Hana Musubi

Yesterday was a gray, rainy, almost-fall day and could have been rather quiet and depressing but instead was one of the most socially entertaining days I’ve had! At ten in the morning I went to Takeda san’s house for the monthly meeting of the English café. It was a special day in that a former member of the group and his Japanese wife and child were visiting from Switzerland, where they now live. Mario, who despite his name is a German speaking Swiss, met his wife when he was a student here at Yamasa. When they come back to Japan to visit her family each year, they also get together with their old friends from the English café. It was also the day that Takeda sensei had a obi show in the afternoon so she was dressed in a beautiful kimono, but, like an idiot, I didn’t think to bring my camera. A luncheon (ランチ、pronounced “runchi”) was planned for after the English practice time and I was thrilled to be invited to join them.


After the “café”, we all walked up the street to a traditional looking Japanese restaurant where a tatami matted room with low table and cushions awaited us. After the usual flurry of photo taking, by the others :-(, we had a delicious meal that started off with green tea and hand towels. The main course took a while to come and during that time the children ran around playing and the adults talked about all sorts of things. The conversation flowing back and forth in Japanese and English and I was thrilled to be able to understand a lot of the main ideas in Japanese! Both Mario, who held “my position” in the club several years ago, and the English club regular, Atsushi san, the Toyota engineer, speak English quite well and could translate whenever that was needed. We talked about the election and they were all happy and hopeful about Obama, and everyone commented on how well spoken he is. This tells you a lot about the perception of the current President, apparently not much different from my own.

The main course arrived and was served on lacquer-ware trays, each one with an array of dishes. I think there were 9 on my tray: two tiny dishes with mini servings of pickles and cold spinach salad, then a covered bowel of miso soup, a dish with three slices of tuna sashimi, a plate with pieces of cooked fish, eggplant and leek, with a miso based sauce, a container of cooked rice, a ceramic covered cup with a warm savory custard and finally a tiny saucer of soy sauce for dipping the sashimi. Each dish was arranged beautiful and was very tasty. The final course was a choice of coffee or green tea ice cream.

In all, the meal took two hours and the four children, ages one and a half to nine, entertained each other and ate their specially ordered, more child-friendly meals, without any complaints. Several of the guests spent time entertaining them while the others chatted on. It’s interesting to see how different cultures handle these kinds of long inter-generational gatherings.

Today was equally filled with fascinating events: a traditional Japanese arts show, the one my tea ceremony teacher had an entry in, and afterward, lunch in a modern bakery/eatery. At 10 this morning, I met Takeda san and Noriko san at a near-by landmark and we went together to these events. Noriko san is a young woman whom I met at the tea ceremony classes. Her English is better than my Japanese so she helped me understand things when the conversation veered from the basic to the sublime, or somewhere in between. (See these friends in the picture above.) The Japanese traditional arts show was held in a large new facility in a part of town I had not been to before. There was obi tying display, one of obis tied like flowers, and one of obis tied for wearing on special occasions. (The obi is the sash that goes with a kimono and can be tied in an infinite number of ways). One of these flower obis is Takeda sensei’s, but I actually didn’t understand which one, as she was very understated about the whole thing and didn’t really indicate which one it was. At about 11:00 we were invited into a mass tea ceremony, with the traditional sweet and tea offered by a host of kimono clad ladies to a room full of people, while a tea master performed the tea making ritual at the front of the room. After that we checked out the handmade figurines/dolls made of silk or other materials and the homemade elixirs made from all manner of fruits and vegetables, including coffee and chili-peppers. These apparently are traditional home remedies for any number of ailments. I got recipes in case you are interested. On the next floor were more obis, these tied for wearing, where the flower-tied obis are for display only. No two were alike and there were 40 of them all in different brocaded fabrics, with various accessories. We then descended to the first floor and took in the calligraphy and scroll painting and finally the ikebana and flower arranging displays (not the same thing here, by the way)! For a Japanese culture freak like myself, it was a fabulous show!

After we had seen all there was to see, my two escorts started thinking about lunch and soon we were off to a near-by shopping center to eat at a popular, modern restaurant. The bread was particularly “famous” and the place was packed, as was the parking lot, where uniformed parking attendants helped direct cars into the available spots as they became free; no fending for yourself here.

At lunch we ordered a light main course. I had a fresh salmon and ginger salad, the others a chicken something, and we all got the drink and bread “set”, as they call it here. This meant that we could have all the small rolls of different flavors that we wished. Japanese bread is very soft and fluffy, so not really the thing for the “hard, crusty bread eaters”, but fresh and tasty. These buns were straight from the oven and several refills were offered from a basket of assorted flavors. We ate with knives and forks. There was not a chopstick in sight. I asked my friends which was the more popular way, American or British, for using these utensils and they each said something different, so “anything goes” is my take, when it comes to Western eating tools.

