Please meet Klik and Klak, two antique Japanese Teddy bears.

Please meet Klik and Klak, two antique Japanese Teddy bears.  They are quite small at 2.75  and 3 inches.   They are made of a dense cork material with a cloth, almost velour-type covering.   They are probably from the 1950s, or maybe even before.    They have pin joints, so little metal rods go through the body to the side of each limb, and their arms and legs move together.   Their heads are stationary.  They both have celluloid eyes, and Klak, the black one, is missing his nose, although he does have his "Made in Japan" sticker, which is pretty rare.

Klik and Klak are often mistaken for brothers, but they aren't related at all.   They just grew up in the same small village in Japan.   When most Teddy bears think of Japan, Tokyo and Osaka come to mind or maybe a few other large cities, but the truth is, there is a portion of Japan that is largely rural, especially the area nicknamed the Japanese Alps.   Today millions of tourists and hikers flock to the area, but despite its fame in Asia, many bears in the west haven't even heard of it.

Klik and Klak lived on neighboring farms in the foothills of the Hida Mountains, where both soybeans and buckwheat flour were grown, as well as strawberries, apples and blueberries.    There was a natural hot spring nearby, and after a long day in the fields picking fruit, the bears would enjoy the luxuriousness of the steam with their friends before walking home as the sun set over the mountains.   It was idyllic.

As time moved on, however, the younger bears in the small enclave of homes moved to more urban areas where there were more job opportunities and a faster paced, cosmopolitan life.   Neither Klik nor Klak forgot their roots though.   Klik entered college and received a degree in organic agriculture and managed a large commercial honey bee farm, while Klak studied new farming technologies and sold environmentally friendly harvesting equipment to berry farmers.  Klik and Klak were more acquaintances than friends during their professional careers.   Sometimes their paths crossed and they would occasionally reminisce about life back home, but they never imagined they would form a partnership.

But form a partnership, they did.    It all came about because they both attended the same TED Talk.   While most of the other Teddy bears applied to these seminars just for the yummy food halls, Klik and Klak had a higher calling --  sustainable farming.   They happened to be seated next to each other in the conference hall, and the two bruins renewed their friendship.   Over a glass of tea with honey and a warm blueberry cobbler, Klik and Klak decided they had enough of the stressful city life.   They agreed to pool their resources and start their own farm in the very same small town where they spent their childhood.

Teddy bears have always enjoyed honey and berries.   Now that Klik and Klak have established The Beary Best Bee and Berry Farmstead, they look forward to meeting all sorts of bears from around the world.  They don't plan on retiring any time soon.  They  just look forward to watching the sun set over the mountains again and again.