August 24, 2000

Hello everyone! I wanted to give you the lowdown on the Wadayama Festival yesterday.  After I left work, I went to the apartment to take my bath as usual.  Ooooooo?did that feel good.  I am counting down again.  Today I will be joined by my novel since I have no plans for the evening and am prepared to have a lazy afternoon with Jessica. Yesterday there was no time to really relax.  Got home, took the plunge, then hurried to get some lunch. Soon, Ken got home with our friend (and mentee) Sue. Sue is from Sydney, Australia, and is a great gal?we really like her.  She is quiet, a Masters in Education, and willing to try even the most disgusting foods given to her.  We found this out last night, but I am getting ahead of myself. Sue spent the afternoon talking with us about Japanese history, kimono, tea ceremony, taiko, and other things that we have in our mutual interest here.  The phone rang and we were invited by Nahoko Azumi (Akibadai English Club student and granddaughter of the tea master that I mentioned from previous letters�c) to have dinner with her family before the fireworks display.  We explained that we were sorry that we could not attend because we had invited Sue to join us for the festival.  Nahoko whispered to her grandmother what I had said and soon both were convincing me that we all should come.  Nahoko said that her grandfatherwould be thrilled to meet one of the newest foreigners in the area.  She was persuasive and we happily accepted the invitation.  The Azumi family is one of my favorite families here in Japan.  They are the neatest people.  Everyone knows a family full of people who are dynamic, energetic, popular and successful.  The Azumis are their Japanese counterparts.  The patriarch of the family is an ikebana master.  Ikebana is the traditional art of flower arranging.  The front room of their home can be opened up to the street to display the works of his students.  He trains the artists in the area, and teaches his granddaughters as well.  I think that ikebana is a lot of fun, and terribly complicated, and am happy to say that I am acquiring an appreciation for the art.  Really beautiful stuff.  His own work is magnificent, and he is an interesting  and generous man.  He speaks no English, but is patient with our horrendous Japanese, and is eager to talk with us about our own countries.  His wife is the tea master, and she really is famous in this area of Japan.  People go wide-eyed with shock when they learn (from whatever Japanese friend happens to be with us) that we have been to their home more than once.  It`s nice to be a celebrity.  I don`t ever offer the information, but word travels fast.  Once, in Takeda-cho, the Azumis were there to visit a teahouse and she happened to see us.  WE were distracted and I didn`t see them right away.  She left the group that she was talking to and came over to speak to me, and she and I chatted (in my limited Japanese it was only very small talk) and then she escorted me over to meet her friends.  I do not know what she said to them, but we all bowed to each other and made pleasantries for three or four minutes and then they went on their way.  The next day, the entire staff at my school had heard about it, and I was invited to tea ceremony by our resident cha teacher, who happens to have been trained by Azumi-san.  She is always so very nice to us when we visit her house.  The Azumis have two sons in the area (and I have no idea of other children but perhaps there are just the two sons) and the oldest is Nahoko`s father.  His name is Akira, and he is one of my Akibadai English Club students also.  He is super-intelligent, and an absolutely fantastic person.  He and his (beautiful) wife have a flower shop in Tooyoka, about an hour`s drive north of Wadayama, in the largest town in Tajima.  They are a very nice couple.  They have another daughter also, older than Nahoko, who goes to Tokyo University and we have never met her.  Nahoko goes to college in Osaka, so we see her fairly often as she comes to class weekly and we often run into her on the trains.  Additionally, she volunteers as one of Jessica`s Japanese teachers at Itoi.  It is a nice arrangement.  Akira`s brother, the younger son, is in his early forties and is a teacher also, so we always have much to discuss.  His hobby is photography, specifically of the mountain peaks he climbs, so you can imagine that he and Ken always sit and pour over albums of mountain ranges and valleys.  He and his wife and their two children live in the same household with Mr. And Mrs. Azumi, as is Japanese custom.  The younger Mrs. Azumi has been studying tea ceremony for twenty years, fifteen of those under Azumi-san, and is making sure that her daughter (Saori is Jessica`s age and they are friends) learns the correct way to do things.  With this cast of characters, you can just imagine that we always have much to talk and laugh about whenever we have the opportunity to be with them.  