Fujimoto Michio, founder of Shanghai’s Jiading Wisteria Park

In recent years, when spring comes to Shanghai, the wisteria in Jiading and the cherry flowers in Gucun Park are top tourist attractions during the blossom seasons. But the wisteria vine does not grow to its current size in a day. There is a story spanning almost thirty years behind the present-day Jiading Wisteria Park.

(Jiading Wisteria Park)

Despite the pouring rain, visitors are abundantly enthusiastic in appreciating the wisteria. Underneath the pergola visitors are quietly looking at the wisteria or taking pictures. The air is saturated with the fragrance of wisteria. An elderly man with gray hair and dressed in a natty suit seems a bit out of place. He staggers a little but his back is straight. The way he gazes at the wisteria resembles the way one looks at their children. The old man is Fujimoto Michio, who has spent the last 30 years contributing to Sino-Japanese friendship and the wisteria park is the crystallization of his efforts.