Here's a challenge for those of you who took the time to read to the end of this long entry: Can you name the flowers that the top two obis are imitating? I'll write a real, postage and all, postcard to anyone who gets them right. Gambate! (roughly: do our best!)

Election time in Japan

Those of you who didn’t support Obama can close your ears for a minute while I yell Hurrah!

I was thrilled about the election out come and have see Obama's speech on line, and read it as well. It was inspiring. It’s going to take a lot of work to turn things around, clearly he is aware of that too, and thus asked for all Americans to get ready to help the nation. In the news I see that people all over the world are expecting a lot of him, too. No wonder he looked so tired as the weight of it all landed on his shoulders. He was generous to his opponents as well I thought.

Here in Japan it was a little lonely, as I only have one American friend who clearly supported Obama and cared about the election. All others were either Republicans or just didn't care, mostly the latter! So I haven't had the fun of jumping up and down with some one yelling, “We did it!!!”.

School continues to challenge me and with the other commitments I've made, I am very busy. My friend who was going to come here at New Years and travel with me is not coming, so I am making plans to travel a bit on my own as I'm dying to go to some of these places I have only seen in pictures. That was a big disappointment, but it will be a good challenge and I plan to spend 5 days in Okinawa with Japanese friends which will be a lot be fun. But truthfully, it's a bit lonesome to be contemplating the holidays away from my family.

Well, I better get back to studying. I had two quizzes today and failed one, and I have two quizzes tomorrow, so I better get in gear. Last night I just couldn't study with all the election stuff!

I’m including some pictures of Okazaki Castle Park and a flower show that was in progress there. As you can see, the fall colors haven’t really gotten going here yet.

Some Culture

For those of you who keep up with this blog, I apologize for its sporadic nature. I just don't have the time I did when I first came to Japan and here is why: too much culcha ( that's culture with a Maine accent in case you didn't guess!)

Besides taking ikebana classes and calligraphy classes, and of course my regular courses, I squeezed in a concert of Japanese traditional and western music hosted by the same volunteer group that sponsored the lovely cooking class, the CCC. I don't have much time to write tonight but I thought a few pictures would keep me out of the dog house.

The concert was held in a 600 year old Buddhist temple. I got a chance during intermission to peek at the main hall and marvel at the huge wooden beams and pillars that support the structure. At the end of the concert we had a little tea with the volunteers and the musicians, many of whom are also part of the CCC. The shakuhatchi, or bamboo flute, player told us how he had made his "bass flute" himself. The smaller flutes he used were of plastic! I am including a few second of video of the koto player's performance. I could have listened to him a lot longer than his performance lasted.

A full schedule

Barely back from Thailand and my life in Japan has taken off in several directions, all very interesting. I may have mentioned the English Café, a small group that meets once a month to practice their English, but did I tell you that the host of this group is also an ikebana and tea ceremony master? This is the case and she has invited me to come to her house for lessons. Today I went after classes and joined two of her students in learning the tea ceremony and then in attempting to arrange flowers in the ikebana tradition or style. My knees are in pretty bad condition and getting worse form lack of practice, so the big challenge in all this is that the Japanese do theses things in seiza (sitting on the knees). The sensei kindly got me a stool and let me sit cross-legged most of the time, but I have to do some stretching to be able to continue. It was so interesting to see the tea ceremony, the utensils, the hundreds of little ritual details that go together to create a quiet, solemn ceremony. I enjoyed trying to communicate with the young ladies as well and one asked me if I would give her private English lessons. At the end of the lesson, the teacher loaned me a vase and frog to take home so I could keep my flowers at home!

Once the lessons were done, I went upstairs to have dinner with her family, the daughter with the three adorable children. The daughter’s husband is away in Tokyo getting training for a new job so it was just mom and the three little ones: two boys aged 10 and 7 and a little girl age 4. I had fun entertaining the kids while the dinner was being prepared and then we all sat on the floor around the low table and had an absolutely delicious meal. On the table was miso soup, a dish with sweetened rice, raw scallops, avocado and cooked shrimp, three kinds of sashimi, tuna, scallops and another fish I couldn’t name, and a salad, all of it delicious and eaten with gusto. Shortly after sitting down to eat we were joined by a younger sister and later, her mother, my teacher. While I only grasp parts of most conversations, it was so good just be “part of the family” for a short while and hear the day to day kinds of things people talk about. When it was time to go, every one came out to see me off on my bicycle, making sure I could manage the flowers and the vase in the basket on the front of my bike.

