Su Young Lee's Blog

Somebody asked me this question once. I’d never had a cat before so I said dog with no hesitation. Thanks to my dad who was a soldier then a police officer, I grew up with German Shepherd and Korean Jindo dogs like my close friends. I still keep an old photo of a little version of myself with missing two front teeth and my Korean Jindo dog called Aram, having a good time together. The memories of youth are as strong as a marble sculpture in Victorian era. I still feel I have a sense of the soft and warm golden fur of Aram beneath my fingers. 

It was one summer night of my 3rd year in Japan, after I graduated from university in South Korea, when I first had an experience with a cat. My flat in Waseda was a 5–floor building and I could see two quiet roads crossing from my 4th floor bedroom balcony. It was a hot night so I was watching TV with the window open, and I heard a cat crying. I often saw street cats in Japan so I thought it wasn’t a big deal, but the crying sound didn’t stop and even got louder. Half curious, half worried, I took the elevator down, went out of the building and looked at the cat, crying desperately in a small unmanned parking lot on the opposite side of the road. I crossed the road, and the cat ran over to me as soon as I entered the dark and empty lot. It was a small tabby cat with a pink nose and light silvery fur, looking like Cinderella had lost her magic power and turned into a cat. It was my first time to see such a pretty cat in my entire life, and I thought she had to be a girl. 

I had no prior experience with cats so I didn’t know what to do, but I presumed she was hungry. I told her ‘wait a second’ in Korean – I doubt this Japanese cat understood my Korean – but I dashed to a convenience store and bought a tuna can and a paper plate. I should have bought cat food but I had no knowledge about cats back then and I couldn’t think clearly, too worried the cat would disappear magically before I got back. Luckily she was waiting for me on the concrete in the parking lot. 

I quickly opened the can, poured the tuna on a paper plate, and put it in front of her. She hungrily swallowed the tuna in the blink of an eye, then started grooming herself with her front paw in style. 

I had a good look at this cat. She was wearing a luxurious Isetan department store blue ribbon on her neck. I had a closer look and found ‘Lucky’ was written in Japanese on the ribbon. The handwriting was firm, made with a black marker pen.  

‘Oh, it’s a house cat,’ I thought to myself. ‘This pedigree cat can’t be a street cat.’ I laughed at myself for making such a big drama in the middle of the night, but I felt relieved that she had an owner. I waved at Lucky then started back home; she completely ignored me, too busy cleaning herself.

Several days later, I heard a cat crying right outside my window at night again. At first I ignored it and kept on reading my book, but the crying sound just got louder. I opened the balcony door and looked outside, and saw Lucky was crying again in the parking lot. ‘Ha, have you not gone home yet?’ I thought. I felt weird but I went outside half worried, half curious like the last time. Lucky rushed over to me as soon as I went into the lot.

I looked at Lucky closely and found that this time her silver fur had lost a little of its shine. Her white paws had become light silver paws, and the edge of her brand new, blue Isetan ribbon had gotten slightly worn. Moreover, Lucky seemed tired and hungry. I felt like a wave was rising over my heart, and wished my worry was not true; had this beautiful pedigree cat really been abandoned? 

I told Lucky to wait – this time in Japanese – then dashed to the convenience store and this time bought a square-shaped tin of wet cat food. Lucky was waiting for me in the empty lot, just like the last time. I sat on the concrete and watched Lucky from a distance as she started to eat. She seemed to enjoy the dinner in a more elegant and relaxed manner this time, with her silver fur shining beautifully under the moonlight. I was concerned she would disappear if I ever touched her. When she was done and had a full belly, Lucky started to clean her soft fur, and when she’d finished this holy grooming ceremony, she walked into a dark alleyway at the back of the parking lot without giving me any eye contact at all. I waited until she disappeared from my sight completely then went back home. 

I didn’t hear Lucky the next night, or the next after that. Whenever I had free time, though, I stood at my bedroom balcony and watched the dark empty parking lot. Weirdly, the lot was always empty and quiet. Like the Little Prince looks at wheat fields and thinks of a fox, whenever I saw the parking lot, I thought of Lucky. I felt I had already been tamed by her.

I wanted to adopt Lucky, but it didn’t happen due to the landlord’s rules. It was not easy for a foreigner who’d just started a new job to find an apartment which allowed pets in Japan. I had to accept being happy just to see Lucky eating her food and cleaning her fur in style every night. I’m not sure if it was lucky or unlucky, but Lucky never encouraged me to pet her so I never tried to once. I didn’t take a photo either. I was perhaps afraid of being fully tamed by her.  

Lucky called me at night every now and then, but after a while she disappeared again. She might have found her owner. I was sad but I wished Lucky to be happy. I was about to get rid of the cat food that I had left in my flat when I saw her again one evening. I came home from work and Lucky was crying on the pavement outside my building. I was over the moon, but she was bleeding on her small forehead. I was so shocked and I didn’t know what to do. I left Lucky crying alone and ran into my flat, grabbed an empty cardboard box and went back out again. It took only a minute or two, but already she was gone. I felt my heart skip a beat. The parking lot, the back alleyway, I couldn’t find Lucky anywhere. She was gone. I blamed myself for not picking Lucky up immediately and taking her to the vet, but it was too late.

