changing times

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Some very big things have happened since I penned my last blog:



Firstly I have to pay tribute to Rex, my father, who died on Christmas Eve. It was a relief for him to cease to suffer the indignity of being so ill when lucid and to be elsewhere and in pain for so much of his last days.



I also want to pay tribute to my youngest brother Casey. He has lived nearby and cared on a daily basis for my sister, then my mother and father since they joined him in Queensland. He has had the joy of their living and the difficulty of their dying, right in his backyard. A constant for over 15 years. He has never waivered in his care and attention to domestic and personal details and ensuring life is jovial and on track psychologically for all three; and those of us, like me, who drop in and out for short visits. We relied on him to let us know, make decisions and put us up. I do hope that we remain in touch now we only have ourselves to visit. I hope his grief is manageable.



Jacinta came to visit! It was great to meet her in the Tokyo train station, which was frantic on Christmas morning. But I wasn’t my cheeriest.



She had a snooze and came with me to walk across Rainbow Bridge in the late afternoon sunlight and arrive at Tokyo Bay Beach to farewell Rex with a picnic of coffee, mandarins and rice crackers. Rex had asked that when I heard of his death I would go to the beach with my favourite beverage and toast him.

Not the most romantic meeting in our history! Nevertheless a great support to myself.



To cheer ourselves we went to Tokyo Drome on Boxing Day to see some winter illuminations. Think many bright lights for amusement around the exterior of a large indoor baseball arena and a huge shopping mall on multiple levels adjoining it. The droplets fascinated me. In a children’s play area they were white and looked like falling snow. In the bottom of the mall they were multi- coloured. People paid to fall in parachute type rides from the illuminated tower!



The calendar year has ended.



A quaint Japanese custom for workers is to have a ‘forgive and forget’ party. The idea is to go out for a meal – and mostly a lot of drinking if you drink - and congratulate yourselves on all the good things, name the bad things that you have overcome or managed to survive through, and forget the bad times, forgive any bad feelings, so that you can begin in the new year with a clean slate (no left over tensions or gripes) relaxed after a 6 day (long) holiday.



To meet the Japanese staff at my work I went to our end of year party. It was on 29 Dec at 9.30pm – after work for we instructors; but the Japanese counselling staff came at least 45 minutes later – they had work to do after we left. They made short work of eating drinking and being merry. I drank non-alcoholic beer and ‘kampei –ed’ with them; there is no way I could eat any food and fortunately for me, my colleague Mito had explained my vegetarianism to her colleagues. My co-instructors thought I was mad to come out and eat nothing – but it was an experience. I had a little time to get to know my co-workers better. It’s interesting that all the Aussies (six), two new British instructors and only 2 US instructors came of a pool of 50 instructors. Some were away. US outnumber the rest of us by far! I rode home about midnight and my nose felt like it was frozen when I walked into the warmth of my apartment.



New Year is a big deal for Japanese people (they are taking to Christmas but it is about giving a present and eating junk food and strawberry short cake! It's a workday!). Many workers have 6-10 days off. It is a time, I think like Thanksgiving, when you go home to visit your family. Forget the word holiday if you work in a service industry. It is important to set the year up with good wishes for your family and friends by going and praying or wishing for prosperity at a shrine or temple. Then spending time with the family and perhaps going on vacation elsewhere. As its so cold, onsen seem a particular preference to my clients who think a few days relaxing in warm water, eating and drinking with family is the best winter holiday.



Tokyo is pretty deserted because many have gone home. Jacinta and I took out the bikes and rode over to Meiji Jingu Shrine on New Year’s Eve. The weather although cold, had been mostly clear and sunny since she arrived. It took us a while to get there because we had to stop and read the satellite map on the ipad, but it was fun. We walked through the forest to the shrine (established to bury the Meiji Era emperors) and found hundreds and hundreds of people throwing coins at the shrine and making New Year wishes. All very quiet and orderly, but excited. Picture a large rectangular courtyard with beautifully proportioned low dark wooded buildings surrounded by huge (manicured) trees with flagstones in its midst. It's the year of the horse if you’re into the Chinese calendar. This shrine has 2 white horses as its emblem so there were many beautifully robed shrine volunteers selling many horse like charms, mementos etc. Although we got there at 2.30pm, some of my photos make it look like dusk. We left about 4 and rode home. It was dark by our return because it gets dark here at 4.30pm.



