Month: May 2017

Japanese lost and found

The other night, as my mom and friend and I were walking home to my apartment after a 3-ish-hour adventure for purikura (one of the best parts of Japanese culture, I think), when I casually walked up to a sign along the sidewalk, and picked up the sweater that was quite obviously hanging over it.  At first, they were confused at my action, – taking the sweater – but then they were confused at the situation – it was clearly my sweater, but what on earth was it doing here?

I excitedly explained about Japanese culture with that sort of thing.  If someone loses a scarf or jacket or anything whose owner isn’t obviously identifiable (e.g. not wallets and IDs), a passerby will just set the object in a higher, more obvious spot (as opposed to leaving it sitting on the ground or taking it). I could tell that they didn’t quite believe time, and that they kind of saw this incident as a rather rare one, but I did my best to make it clear that this was really quite a normal thing here in Japan, anyway.

Today, however, my words were finally believed.  My mother, heading on her own to take the train from Tokyo to Osaka while I was at work, in her efforts to be oh-so-careful with her train tickets by putting them back in her bag as soon as she got on the regular train, discovered that she was no longer holding her ticket in her hand.  Now, this was no ordinary ticket, of course.  It was her $150 ticket for the Shinkansen (Japan’s bullet train) in an hour and a half.

So, she quickly rushed off the train at the next stop, hopped on one in the opposite direction, and hoped beyond hope that what I had explained the other night was true.  She arrived back at my station, looked around the floors, and found nothing.  However, keeping in mind that this is a train station, as well as the fact that this ticket was no trivial sweater or scarf, it makes perfect sense that when she went and asked at the booth with the station workers, they presented her with a clipboard that had an information sheet for her to fill out, in exchange for the ticket that was stapled to the top – someone had found and turned in her Shinkansen ticket in the short time since she had dropped it.

An angel in the form of an English-speaker then helped my mother find the right train to get her to the right place on time for her main train to Osaka, and wished her a powerful, “God bless,” as they parted.  My mother then easily caught her train to Osaka, and met my brother at the correct station down there (Well, it’s here, now, seeing as I am now in Osaka, too.).

As she relayed the story to the two of us and a Japanese friend of my brother’s, all three of us were utterly unsurprised at the ticket’s having been turned in and found – and my mother finally realized how lost and found generally works here in Japan.
Post-a-day 2017

A spontaneous lesson

Today, my mom and I helped with an English class while standing outside.  Literally outside, out-of-doors… we were having lunch in a sort of courtyard, and one of the class that had its windows all open happened to be an English class, and with one of my favorite teachers, to whom I had just introduced my mom.  

When we first sat down to eat, all the kids were super excited, hanging out the widows, waving and saying hi to us (it was barely the beginning of class at that point).  After I had eaten well enough, I went over to check out what they were doing.  The teacher, the amazing teacher she is, took it in stride, and had me verify correct sentences and pronunciation as students were giving answered aloud for their homework exercises.  Eventually, my mom came over to the window, too, shocking the students yet again – I had given them an unintentional, yet really good shock when I had suddenly appeared next to one kid by the open window.  At that point, instead of using the CDs after which the students typically repeat to practice English, the teacher brought a copy of the books to my mom.  She and I traded back and forth reading aloud, slowing the students to repeat the phrases of the text after us.  The English, of course, was quite awkward , however, it sounded great coming from the students.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard them so excited to be using their English as they were today, desperately attempting to communicate with my mother.  After that class, my mom and I officially attended a class, and helped expose kids to our Texas words and foods and thoughts on Japan.  That teacher is also completely awesome, and decided to take full advantage of having such a visitor.  The class happened to be some of my favorite kids, actually, and so it was extra-exciting for me.  The kids, naturally, were totally in love with my mom, and especially the fact that she was completely willing to be in photos.  Way-to-go, Mom!
Post-a-day 2017

“Domo arigatou, mister robato…”

