自家栽培のナスは美味しかった。十一月にナスが取れるなんて驚いた。
Home-grown eggplants are delicious! I am surprised they can be harvested so late in the year.
Just the other day, another foreigner was complaining that Japanese brag too much that they have four seasons. As if other countries don’t have that. While I agree that four seasons are not unique to Japan, I am amazed at how long spring and fall last here in Tokyo. Just a few days ago, I harvested my last three eggplants from the balcony garden. They were small and delicious in a spaghetti sauce I shared with a friend.
Tokyo Green Space 
おいしそう！
『秋ナスは嫁に食わすな』と言われます。
これはお姑さん目線の言い習わしですが、
秋のナスはとてもおいしいから、憎い嫁に食べさせてはもったいない、というのと、
ナスは体を冷やす作用があるので、大事な嫁の体を冷やさないよういたわるため、という、
意地悪か親切かわからない言われがあります。どちらが真意でしょう！？
日本は、秋がとてもきれいで自慢です！
御無沙汰しておりました。面白いですね。家族の関係は大変です。秋に食べるなすが体調を悪くするとは思いません。本当に美味しかった。
Hello Jared,
I have recently discovered and become a fan of your site. I write, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a blog called Oecocidades (ecocities in portuguese).
I would like to post a note about your apartment grown eggplant. Could you drop a few lines about how you do it? What is necessary to succeed in this home project? Feel free to be poetic and casual. Would you mind if I also post your pictures?
I hope you become a friend of Oecocidades.com as I have become to Tokyo Green Spaces.
Greetings, Eduardo
Hi Eduardo, Thank you for your comment and request. You are most welcome to re-use my photo with a credit and link back to the post. I have looked at Oecocidades, and appreciate our comment interest in sustainable or living cities. Obrigado.
If you don’t mind, I’ll answer your question in this comment. How I succeeded in this home project? I bought some small vegetable starter plants in the spring from a local store, found some cool canvas bags and an organic coconut husk soil at a friend’s plant shop, planted the small starter vegetables, added water regularly, and bascially took care of them.
I am growing about 50 to 100 plants on my small, southern-facing balcony garden in Tokyo. One constraint is that I transport most everything by bicycle. There’s also some trial-and-error. Corn did not produce food on my balcony, but eggplants, cucumbers, and herbs were easy and fun!
Please send me a link when you publish this story. Obrigado por tudo!
Hi Jared,
Here is the post: Eggplants in the balcony
http://www.oecocidades.com/2010/11/25/berinjelas-na-varanda/
I might complement it on Saturday talking more your writings/photos on Tokyo. Congrats on a great blog, very enjoyable to read. You capture the details that can make a difference, instead of common place broad comments.
We’re having a little civil war today in Rio. Drugdealers are making a show of force against the police, setting cars and buses afire in random spots around the city. One song say: Rio 40 C, purgatory of beauty and chaos. It’s the very true, unfortunately.
As I say in the post, your home garden was a refreshment in a sad day for the city.
Eduardo
Thank you again for your interest in Tokyo Green Space. I am sad to hear about the civil war and violence in Rio. I lived there in the early 1990s as a graduate student, and have many fond memories of Rio de Janeiro.
Hello Jared,
You’ve been around, haven’t you? 🙂
Thankfully, the “war in Rio” had results that might be good for the cities. For the first time, the police didn’t just went in and out of an area controlled by gangs. They kicked them out for good. Drug dealing will never end, but at least the State is reclaiming “foreign enclaves” controlled by drug dealers. Also, the police showed a lot of restraint and did it without a bloodshed.
Best, Eduardo