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| 1. A look inside one of the exhibit rooms at the Shunkaien Bonsai Nursery and Museum, where Tom Kodiak served as an apprentice from July 2003 through May 2004. |
2. When his students graduated, Tom Kodiak wore a suit, while some female faculty members dressed in kimonos. |
3. During his stay in Japan, Kodiak took a three-week Buddhist pilgrimage on Shikoku Island in May 2004. |
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| 4. Kodiak started and finished his pilgrimage alone, but along the way, he walked with these women, who posed for a photo at one of the 24 temples he visited. |
5. During his bonsai apprenticeship, Kodiak found time to work on his Japanese calligraphy. |
6. Kodiak rode aboard a float adorned with 400 lanterns in the June 2002 Kuki City Festival. |
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| 7. Kodiak helped team spirit during the Taito Middle School’s annual sports festival. Teachers serve as coaches, with students competing in a variety of events. |
8. A group of women toured the Shunkaien Bonsai Nursery and Museum, where they participated in a Japanese tea ceremony in July 2003. |
9. When Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brothers Matt Reindl (left to right), David Hacker and Phil Leslie visited Kodiak last June, the four of them mugged for the camera inside a tiny capsule hotel room in Osaka. The rooms, with a bed and nothing else, go for 2,300 yen, or about $20 a night. |
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| 10. Visitors to this temple in Kyoto are invited to drink waters that will bring good fortune in love, money or health. Kodiak isn’t sure which fountain he drank from, but he’s pretty sure it was not for wealth. |
11. Because of his background as a bonsai apprentice, Kodiak was asked to be a curator (for one day) during a special exhibit at the Tokyo Bonsai Museum. |
12. A proud K. Thomas Kodiak is flanked by his two sons in this 1999 photo from the family ranch in Colorado. At left is Michael, 24. |