We went wandering on advice just before 11pm in our local area. We found the Kanda shrine. We stood on the end of an 80m queue to visit the shrine and enjoyed watching the excitement of the locals. There were very few foreign faces there. On the laneway to the shrine (a gloriously restored 2 storey bright red building with copper roof lit up for the New Year) were stalls with food sellers. The excitement was palpable. Jacinta and I took turns to wander up the alley to see what was in store for us. Then we contemplated how we would feel in 50 minutes not having progressed further, standing in barely above freezing temperatures on concrete. We decided to see if we could find the local temple as they ring 108 bells between 11.30 and midnight. That way we wouldn’t be icicles. We failed to find the temple, despite a street map! On our way home we passed the shrine. The queue had grown to be about 3kms long! Where the people came from is a mystery. There were few pedestrians, cars or bicycles on the roads. The throng was quietly cheerful, mostly young people, happy to wait their turn to get to the top of the queue and make their wish or prayer for New Year.



On New Year’s Day we remounted the bikes and found a temple that was first built in the 1600s but destroyed by fire rebuilt and destroyed by the great 192? Earthquake. It was about a half hour ride away. It was last rebuilt in the 1930s and survived WW11. It is beautiful but more like an Italian Cathedral internally than the wooden Buddhist temples I have met. I also appreciated the carpeted floor, which relieved me of the shoes on and off practice in many Japanese places. It didn’t have candle stands or incense holders like candelabras – a fire hazard in downtown modern Tokyo. Those hundreds of us who came inside by queue, dropped coins in the receiving box and dropped dry leaves of incense onto a burner on a table set up to take our prayers or New Year’s wishes. While we were there a monk was chanting and ringing a bell. The smell or the incense or the presence that temples have made both Jacinta and I sit and contemplate for quite a while. I remember being a wee bit teary for all those I know who have died or will soon, and those who I care for and have escaped death for the time being. Doris, I could feel the bell in my sternum as the monk rang it occasionally.



The Japanese Emperor gives New Year’s Greeting to anyone who is willing to queue for ages and walk through part of the Imperial Palace that is not generally open. We biked down to the Palace and joined hundreds of thousands to walk into the outside reception area and see the Emperor and his family and hear his greeting. The crowd and the crowd control were exceedingly entertaining and effective. We arrived at 10, left at 12.30 and heard the 4-minute message. Basically, the Emperor Akihito and his family stand in a glass portico and he announces his greeting while his family all stand to attention (in order) by his side. The crowd waited patiently. Murmurs were all that could be heard. Not even a squawking child and there were many children there. I stood beside three. We were all given a paper flag and when the Emperor came onto the portico there was a loud crowd murmur and you could hear the paper flags rattling as they were shaken in respect for the Emperor. This happened again when he bowed at the end of his message and moved off the portico. Then the peaceful but exhilarated crowd murmured softly to each other and moved out of the reception area so thousands and thousands more could come and wait for the next greeting in an hour or more. Our feet crunched on gravel through the palace gardens and the police insisted we keep moving – not stop and take photos or just admire the place!

As we came out of the palace in our tens of thousands, throngs were arriving, especially from Tokyo station, and commencing their queuing experience for their Emperor’s greeting.



The last big event for this blog was a celebration. Today, Jacinta and I have been together for 20 years! So last night we went out to Tokyo Disneyland – not for the rides or to see Mickey and Minnie – but for the electric light parade – 1million light bulbs in a parade that passed by for 30 minutes with floats depicting characters from Disney movies; and the fireworks – the best and most colourful fireworks I have ever seen in the sky above the haunted castle. 10 minutes but colour combinations in rainbows and glitter effects never seen before!



So this is my long vacation. I hope you are all doing well.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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Photos

Tokyo Bay Beach at sunset
A gravelled waterfront with high rise and game parks to my left