After a quick, excited discussion about what was in store for Sue, we then packed up and headed down to the department store where Ken bought my yukata so that I could be dressed for the festival.  The lady who helped me was wonderful.  She was very careful to make sure that all the lines were very even, that every fold was perfect, and then she tied and she padded and she tied some more and she laced and she pulled and she pushed and she strapped and she clipped and FINALLY I was ready.  I have to say that it was exciting to see myself all dressed up in the traditional manner.  I could barely breathe, what with all that tying and all.  With me and Jessica both in yukata, it caused quite a stir.  It was fun, though.  I ran into several of my teachers, and a BUNCH of my students, while walking to the Azumi`s (streets were blocked for the festival so we had to hoof it) and all would comment on the yukata and on how impressed they were that we were interested in the traditional clothing.  When we got to the Azumi house, they were all admiring the work of his students, and so he explained some of the philosophy to us and we listened with rapt attention, to statements such as:
Mr. Azumi: �gYamanaka-san wa sanjikan gorufu o shitekara ichijikana oyoida.�h
Me:  �gMr Yamanaka swam for an hour after playing golf for three hours?�h
Mr. Azumi: �gHai.�h
Me:  �gYokatta.�h  (that`s good.)
I so wish that my Japanese skills were better so that I could understand some of the stuff he tells me.  I just know that he is imparting bits of wisdom that would inspire volumes of written work from me and it is completely lost in the abyss of the communication gap. It causes me to think, though, that not all is lost, because there are so many things that we can discuss through Akira, his son.  Over dinner, which was mostly sushi (about a thousand bucks worth of various kinds?an amazing spread) and which was accompanied by various truly disgusting offerings such as sea snails which look as horrible as they sound, as they smell, and as they taste.  Had some liver, don`t know which animal.  Had some brains, of some kind of fish.  Chewed up and swallowed fish heads and bones.  Hey?filled the stomach, and there were morsels that were delectable too?made up for the rest of it.  Sorry, I was trying to talk about dinner conversation and I got stuck on the actual dinner.  We were talking about patriotism, and had been joined by the elder Mr. Azumi`s two brothers.  They were very interested to hear our viewpoints on various subjects, and it was great practice for my two present students!  (and for our Japanese listening ability, or lack thereof, really�c)  They wanted to know what brought us to Japan, how we found living here, what it was like to be an expatriate, etc., and then the conversation turned specifically to love of country.  Mr. Azumi stated that he knows that we love America (and for Sue, Australia) very much, but that we have lived all over (Sue has lived in New Zealand and in France, and of course, Ken has been everywhere�c) and he wanted to know where we wished to die and be laid to rest at life`s end.  (Talking about death in a general manner is not uncommon here among mature people?it is written in poetry, represented in gardens and artwork, and is not whispered about or dreaded.  A fascinating thing to talk about when we get the chance, and here is was.)  His question-Did we envision remaining in our home countries for the rest of our late days?  Sue said that she hoped to have a family in Australia one day that would prevent her from leaving.  They all laughed at that.  She really wants to have a lot of kids someday, and seems to be the kind of person who would have her kids and settle contentedly down never to leave the front yard except to chase a frisbee.  They were satisfied with her answer, it seemed, though Mr. Azumi`s elder brother is an Olympic fan and wonders why in the world she left Sydney at the perfect time to BE THERE!!!  Ken said that he would prefer to live in America when he got older, mainly because of the benefits of his Army service.  They were all appreciative of that viewpoint as well, and after a few minutes of that, they looked to me.  I was glad that I was last to answer, gave me time to get the right words together.  I said that my loyalty to my country was as strong as that of any American.  I said that I love my country and it will always be my home, no matter where I live in the world.  I said that life was uncertain, that I could die tomorrow as easily as thirty years in the future.  I said that it didn�ft matter to me where I died as long as I had done the most living I could do in the time I was here.  At that, they broke out the sake and started pouring and cheering.  Apparently, as the younger Mr. Azumi explained, my answer was exactly the topic of a conversation that the three men had been having earlier, and they loved it that they felt in tune with other people in the world, specifically younger Western people.  