I waited for Lucky every night after that, but she never came back. 

Several years later, I left Japan and moved to England with my husband. It’s been six years since we adopted two cats from an animal trust called Celia Hammond. On the very first night of August, I was watching my two cats eating tuna wet food in the living room. A hot wind was blowing, and I heard a fox crying in the park outside of my Victorian house in the suburbs of London. It reminded me of Lucky all of a sudden. It took me back to a summer night on a street in Tokyo over 10 years ago.

There are two cats, Miyo and Jiyo, in my first English novel, The Tokyo Bicycle Bakery. I didn’t realise they were partly based on the story of Lucky when I wrote this book. One of the cats died in the original story (sorry for a spoiler), but I had to change that later on because it was too painfully sad. 

There is a myth that animals wait for their owners when people die. Would I be able to meet Lucky again and touch her shiny silver fur for the first time? Would I be able to hug Aram one more time? I hope I can. My midsummer night’s dream.  

We have been blessed by the weather this week after a long rainy winter! My mood often changes with the weather so I try to get as much sun as possible whenever I have a chance. I love sun, it’s the best thing ever and it’s free!

My roses – I’m a huge fan of David Austin Roses – are doing great these days. My all time favourite, Gertrude Jekyll roses are blooming lovely with fantastic fragrance.

Gertrude Jekyll rosesGertrude Jekyll rose in vase

I water my flowers and trees with organic seaweed juice regularly for several years now, and they seem to enjoy it. I stop pruning roses vigorously for a couple of years, and I feel I have more and repeated roses than before. I’m not sure which method works better but these days I just leave my roses to have their free will. Some of them are heavy, so they drape and touch the grass but they look natural to me – I used to tie them with bamboo sticks etc.

Anyway, my other favourite, Roald Dahl roses are slowly blooming now. I can’t wait to see them popping up. Dahl’s fragrance is less powerful than Jekyll but it has beautifully subtle sweet aroma.

Roald Dahl rosesRoald Dahl rose in a blue bottle

David Austin roses keep their fragrance for weeks even when they are cut flowers. It’s amazing! I love any flowers but especially fancy flowers having fragrance.

My poet Church also enjoys flowers, sits by them, sometimes sniffs them and designs his new poems in his little head in the garden on a sunny day.

Church and the roses

On the other hand, I’ve started new FB promotions of The Tokyo Bicycle Bakery and lowered the ebook price at $2.99/£1.99. We’ll see how it goes!

Rain all week, it has been the longest winter ever. There was brief sunshine this afternoon so Linc and Church enjoyed sunbathing and climbing up the tree.

Church tries to catch a bird on the tree.Linc enjoys sun.

Thanks to the cold weather, my tulips are still growing in May. I can’t wait to see my roses to start blooming.

Tulip Menon- my favourite

I had my first vaccine- AstraZeneca two weeks ago. I was quite poorly for several days but I feel better now. I went to my office to collect letters, some books and magazines yesterday. I had a quick catch up with my editor and had a cup of coffee in Covent Garden. It was weird to meet someone in person after working together for nearly a year online, we live in a strange world.

My writing is moving on (very very) slowly but steadily. What I want right now is to go to Japan, walk around my old town, have tea and eat lots of Sushi. Ah, it makes me happy to think about it. Ganbarimasuuuu! (Keep upppp!)

Rachel’s Blog Tour has been finished and I’ve got a lot of great reviews, some were very positive and some were not but they’ve been all useful for me. I’d like to say massive thank you to Rachel to organise it and the reviewers to spend their valuable time to read my book and to give me wonderful comments and genuine feedback.

One of the interesting ideas was to replicate Hana’s cakes and food that she made in the book. I’m not sure if I can get Hokkaido double cream and Kyoto Uji green tea here in the UK (haha), but I’m thinking of making Hana’s signature cakes such as Bourbon chocolate cake or green tea Swiss role cake or savoury food like Toppoki etc. and share them on this blog. Any thoughts or preference?

[image error]

Here are some of the highlights and you can read full reviews by clicking the links below.

Lucy Mitchell : “I love the message the author was conveying through this book; food and love brings people together. The standout for me was this fabulous concept of a young woman baking fabulous things to eat, getting on her bike and hand delivering her scrumptious goodies for people in need of a bit of love.”

Previously Unread: “Lee’s writing was beautiful in this book, it was lyrical and I could see the world perfectly in my head. The way Lee describes food in this book honestly had my stomach rumbling and I certainly consumed lots of cake during my reading sessions! I really enjoyed the way it occassionally flipped to Jin or Hikaru and found that it really added to the depth of the story, in particular finding out why Jin ran away from his own life was both heartbreaking and eye opening.”

Based on a True Story: “This is a gentle story about making a community around you regardless of your circumstances. More than anything else everyone in this book loves food. Every chapter is named for a food that features in it. There aren’t recipes but everything anyone makes is described lovingly. They talk about the wonderfulness of a tomato or strawberry or apple. She tastes ingredients and dreams up baked goods that would show them off best. This book could make you hungry.”

