There is a group of women who were all taking Taiko together last year before I even knew I was coming to Japan. I joined their class in September. They have been kind enough to take me into their circle. I knew when I met them initially that they were "my kind" of women. First, they LOVE to laugh. They like to beat drums loudly, like warriors with big sticks. They have a combined wacky sense of humor that "fits" just right. So I was delighted in the Fall when they invited me to a recipe sharing luncheon. It was the first place where I really felt "at home." We laughed over lunch till my sides ached, and I was so incredibly grateful to have been welcomed into their midst like that. We had another good time at another friend's house last Fall, and then everyone got caught up in the holidays, traveling and life happened, the good and the bad.
We had an opportunity to get together last night however, and made plans to to meet at Shibuya Station at a famous statue of a dog called "Hachiko." Read his story. It made me cry the first time I read it: http://www.fabuloustravel.com/globe/hachiko/hachiko.html
We met at Hachiko, and walked together to a Korean Barbecue Place in the huge city of Shibuya. Of course, it being Shibuya, I had no idea where we were, and got completely turned around, but I expected as much. Thankfully I was with friends who knew the way. At Korean B-b-q, there are open flame charcoal pits in the table, and you cook your meat and veggies right there in the flames. I was a little bummed by the prospect of eating beef tongue at first, but it was very thinly sliced and very good. (Once when I was a kid at my grandmother's house in Oneonta, she cunningly served me a tongue sandwich, telling me simply that it was beef. I remember knowing immediately by the taste and texture that she was trying to pull a fast one and further scrutinized the meat in between the bread. Oh horrors! Those little things looked like.....like.....TASTE BUDS!!?? I remember vowing to myself at that moment never to eat anything that could taste me back.) But, I'm off the point here. Last night's meal was delicious, and we were the loudest, rowdiest, gaijin in the place. Actually the only gaijin in the place, although we were accompanied by Ikuko, a Japanese friend of one of our group.
There was conversation about the difficulties of daily life in Japan: ordering pizza, finding the way to places by car, and funny stories about buying things to eat that turn out not to be what you thought they were. One of our gang chimed up with, "Is there anyplace else in the world where we could have a discussion about how difficult it is to ORDER A PIZZA?!" Laughter is the universal steam release valve, let me tell you.
We were pleasantly surprised when the proprietor came to the table and put down a black velvet mat and told us he was going to do magic. He was pretty darn good! Cards and balls and pens appeared and disappeared to our delighted amusement and amazement. When we left the restaurant, I was the last one out of the place and I noticed him following us close behind. He followed us up the stairs, around a corner and onto the street. I was just starting to be aware of my creep-out warning system, when I realized he was just making sure we got up to the street alright, and he happily wished us a good night.
Dinner was followed by karaoke for an hour and then on home. I found out last night that one of this group is moving to Switzerland after this school year ends. That's the way of the expat community. I asked her if she wanted to eventually go home to the States, and she immediately expressed their desire to return to Tokyo after the 3 years in Switzerland. There are many many people who are global nomads here, and seem happily content to be so.
I have been soaking up (nay, luxuriating in) the international community in which I now move. In my yoga class there is an Italian, a Japanese, and a French woman, plus of course, Americans. The class is taught by a young woman from Switzerland. At Monday night's rehearsal for the up-coming Brahms Requiem performance, I sat next to a young woman from Montenegro. (I am embarrassed to tell you that I had to look up Montenegro to find out more about it!) I have made plans to attend a party for the chorus after our rehearsal the week before the concert so that I can meet some more Japanese folks. The members of the chorus are so nice, but we never have the time to meet and greet. Wouldn't it be a shame if I lived here for a time and never really got to know some native Tokyoites?
Tomorrow is FRIDAY! We are off to a Quilt Show in the Tokyo Dome City Center.
Cheers!
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