They kept pouring sake for me and the others, congratulating each other on their viewpoints and good fortune.  Soon dinner and sake-time were over and we could hear the telltale pounding outside saying that the  fireworks had begun.  They asked us to return to their house after we checked out the festival and we promised to do so, then we hit the street to enjoy the show, the smells and the sounds of the festival. There were lanterns and banners hung over the street, and bright red and white lights, and the whole place was really transformed from the dingy downtown into a magical spot.  Our students kept stopping us to chat and we would stop for a few moments now and then to practice English with our kids and comment on how nice they looked in their yukata.  It was great.  All the while, the sky was on fire with some of the most brilliant fireworks I have ever seen.  After about twenty minutes, there was a steady stream lasting about a minute, where a hundred or more large chrysanthemum-type explosions filled the sky completely with sound and color, and at the end, there was a round of applause rising from the street and the bridge.  But it wasn`t over.  They had four more such �gendings�h in the next HOUR of steady bursting.  It was incredible.  We tried to explain that in America, on the fourth of July, they have fireworks displays that might last a half-hour or so, and that the ending we had just seen would be the finale in the show.  Here, such a finale is nothing more than a warm-up.  It is a wonderful thing to see! After we had walked around a bit, we headed back to the Azumis where they were going to do tea ceremony, and we were so completely excited about that.  Unfortunately, the three brothers had spent the hour
drinking sake and toasting each other, and had a list of questions for us.  Ken and I got cornered into a discussion, and Nahoko went to show Sue the tea room.  While there, Sue got to taste her first macha, though she didn�ft see a full ceremony yet, and Nahoko showed Jessica how to do the ceremony, which made Jessica very excited.  I was disappointed that I didn�ft get to watch her do this.  But the conversation with the gentlemen in the front room was compelling.  After awhile the topic turned to work, and it was discovered that the eldest brother is a rice farmer, for the past 60 years he`s run one of the largest farms in Tajima.  The middle brother is our friend Mr. Azumi, and the youngest (is actually married to their younger sister but they call him brother) worked for Kobe Steel for 44 years, is an Electrical Engineer, and has over 100 patents on electronics in Japan.  So the levels of expertise and the fortes in the group truly run the gamut!  We missed having tea, but we had a wonderful time!  Too soon, it was time to head home.  It was past Jessica`s bedtime, and Ken still had to drive Sue back
to Oya.  It took forever to say goodbye?these things are painful and drawn out in Japan.  Lots of bowing and promises to return, and lots of bowing and thanks for wonderful times, and more bowing and pleasantries, and then everybody goes outside to wave as you walk away, bowing and making more talk and waving, and it just takes forever, but you go away feeling like you are missed already.  I hope that they had even half the good feeling that we did as we walked home.  It was a good night. 

It took me nearly an hour to get untied, unclipped, unfastened, unwrapped, and completely unclothed and the stuff put away sufficiently.  By that time, I was getting it all together to get to bed, and Ken made it home just then?good timing.  I am not sure if I even said goodnight to him?I think I fell into deep sleep somewhere in midair above my pillow?I don�ft even remember laying down.  I think I just probably fell asleep on my feet, fell on the bed and he just shoved me over or something.  I wouldn�ft be surprised. 

Today will not be an eventful day, like I said.  Today, I will spend some time just recovering, and doing a little laundry.  We have a couple of friends coming to visit for the weekend, and we are going hiking, to the ruins and to the falls, and it will be a great weekend.  No worries Mom and MeeMaw?the doctor visit on Tuesday shows I am doing good, and I will not be making the full hike if the heat is too bad?I will gladly find the shade with my novel and bug spray if I get too tired, and will be glad for the quiet break in the fantastic setting.  When we go to the falls, they will do the hike, and I will wander into the cold mountain spring and wait for them to return.  The mountain stream at Tendaki just spills down everywhere into these quiet little pools, completely shaded by the trees?it is right out of a painting---so picturesque.  I can`t wait.  It has taken awhile, but it seems that I am finally learning that I do have limits.  Hee hee hee (not likely)

Okay?gotta go for now.  I send lots of love to all there from all here!