August 23, 2000

Hello from Japan!
Things here are as busy as ever.  I still work to find out how I can fix my computer after the electrical storm last month.  We thought that it must be the wires in the wall, and paid to replace them, but to no avail.  Thus, I decided to bring it back to my school and beg the aid of �gthe computer guy�h who helped me with the last problem.  Unfortunately, �gthe guy�h has been on summer vacation, and there is nobody else who can help me until he returns.  It has been frustrating beyond your comprehension, just let me assure you!  I have tried to hold off on writing a lot of family letters, as I have to send them either from work (borrowing another teacher`s machine, which I am reluctant to do unless I am researching for a class...) or go to Ryan`s house in Yabu to use his machine (which I am reluctant to do since we pay by the minute for the LOCAL phone call�c)  Besides, after all this time, the first time I try to clean out all the stuff in the mailbox, it is going to just be ugly.  This letter is being written with the intent of sending from another teacher`s machine, because I think that she will not be here for an hour or so tomorrow morning and then I can try to send it.  Since you are reading this, assume that I succeeded.

Well.  That paragraph was a whole lotta nothin` much, wasn`t it?  Let me catch you up.  It is hot here in Japan, the hottest summer in recorded history.  And I am in a country where there are very few air conditioners.  Can you imagine going to school and trying to learn anything when there is heat like this and no air conditioning?  They persist in toughening people just like in the old days.  Basically, it all comes down to this:  if you are hot or cold, you must still keep working.  You must still keep learning.  You must stay focused.  It is the Japanese way?to avoid coddling yourself too much. While I appreciate all the inner strength and simplistic beauty stuff as much as the next person, let me just state for the record that it is a bunch of crap.  I say, technology is all about making your life easier.  So make it easier.  Get your body temp down, cool off your brain, eliminate the possibility of heat stroke, and then your brain will work faster  and more efficiently.  Bullocks with making yourself oblivious to the sauna you`re in.  There is a teacher at my school who talks with me often about the Japanese way, and is eager to hear about our ways of doing things.  He is a visionary.  He is the one to talk  to when you are trying to justify sitting around in the heat without completely losing your mind.  He went all into it with me one day.  It went a little somethin` like this:
SCENE:  It is the height of summer in Japan. Dindee-sensei (played by our heroine) and Hontani-sensei (the visionary) are sitting in an oven.  The windows nearby are radiating heat into the already steaming room.  There are four fans blowing, too far away to do any good for anyone, and morale is at an all-time low.  Nobody talks or chats, except for Saiga-sensei who mutters to herself all day long, over and over are the words �gatsui atsui atsui---AAHHHHHTSUIIIIII!�h  (reference previous letters?this means hot-hot-hot-HHHOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!)  (reference previous letters again?this is the same woman who during the winter says nothing but �gsamui samui samui-SAAAAHHHMMMUUUUUUIIII,�h yep, you got it, that means �gcold�h)  Deciding to lighten the mood up a little, Hontani-sensei opens the conversation�c
Hontani: �gKyo wa atsui desu ne?�h (today is hot,isn`t it?)
Dindee: (waking) �gHuh???  Oh, gomen, (sorry) mo ichido kudasai?�h(once again, please?)
Hontani: (in English this time)  It`s very hot.
Dindee: �gHai.  Sooo desu.�h  (You got THAT right, mister!)
Hontani: �gWhen weather is hot, Japanese people keep moving, many believe that too much air conditioning      make soft people unable to work if the power is out.  The Japanese people work under any condition and many also believe that this is what makes us strong as a people.�h
Dindee: �gI can appreciate that view.  In America, we strive to make life convenient and comfortable for ourselves, and many believe that eliminating discomfort when possible will free your creative energy for other more important things.�h
Hontani: �gIt is not always possible to be comfortable.  Life is not convenient.�h
Dindee:  �gNor is it safe.  It is not safe to walk in the middle of the street, for instance.  It is safer to walk on     the sidewalk.  If we were to avoid the sidewalk and choose the danger of the street, does it really make us better and stronger people?�h
Hontani: �gSorry.  English is difficult.�h
Dindee:  �gDori wa abunai desu.  (streets dangerous are)  Watashi tachi hashiru no SIDE-WALK desu ne.�h (we   walking of the side-walk, right?)
Hontani: (amused)  �gWhat was that about roast beef?�h
Dindee:  �gHuh?�h
Hontani: �gNever mind.�h
Saiga:  �gAtsui atsui AHHHHHTSUI!!!�h
Dindee:  �gIt`s always good talking to you.�h
Hontani:      "Sooo desu."  (see above)
Saiga:  �gAtsui.�h
The point that I was desperately trying to make is that WHY in the world would you choose to walk in the middle of street rather than on the sidewalk that is RIGHT THERE?  Japan leads in so many technology fields, and can easily afford to air condition the schools and public buildings.  Businesses have figured it out?make the people comfy and you will corner the market.  However, the teachers and students still suffer here, learning to be people who can endure hardships while constantly wiping their brows with their cute little Hello Kitty towels. Please forgive my ramblings.  Chalk it up to heat stroke.  Luckily I have a little fan of my own, battery powered by two D-cells which are drained in just two days.  (Spending a fortune in batteries?two D-cells at a time�c)  The fan blows directly on me but it doesn�ft help.  There is just no relief until lunchtime when I can go home, peel off my clothes, and climb into a cold bath, yes, just cold straight from the tap.  After about a fifteen minute soak in cold water, bringing the temp down, I feel more like a human again.  It is one hundred and nine today and I have one hour and fourteen minutes left until I can go home and get in the tub.  After that, I will feel like a better, stronger and more fulfilled person as a whole.  I mean, just think of all the conditioning to my soul?I COULD use that hot water there, but I will choose the cold to toughen myself up.  Hee hee hee?