All of this follows on the heels of a very busy Saturday in which I had my second calligraphy class. I love the class and teacher. She speaks no English so we make do, but she is patient and kind. I'm starting with the writing that elementary kids learn, then I'll move to middle school writing and on the high school levels and beyond, if I make that much progress. It's relaxing and I don't care if her elementary age students look at me a little strangely, an old lady just learning her letters! This time I was on my own, no friend from Yamasa to interpret for me, but it worked out fine, the sensei had her grandson and daughter there and they helped with their halting English when I got stuck. The grandson has come up with a kanji (Chinese character) name for me, as calligraphers need one to sign their work. I was thrilled. Apparently he is quite talented at inventing names that have nice meanings and still sound sort of like your real name. He's only fourteen, but seemed to enjoy the challenge of figuring out a name that would work. When I can write it I’ll let you see!

Another addition to my schedule is an English class that I’ll be teaching on Wednesdays to a group of women from the Cultural Exchange Organization. The same group that gave us a cooking class just before I left for Thailand. Did I mention that? It was so much fun, but I haven’t had the time to even think about it since.

So, in short, it now appears that I am meeting some of my goals in coming here: to experience some Japanese culture first hand, to meet Japanese and try speaking with them in my halting Japanese, and to teach English and earn a little money to help pay for all these cultural things, which come with some overhead. For example, the brush for doing calligraphy is about $30.00. Today’s flowers were $10. If I get serious about the tea ceremony I could spend a LOT of money on the accoutrement. Probably I won’t go there, but the calligraphy is something I can see really getting into, if I have time. 

The pictures included here come from earlier events, an ikebana show I went to last month and the cooking class.

Matane…

Thailand

As I have not been very regular lately with this bog, you may not know that I had to leave Japan to get a student visa activated at a Japanese embassy so I went to Thailand where I have some friends I wanted to visit. I had a wonderful trip and will perhaps post another entry with more details, but because I am now back in Japan and ready to start another quarter in which I will be scrambling like mad to keep up, once again, I want to at least share some pictures with you. Here is a collage of pictures taken in many different places around Thailand. Enjoy.

The Japanese are different!

Today I’m thinking of the various ways that the Japanese are different from “Americans”. Obviously, I’m generalizing on both sides but some things seem to hold up pretty well to scrutiny. For example, the Japanese women, across the board, look a whole lot younger and prettier than we do! I know that I’m not really a good example of a 60 year old American, letting my hair go naturally gray, since few people do that anywhere in the industrialized world, but here I am repeatedly asked my age, something the Japanese do to everyone regardless or gender or age, and with wonder some black-haired modern version of a slightly aging Geisha will say: “Oh we’re the same age!” I think it’s supposed to be a friendly thing to say, but I have to share that I’m usually totally taken aback! To look at them I would have guessed 50 at most, and well preserved at that. As a gaigin I always feel a bit big and clumsy here, but as these occurrences add up, I realize I must look like I’m 80 to the Japanese! How is it that all these women look so good? I’ve talked to a few others students here who say the same thing. If you think the Asian women you are talking to is sort of young to be out of school, she’s probably 25 or 30 years old!

Today I went with a fellow student to the house of a Japanese family for the purpose of participating in their informal English club, a monthly occurrence where a few friends get together to practice their English. I was invited to join the group, as Arturo is about to return to his country, Mexico, and was looking for people to help out. Today it was just he and I, though I’m told there are other “English speakers” who come from time to time. Actually, I’m the only native speaker in the group at the moment.

While we were waiting for every one to get there, the conversation was mostly in Japanese and I only understood part of it, but the hostess was talking to someone who I took to be her daughter. She looked to be about 14 or 15, with short a pixy-like haircut, and was generally tiny, probably a size 0. A little later when everyone was there, we were doing introductions all around the table and this young lady, who spoke English pretty well, turned out to be the mother of three children, ages 10, 8, and 4. She met her husband in Australia where they were both working as tour guides for Japanese tours to that country. She claimed to be lazy because she only had a part-time job, working three days a week, plus she has just taken on teaching swimming to children several times a week!

Next, the “middle aged”, perfectly appointed lady to my right told me she was 60 and only worked part-time at Mitsubishi Motors. Her hobbies were growing vegetables and traveling. When I introduced myself, they seemed surprised that I’ve come here to learn Japanese at my age! The aikido and kayaking surprise them as well. Not that I’m really old by Japanese standards. The oldest person in Okazaki is 104 years old. Next Monday is the Day for Honoring the Elderly and that usually means people over 75, I am told.

Not only do the Japanese look younger, and live longer than we do, they are also “genki”. This means fit, energetic, and lively, and also healthy. You see people who are clearly past retirement age, riding around on their bicycles, or zipping by on motor scooters. They go to the grocery store every day and carry their bags home themselves, they dance for hours in matsuris (festivals) and who knows what else to stay so fit, plus they eat a lot less than we do, and a much better diet, although junk food is making big inroads in Japan. Yuck.