Booky Charm: “There has been quite a lot of doom and gloom in the world of late and I feel like this book was the perfect antidote to it. The blurb of the book doesn’t give much away and it meant that I was able to discover its delights as if I was slicing through layers of soft, dreamy sponge.”

Facebook Ads has been started for The Tokyo Bicycle Bakery this morning. Hopefully it will reach out to more audience.

Good news: I’ve got an email from an editor from a major publisher saying they enjoyed my book and are interested in my second book. How flattering. I don’t know how long it will take to finish my next book or how it’s going to look like but it’s definitely a positive sign and a confident boost. Believe it or not, it took 10 years for me to finish the first novel, of course it was on and off, but it definitely is a hard work to write a book, like building a house on your own from a scratch with no tools but with bare hands. Very rewarding but also agonising at the same time. I’ve definitely learned a lot, not only writing, but also how to live a life (sounds strange and it’s hard to explain but it’s true.)

Sad news: I’ve got one star review on Goodreads and some negative comments also. I try not to look at reviews now as it’s something that I can’t control and I can’t make everyone happy, it’s simply not possible. I just hope some people enjoy my book and feel good after reading it. We all need something sweet and positive especially in this difficult time.

Okay, it’s time to sit down and write a next book. No pressure, I’ll just enjoy every single word I put down on my paper.

Linc and Church are both keen on ping pong. Whenever they hear the sound of it, they jump out of the bush or somewhere in the garden, sit on the bench and watch us to play it. They sit back, relax, sometimes sniff or lick the ball jumped out of the arena, they just need a cup of tea, that’s all. We try hard to entertain out best patrons.

[image error]Linc is one of my best ping pong patrons.



[image error]It’s my turn to play it.

They spend a lot of time in the garden these days. It’s not too hot or cold, breezy and sunny, so it’s a perfect temperature for the furry angel boys. Linc loves to sit on a plant pot- his favourite is a blueberries pot, it suits his character and his nickname, Lingonberry.

[image error]It’s Linc’s favourite to nap in this blueberry pot.

Church is into his new banana toy with full of cat grass. He wiggles his tale, charges in then attack with full speed, as if he hunts a little mouse from the compost bin. Somehow Linc is not interested in catnip at all so all these toys belong to toothless prince Church.

[image error]Yum



[image error]This is my toy, nobody dares to touch it. In fact, the banana toy is already soaking wet…

I’ve got lovely reviews on GoodReads this week: here.

“This is more than your usual food centric quirky novel.”

” The book is such a treat- I laughed, I felt moved, I was happy and sad.” 

It’s fascinating to have feedback from readers. I’ve signed up for a blog tour, NetGalley and some other marketing promotions for the upcoming months.

I’ve been thinking about my next book. Set in Tokyo or London or somewhere else? There are several rough ideas but I will have to think more. Writing a book is like running a marathon, it is hard and daunting work, takes a long time, but definitely rewarding.

I’m reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and Hard Boiled Wonderland II by Murakami Haruki. I love fresh ideas and unique metaphors but it’s important to have a limit and to know where to stop. I have Memory Man by David Baldacci lined up after these books. Need to push harder!

It’s been a great productive long weekend. The weather was quite nice, a bit chilly but at least it didn’t rain much. The garden is thriving especially the grass is happy looking green apart from some bald patches that I made from playing vigorous ping pong matches with my husband.

I’ve became a big ping pong fan since this summer even if I’ve had a ping pong table for over five years. We’ve been playing it a lot mainly we work from home and spend most of time at home due to COVID. I even bought a convertible indoor ping pong/pool table to prepare a gloomy and wet winter months in the UK. We play it mostly every night after dinner, which is a good way to digest lovely food and do a mild exercise indoors. Linc and Church show great interests and they are eager to catch a ball whenever they have a chance.

My Amazon Ads are up and running now. I’ve had some nice reviews and I’ve also set up blog tours for upcoming months. It’s fascinating to engage with people and get feedback from readers.

I watched a movie “1917”, it’s about a World War I between the UK and Germany. The main story was rather simple but the camera work was stunning. I felt like I was watching or playing a video game almost.

I cooked vegetarian lasagna using veggie mince today. I also bought some vegan cheese- cheddar, smoked cheese, and mozzarella, plus vegan bacon. They tasted all good, big success!

[image error]Linc on my ping pong table

I’ve published my new romance fiction, The Tokyo Bicycle Bakery. It’s now available on Amazon- US site here and UK site here as well as other Amazon worldwide sites using ISBN, 9798677593451.

[image error]

I started writing this book while I was living in Tokyo, Japan about ten years ago. I didn’t quite manage to finish it and moved to London with my husband six years ago. I forgot about it and moved on with my new life. A half finished manuscript had hibernated in my laptop for a decade.

I found it while organising my old files last Christmas. I read couple of chapters and it made me time-travel to one of the nights that I wrote the novel after work in my old flat, looking over Shinjuku Tower on top of Natsume hill (named after a Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki) in Waseda, Tokyo. Completing the book and publishing it was one of my new year’s resolutions and here I am!

It will be great if you read and share feedback. Enjoy!