Japan in Thirty Days

Labor or Culture Day…or both

03 Nov 2010 1 Comment

by bjoelle in Brianne/ブリアンヌ

Airi went with us this morning to the hotel drop-off. We practiced rock-paper-scissors over and over in English, and she copied my weird sound effects as the scissors cut paper, or rock smashed scissors. She giggled when we tied over and over again. She ran after me to deliver bags of caramel corn for my friends this morning, and another stack of printed photos awaited us. The nice thing about our hosts taking so many photos is that they almost always give us individualized collections of printed pictures of ourselves and the group.

I’m not going to lie: today was a hard day. I felt overwhelmed. I’m tired of the long and busy schedule, which are only extended by my family’s activities in the evening. Sleep is jeopardized. I look and feel awful. There is a mixture of not exactly wanting to miss anything, but just needing some time off to refuel. Halloween should have been that time, but an afternoon trip to an animal park turned into an all day and evening event. So today, my frustration got to me, and I walked away from the group at the park to get some alone time. A Rotarian did chase after me, trying not to let that happen, but I explained (politely, I hope!) I wanted to be alone. That mostly did it. It wasn’t long enough but I’ll take it.

The morning park was a tearful blur, but it was a very pretty example of the crystal clear springs of Fuji, literally bubbling up, pushing sand away. Birds of all kinds flew around the lush surroundings, and you could stroll a wooden walkway through the little paradise in the city.

Next we went straight to a Rotary fundraiser. They dropped us alone, without much explanation or communication, so we were confused. Lucky for me, I was dropped off at the shrine on a holiday. I was handed a box and told to ask for money to end Polio. Well, I let down my blonde hair, put on a smile, and threw out a mix of English and Japanese greetings trying to get passerby’s attention. So many kids, out of school, were dressed in full kimono, scooting their way on high sandals with their parents into the shrine. It was a popular day to celebrate the 3-5-7 special birthday! It was great people watching all the gorgeous outfits, and I think I did get a lot of donations. Many people sent their kids over to me to drop coins into the box, and I would say ‘hello, how are you? nice to meet you!’ and they loved it. Even the 3-year-olds were responding to ‘Hello!’ and waving. At the end of it, we raised the equivalent of $1500 in an hour. This amazing organization does so much, and this is just another example of what a small effort of one hour can do.

I got a little sunburned, but somehow all my frustration was gone. I had fun asking for donations, and I was just so tired I didn’t feel anything else the rest of the day. Takahara-san was there, encouraging me to beg donations and after we were done he took me into the shrine where I showed him I knew how to bow and clap properly. The shrine was quite pretty and very old, but the myriad of dolled-up children stole the show. We wandered the shrine trying to waste time until lunch which Takahara-san was told was at 1pm. We watched kids feed the koi in a huge pond. Ducks, pidgeons and turtles showed up for a bit of lunch too. Then we ate oden (skewered gummy potato cakes grilled with miso) and waited.

Takahara’s cell rang at 12:50 and he was told to hurry up, that we were late. Huh? Again, I didn’t get mad. I just shrugged and followed him. What am I supposed to do except follow people around? Luckily from the shrine to the Rotary meeting, the streets were closed off and a festival was taking place which made the holiday look in fact like ‘Culture Day’. Families were building wooden chairs together, taiko drummers were performing, and handicrafts were being sold. We walked quickly to the meeting, got lost finding it in the hotel, and were applauded when we finally entered. I guess the group kept asking where I was and no one could even answer, “She’s down the street a block with Takahara-san.” I couldn’t have been closer to the hotel the whole time, but it all gets lost in translation.

The lunch was fabulous. Fancy small plates of seafood and pumpkin soup. The Rotarians put on quite the musical show for us and sang and played instruments. We jumped up and sang at the end. So it was a nice experience after all.

Windy’s family was there and her super-outgoing 6-year-old sister Ami followed us out to the bus to go to the lake. She had brought us presents that morning of packs of bandaids. A young couple jumped onto the bus with their two-year-old Yuzuki.

She got really bubbly and cute with us. They were the translators for this leg. A long drive took us to a lake and a straight up pirate ship that we boarded and cruised around the lake on with many other tourists. At the other side of the lake, the bus was waiting and took us to a glittering Venetian glass museum where they put crystals in the trees all over the garden.

I could only hope my day was over, but I knew my host dad had arranged a welcome party from his Rotary club at a bar. This is all sounding familiar from week one. I told my host dad I was exhausted and could we make the party very brief please? even in Japanese. He said okay, but we ended up at the bar for two and half hours anyway. The truth is, all in all it was a good time since they sat me between two English speakers. Twenty older drunk men, and me. I explained in English this would never happen to me in the States. That a woman would feel uncomfortable in this situation (and I did). I was amazed that they heard me and apologized and asked how they could make me more comfortable. All in all it was fun, but way outside my comfort zone.

I had one glass of wine and ate bar food which looks pretty fancy by our standards, but I would have eaten anything. There was raw octopus, tongue sausage and cheese, gourmet pizza, spicy chorizo and pasta… I don’t know what else. They somehow believed that our leader Jerry was a buddhist and his wife was from India… I don’t know how, but I tried to clear things up as I understood them. They presented me with a special tea glass that my host dad said was the best in Japan and very expensive. He said it changes color every day. I don’t know how, but today it looks beige.

I was impressed by the designated driver system. My host dad called for his car, which magically came out of the public parking garage, with a young man in there to drive us home in our own car! How did he have the key, or know what space we were in?? Anyway, Yamaguchi directed him and they chatted all the way back to our house, where his coworker pulled up behind us and took him away. Cool system!

So time for an attitude adjustment. Looking at the schedule, I’m not going to get a “day off” for the duration of nearly five weeks. I’m going to be photographed endlessly and sometimes presenting to groups who talk over me, and taken out to drink in weird situations. But at the end of this experience, I’ll get it. And I’ll be glad I didn’t feign sick and mope around instead of sucking it up. Tomorrow I go to the central dispatch center, which of course, is why I’m here!!! Yay! I’m even breaking away from the schedule early to do so! Wahoo! A taste of freedom… Small victories Happy Labor and Culture Day.