Hello From Japan

Hello From Japan,

I am sure the frequency of these observations will decrease some as the newness of living in Japan wears off (something that's hard to imagine now).

Today I am waiting around the house for a delivery of the rest of our furniture. I have been reading, which makes me sleepy no matter the time of day. I am a little embarrassed to admit it, but I was lying flat on my back dozing under the soft, snuggly prayer shawl that my church family gave me, when I felt the couch under me lurch suddenly, as if someone had bumped into it. Simultaneously I heard the house creak- I think it was from the sliding glass door we have in our living room, anyway it was a sort of sudden pop. If I am correct- that was my first earthquake. It was brief thankfully and I didn't have time to be alarmed, just surprised.

Yesterday I ventured out on my own finally to go to Yoyogi Park, the big green space that you can easily find on google earth. (try it!) I took the subway one stop and got off and found an exit into the koen district. Koen means park. It's a lovely koen that has lots of trees- some familiar, most new to me. The trees here are familiar through the Asian art I've seen. They look lovely and exotic. There are a couple of ponds, one with fountains, one without. The paths through the park wind around through the trees, although some of the paths are as wide as streets, some are bike paths (one way, of course) and even the ones that wind away up and down a little more remotely have asphalt on them. I wandered through a flower garden that had tall sun flowers, roses, lavender, companula and some other things I didn't know. Not too surprising, since my knowledge of horticulture could completely fit into a teaspoon. There are huge glistening blue-black crows in the trees and on the ground. Their calls are lower and slower than North American crows, and they appear to be pretty tame. I saw an elderly man surrounded by them, feeding them. The park is free of litter, but not of homeless people. It was sad to see, but there were quite a few men who have taken up residence there under the trees among the crows. Some of them have tarps, others have boxes as well as tarps. At first I found this really hard to fathom, because this is a culture that avoids the loss of face, or shame at all costs. It is hard to imagine what could have driven these men to this extreme. Robin pointed out that there was a deep economic recession in the 90's that cost some people their jobs. This was something new to the Japanese business world. In Japan, once you were hired by a company, you were employed for life. Losing your job for any reason just didn't happen. Karin Muller tells of a homeless man in her book Japanland who confessed that after he lost his job, he never went home, the shame was so great. He just put on his suit every day, and sat on a bench in the park.

Children sometimes laugh when they see us coming around a corner. I would imagine that depending on their situation, some kids haven't seen many foreigners, or "gaijin." This is the most homogenous society I've ever seen. I don't think we realize, or think about the fabulous diversity that we are surrounded by every day, every moment living in the US. Don't misunderstand, there are many, many Westerners here in Tokyo, but it takes a bit of looking to spot us. It's not as hard as "Where's Waldo" by any means. There are just many, many, more people than I who have straight black hair. The rainbow is the perfect symbol for diversity. It simply reflects the spectrum of hair color found in any town or city in North America. Yep, probably even the blues and greens! Remember Nathan's blue hair a couple of years ago?

We've all enjoyed having the internet again. Matt's happily editing new film material, Nathan is hooking up with new friends, and it is my lifeline to you, as well as a tool for looking up places to go or finding out where an English Book Store might be. I found a good one, not too far from here. The directions to get anywhere however are pretty complicated. Try to imagine telling someone how to find Morris' Men's Clothings Store on the Commons, using no street names, only landmarks and walking distances... That's how it is for us gaigin. It seems complicated, but I'm sure I'll get used to it sooner or later.

The delivery is due anytime now, so I'll sign off until after the weekend, when we go out to find bulk food and some pictures to hang on these bare white walls. Hopefully we'll have time to take in a shrine, take some pictures, and bring back more stories.

Cheers,

A