuals, society, and nature, while they had been deeply rooted in their traditions, history, and culture. I co-authored a memoir, “The Sisterhood of the Enchanted Forest: Sustenance, Wisdom and Awakening in Finland’s Karelia” with William Doyle to tell my stories, observations, and researched supporting data on key factors like equitable society, gender equity, people’s relationships with nature, and lifestyles that promote wellness, for example, sauna, foraging and outdoor activities, that have made Finland the world’s happiest nation for the last six years. I wrote the book to show my gratitude to the people of Finland, and to encourage my family, friends and more people from abroad to visit Finland, to immerse themselves in sustainable, delightful activities, and to bring an inspiration home to make their community a better place.
Prior to the meeting, Ms. Knuuttila emailed me saying that she had read about the book on media and was happy to meet with me as she was from Joensuu, where my family and I lived for six months.
At the embassy, I asked Ms. Knuuttila if she knew her mother was in the story. She answered, “No.” I said, “Your mother is part of ‘the sisterhood’ in the book title” pointing to the cover. I then continued, “I would like to read you the section I wrote about your mother.”
As I read, I remembered the scenes from 2015 vividly. I was overwhelmed with a nostalgia, a sensation for the present fortune, and a foretelling for a bright future. The Sisterhood of the Enchanted Forest was following me to Tokyo, 7,813 km away from Helsinki.
