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Eight years, two daysApril 2003
Spring holidays were glorious. I did... very little! Got lots of sleep. Turned up to work at a leisurely 10 o'clock and went home early. Played computer games. Went snowboarding in Ehime. I even bought my own board on the internet, nice and cheap at the end of the season. I finally cleaned the study in my apartment, so I can walk in there in the dark and not worry about tripping before I find the light. And then, when holidays were over and it was time for the new school year to start, I took a couple of extra days off, going back to work just in time for the "nyuugaku-shiki", the school entrance ceremony where we welcome new students into junior high school from elementary school. What a great break.
I'd usually spend the last weekend of vacation lamenting the fact that it's about to come to an end, but this time around it was the best few days of the whole fortnight. I set off early in the morning on Saturday April 5 with the local Japanese drumming group, headed for Saijo city in Ehime, some two or three hours drive away. We were lined up for a performance at a temple festival, coinciding nicely with the blooming of the cherry blossoms. After much to-ing and fro-ing trying to park the bus and get our equipment into the temple hall where we were to play, we banged out our best rhythm, promptly packed up, wandered around the festival for a bit, and then drove another couple of hours to get home. Five hours driving for a five minute performance. We're not really that good, are we? :)
Sunday saw the scales tip the other way - four Awa Odori performances in three hours. It had been a while since I'd danced properly, but it was refreshing to be back into it and the weather was beautiful. It was a top day for dancing and also an opportunity to head over to Fujimoto-sensei's house to meet his lovely family and have dinner together in the evening, since his house is just two minutes drive from our performance venue. Have you ever met a champion typist? I got to hang out with three of them that evening - the three Fujimoto girls, Kanako, Maki and Haruka, aged 12, 8 and 6, are all amongst the fastest typists for their ages in Japan. Kanako makes a pretty reasonable pizza, too. The girls are great (though the idea of having three daughters is terrifying!) and I had a very relaxing evening in good company.
On the road the next morning to pick up a friend from Tokushima Airport. When I first met her in Singapore back in 1995, I called her Masumi and made her giggle with what little Japanese I knew at the time. I remember saying, "Goodnight!" and "I love you!" to her every night - have my language needs changed?! Eight years later, however, Masumi has graduated from medicine at a university near Tokyo, is about to become Dr Tsuchiya and speaks an astounding amount of English for someone who has only ever left Japan for that one visit to Singapore. She wants to work with patients suffering from serious diseases such as leukaemia, but before she starts her internship, she's got a few weeks break. She found a couple of days in her busy schedule to come and see me down in Shikoku. After eight years, she said I still look the same. Then I took off my bandana. She giggled. :)
We went to see the whirlpools in the Naruto Straits. You have to pick the right time to go, as the whirlpools are at their best when the tides are changing fastest. My previous two excursions to Naruto met with lots of foam but no whirlpools. Masumi's visit proved to be third time lucky. It was a bit chilly out on the boat, but once we got back to dry land, the day was perfect for a bit of "hanami" - literally, "flower viewing", which we partook of in Tokushima Central Park where the cherry blossoms are quite beautiful. Lots of people had gathered under the trees in the late afternoon to drink sake and enjoy the season. It's a very Japanese time of the year and a great way to catch up with old friends.
I think Masumi got more than she bargained for that evening, though, when we caught a performance at the Awa Odori Kaikan, the centre of Awa Odori dancing and history in Tokushima. The performing group changes every day, but they all include a chance for the audience to participate - read, they pick out some likely looking suspects and make them look silly in front of their friends. Masumi not only got picked out to learn the dance, but even won a small award for her participation. Oh, yes, they picked me out, too, of course, but I already know what I'm doing. I think they got more than they bargained for. :)
We left early on Tuesday morning for a big day of driving - we had to get out to the Iya valley and back in time for a movie, a mission at the best of times! Taking the back road over Tokushima's highest peak on the way out, the view was unfortunately obscured by clouds and rain, but we dropped into the valley at its very eastern end, very close to the double vine bridges at Oku-Iya. After playing on the bridges (admittedly with care as we watched a rain-swelled Iya River raging below us), we continued on west through the valley, following the river until we came to Chiiori, the famous old house owned by Alex Kerr and Mason Florence, and stopped by for some tea and a chat. The rain stopped. The clouds floated away. Tea and biscuits in the sunshine. Nice.
Four hours driving can work up a bit of an appetite, so we didn't tarry long but kept on to my favourite local noodle shop for lunch. We both needed a bit of a rest after such a long journey, so it was back to my apartment to watch a DVD, whereupon I promptly fell asleep but got up just in time to take Masumi to the onsen. Suitably recovered, we got back on the road to dine at another friend's restaurant before hitting the highway back to the city. We arrived with time to spare to catch the late session of Daredevil at the cinema. Huge day! But what else is there to do when someone you haven't seen for eight years is going to leave the next afternoon?
I had one last chance to spend time with Masumi the next morning for breakfast and a bit of shopping before I had to get back to Iya and school. It wasn't easy for me to leave her on her own, but I forget that this is Japan and she's probably better able to figure out how to catch the bus to the airport than I am! I was sorry to see her go, too. She's quite lovely, a kind soul, and she'll be an excellent doctor. Japan needs more female physicians. She even thinks she might go back to her home town in rural Yamanashi and practice there one day. Good on you, Masumi. I'm looking forward to seeing her again, hopefully sooner than another eight years from now.
It's been pretty quiet back at school this first week or so, but I was inspired last week to put my spare time to good use by learning how to make my own web page. Maybe by the time my next missive is ready, instead of having to fill your inboxes with my wordy wonderings, I can simply direct you to my new website and let you read back issues of my adventures at your leisure. Look out for www.cc.jp, coming to a World Wide Web near you!
Until then, love,
Dave