Talking to a group of students, I, for whatever reason, broke into song, specifically “Mister Robato” by Styx.  (I imagine there was some tie to the fact that we are in Japan right now…). The girls thought I was adorably ridiculous, of course, as is totally usual for that group and me.  A few handfuls of seconds later, my mom walks over and asks what we’re discussing.  I mention the song to my mom, and she instantly breaks I to sing herself.  Naturally, I join her, and we have a sort of duet going, robot-esque dancing and full background vocals included.  Clearly, we’re related.  And, of course, the girls totally loved it. 😛
Post-a-day 2017

Eclectically Musical

Tonight, I went with my mother to a friend’s band’s performance.  The night was filled with Japanese musicians playing Venezuelan music.  Some even sang in Spanish.  We listened, we danced, we clapped, we cheered, we played with Handicorn, our fun unicorn who travels with my mom, we listened to my friend whistle impressively, and we had an overall wonderful time.  I met four different friends at the venue, and I wasn’t really sure that any of them knew the others were coming (nor was I sure that they even knew one another).  I am just so wonderfully eclectic in my taste, I think, I regularly show up places to meet with friends whose only link is I.
Post-a-day 2017

Declare your wish with gratitude

I think it is incredibly valuable to declare what we want to have be part of our own lives.  In doing so, I feel that we truly do allow space and guidance for those things to manifest themselves.  I wrote on Facebook that I wanted a baritone to serenade me, and a distant friend sent me a sort of birthday present singing video.  He’s a baritone.  I declared over and over again one day that I really wanted a certain card, and found one forever left behind in the bathroom the afternoon I was leaving.

Of course, these aren’t very good examples so far as I see it all.  However, they are decent ones, and they are all that currently comes to mind as specific recent events.  Declare it to the world, and it will come to you, in some way or another.  So, when you do declare it, be prepared.  ðŸ™‚
Post-a-day 2017

Cinco de Mayo

How did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?  We played Spanish word games, made Mexican paper flowers, dressed up in kimonos with Mexican flag (colored) hair ribbons, and played around at Mt. Fuji and some crazy public baths (red wine, sake, green tea, coffee, and collagen and gold flakes) an active volcano area of Japan.  Ridiculously wonderful.
Post-a-day 2017

Slumber Party

Last night, I had a slumber party with a few friends.  It was entirely unplanned, and utterly unexpected. I always keep very careful watch of the train schedules, but, after having checked what felt like a hundred times between only eight and nine-thirty pm (trains home end around midnight from where we were), I finally took a break from checking the time constantly.

And then, at about the same time, a friend got in touch about meeting up with us.  I suppose my brain then linked his arrival to shortly after when he got in touch about joining us – around 9pm.  When he actually arrived closer to 11pm, I had already taken to my breather from checking the time, and so had no idea of how late it actually was.  As we were having a blast in a karaoke bar, which I didn’t even know Japan had, he suddenly asked me when our last train was.  We had missed it by not quite ten or fifteen minutes.

So, the same friend casually offered a place to stay at his home, leaving us to experience a wonderful Japanese home – there was food in the kitchen, instruments strewn about the living room (and kitchen, actually), and living plants all around.  This friend happens to be part of a wonderful family, whose loving space is fabulous.

And in this fabulous living space we all slept.  Even my friend decided he didn’t want to stay in his own bedroom downstairs by himself, and so he joined our living room slumber party.  Two friends slept on futons on the floor.  The other friend, the one who lived there, and I slept above them in hammocks.  It was fabulously tree-fort-like.  And, in the morning, this morning, he made breakfast for us all.  Stupenda.
Post-a-day 2017

The Yellow Rose of Texas…-ish… sort of

Tomorrow, I will see my mother.  For the second time in the past five years, I will meet her at the airport, and bring her to my home away from home for an extended stay.  Both occasions have been so unexpected – in the sense of reasonable likelihood – that I had difficulties in fully believing that she was coming to visit me.  And yet, both times, she has crossed a good chunk of the world to share in my newest world, and to adventure alongside me.  For this and for much else, I love my mom dearly.
Post-a-day 2017