Tonight is the Wadayama city festival.  It is the JIZO FESTIVAL.  Jizo (pronounced JEE-zoh) is the buddha most associated with children and travelers.  Everywhere you look there are tiny Jizo statues all over the country.  Not to get morbid or anything, but in our country, we frequently see little crosses and wreaths placed at places where people died or were killed.  Well, here they place little Jizos everywhere.  Women will bring offerings to the little statues, sometimes will make tiny aprons of (usually red) cloth to keep the Jizo warm, or will bring water or sake on very hot days.  They say little prayers for their living children and for loved ones who are on journeys, and the Jizo is supposed to help keep them safe from harm.  In the afterworld, the Jizo is the buddha who cares for the souls of departed children also, and so there are always huge amounts of them in cemetary areas and temple grounds.  Because we are travelers, and because it is the right thing for us to do, we always leave small tokens or offerings (usually coins which help to keep up the temples and feed the monks) for the Jizos.  In Japan, taking part in local customs is important, it gives a lot of good face to the community, to my employers and students, to both our countries ultimately.  The little things really do matter here.  When talking about it to Jessica, in case you are concerned about that, she is aware that you can pray to our God in Heaven at any time and in any place.  My words to her were�c�hwhispering a prayer to our Heavenly Father for safety and protection or in thanks for our opportune blessings is always appropriate.  Whether or not you happen to be standing in front of seven statues of buddha really doesn`t matter.�g Anyway, back to the festival, which was the original topic of the last paragraph.  The summer festivals are great, and several of our kohai (mentees, first-year JETs under our tutelage) are coming to join in the fun.  Jessica and I will both be in yukata (light summer kimono especially for festivals and stuff) and I am very excited.  It will be my first real experience to dress in the customary way.  There are so many rules and things concerning what you can wear, the length of the sleeve, the contrast of  patterns and such, that I cannot possibly understand even half of it, much less relay it all.  Even the tying of the obi (sash) is complex.  There are some thirty ritualistic steps involved in tying an obi, and I can`t do it.  So thus, I will be going to the kimono shop to  be dressed for the festival by the woman who got the whole ensemble together for me.  It will be so much fun.  Don�ft worry?we will take lots of pictures, Mom!  With little girls, their obis are much less complicated and I know how to do it, so it will only be me parading around in my skivvies in the store?ha ha ha!  The yukata is an early birthday gift from Ken.  Telling you about the colors and such really doesn�ft do it justice, but here goes�cit is the darkest blue-black base color, and decorated with red and white arcs of color, like petals falling.  The obi is tapestry, mostly in burnt gold and  orange, with maple and sakura patterns woven into it.  The geta slippers for my feet match the obi, and I have a special bag to carry that matches the colors in the yukata.  I hope that one day I will be able to display both the kimono he got me last year and the yukata perhaps in a wall display.  They both are really stunning.  The festival tonight will be fun, maybe with a chance to take part in tea ceremony.  There will be the taiko drumming as usual, and the parading around of the mikoshi (the portable shrines that serve as resting places for the gods that protect the town) in the street, plus the smells of roasting octopus and corn, and custard-filled pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse.  There will be kids games and some bingo-playing perhaps, but the highlight will be the fireworks.  The fireworks, as I have said in numerous letters, are the best that I have ever seen?my favorites are the ones that blow up into smiley faces.  Those are really cool.  The display is supposed to last an hour tonight, and I can hardly wait. 

Okay, I suppose that I should close this letter for now and try to stay awake for the remaining forty-seven minutes of sauna time before I can head home to the bath.  I hope that this finds everyone doing well, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Love and various mush to all of you, Lynley