While I am generalizing a bit, I might as well say that in addition to be so very polite, which “everyone knows”, they are also very generous. Gift giving is a big part of social exchanges here, but it isn’t always formal and planned. Today the hostess of this gathering gave me a lovely little gift of paper figures, and later as an after thought gave me a book she had in English about the cherry blossom festival of Washington to DC. (The cherry trees were a gift from Japan back at the turn of the 19th century). She also gave me some little samples of Japanese calligraphy, and two free tickets to an ikebana show in Nagoya next week!

Well, this didn’t get posted when it was written, but I’ll post it any way. I hope to get a report on my first tea ceremony soon!

The Onsen

I’ve gotten a little behind on the blog as my course work is really picking up, as in getting much more demanding and “outside activities” are taking up time as well. The last couple of weeks have been packed with new experiences. It started on Friday, a week ago, when classes were canceled due to the torrential rains that hit Aichi Ken, the state where I am living. Okazaki was particularly hard hit. Flooding made travel impossible, trains stopped running, houses were swept off their foundations by the over flowing rivers and streams.


Friday afternoon a classmate Skyped me, did I want to go to an onsen? Onsen is Japanese for hot springs/spa. Although I knew they were everywhere I was surprised to learn that there was one right down the road and we could just walk there or take our bikes. We took our bikes. All I really knew about onsens is written above, so I was curious and nervous. Catherine said we didn’t need to bring anything but the 600 yen it would cost. This was almost true. We found it without trouble just off the main road. It was big and there were lots of cars (and a few bikes) in the parking lot. I guess others had had the same idea, no school or work, go for a soak. We took off our shoes at the entrance and put them in a locker. Unlike the lockers in the izakaya, Japanese pub that I went to last week where the shoe/bag lockers had these interesting wooden keys, these little lockers required a 100 yen coin to lock but when you returned and unlocked them to take your shoes the coin was returned to you. We then bought a ticket for 650 yen (less then $6.50) from the ticket vending machines, similar to the ones that sell train tickets at the station, which we gave to the attendant at the reception desk and passed into the bathing area of the facility. Here you have to make sure your Japanese is good enough to distinguish between the women’s entrance and the men’s, or you could be in for a bit of surprise. These entrances were side by side, as the men have a separate, adjacent, and from the brochure it appears, almost identical section. There was not a word of English to be seen. Thank goodness Catherine, who speaks Chinese, is really good at deciphering kanji. I was very relieved to be with her in this culturally and linguistically distant galaxy.

Almost immediately after entering the women’s “locker room” we realized we had were not going to be supplied with a towel and we hadn’t brought our own, so we back tracked to the desk and asked for a “taoru”. We were given (for another 150 yen, not to be returned), a cute little plastic shopping bag containing one large towel and one smaller one. These were to be returned to the desk when we left. We returned to the locker room, found a locker that, like the shoe lockers, required a 100-yen coin that would also be returned by the lock when we put the key in and opened the door. Here we left all our clothes and our modesty and proceeded into the washing area of the onsen. The next step of the process is to get perfectly and completely clean. We hadn’t brought soap or shampoo but these were supplied at each washing station. Each washing stall had a plastic stool in from of a mirror, a faucet, and a hand held shower sprayer thing like the one in my own bathroom here. There was also a plastic basin used to pour water over yourself. I took my cues from Catherine, who had done this before, and the other ladies I could see behind me. I sat on the stool and soaped up and scrubbed myself as best I could, and rinsed off well. It’s a very big faux pas to be either dirty or soapy going into the bath, whether in an onsen or at home. If you think you feel conspicuous being the only non-Asian person in the place, trying being the only non-Asian naked person! I had to work a bit at my cultural flexibility to get with the program and just act like I’m totally cool hanging out in “my birthday suit” with women of all ages. Actually there was one little boy of about 4 or 5, who seemed to be there with his grandmother.

For our bathing pleasure we had a variety of outdoor “pools” and tubs as well as indoor ones with Jacuzzi style jets. We eventually tried all the pools and tubs, even the cold one for cooling off. After about an hour I was hot and wrinkly enough, and ready to leave. I could tell that some of the Japanese ladies there were just settling in for the afternoon and would probably stay much longer than an hour. The bath and especially bathing in a hot spring is a very old and cherished tradition here. It’s not viewed as entertainment the way hot tubs are in America, but it’s definitely more than just getting clean. There’s a certain air of sacredness to it. People talk in quite tones and don’t ever splash or kick their feet. It is definitely something the Japanese are introduced to from very young. There were several very little children there with their mothers or grandmothers. And judging by appearances only, one is never too old to go to an onsen either. So despite my discomfort being naked, I was buoyed by the fact that I wasn’t the only old bag there! (There are no pictures allowed inside the onsen but the one above is of a sculpture outside the entrance. Frogs are very popular here.)