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Published: January 23rd 2008
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Fresh of the boat...
With Stevie and her two friends Krista (left) and Emily (right) at the mall near Hiroshima station. Japanese Vocabulary Shinseki: relatives, family
kakoekidensha: train that stops at every since station along the train line...
Stevie and her friends from Sonoma, Emily and Krista, arrived on Thursday, January 10th. Zach and I met them at the airport and then we returned to my place. I just spent part of the weekend with them on the first leg of their trip in Japan. Since they got the JR railpass, they get to take all JR trains, including the shinkansen, for a flat rate of around $250…just for perspective, an hour and a half trip on shinkansen (from Osaka to Hiroshima or Osaka to Tokyo) costs about $100 one way. Soooooo for the next couple of days those three are going to be all over Japan and hardly have to put out any travel expenses!!! To travel from Osaka to Hiroshima to Himeji to Kyoto to Tokyo to Nara and back to Osaka for that little is mind boggling...
A couple of weekends ago, we took the shinkansen to Hiroshima. Normally an easy trip, but somehow I managed to get us stuck on a
kakoekidensha and the train ride to get to the shinkansen station took about
Stevie, Uncle Kiyoto and Me
the three of us in front of his house an hour and half by itself. So it took longer to get from wakayama to osaka (probably about 40 miles) than to get from Osaka to Hiroshima in the end (far away). Anyhow, in addition to sightseeing, which they did on Sunday, on Saturday Stevie and I went to visit Great Uncle Kiyoto. He lives in a small town about a 20 minute train ride outside of Hiroshima City, called Yano Akiku (I think). At first I thought it was hopeless because he wasn’t answering his phone and the only clues I had to where he lived was that I take a Kure bound train to Yano and that he lived near a building called the Kouminkan. So based on those clues we set out…and walked around for about an hour in the town.
After asking every other shop owner and convenience store worker on the way there, we finally found the right address (props to Krista and Emily who had the patience to get lost with us…). He must of heard us knocking on the wrong doors because he came out to meet us.
I have to say it was a bit strange because even though we
The tatami room
His main tatami room- these are portraits of his father (my great grandfather) and his "mama" as he put it (so my great grandmother). were family, we were basically strangers. The only time Stevie and I had ever met Uncle Kiyoto was when he visited America like a decade ago or something. And at that time, my Japanese was even worse that it is now. Even after living here for awhile, Japanese is still soooo confusing for me…because I don’t study, but also it is just harder to understand the elderly who speak with a stronger dialect. I felt bad, because I understood the gist of a lot of things, but I couldn’t really translate them very well for Stevie.
He reminded me a lot of Uncle Tad and of Grandpa, and at 94 years old or so, he seemed to have his wits about him and seemed to be able to get around okay. Especially considering how tall/steep the step up to his house is, sort of typical of old Japanese houses. He said that he didn’t go out very far much because his legs would start to hurt and it was slow going. The way he even moved reminded me a lot of Uncle Tad and Grandpa, and especially the calm, quiet and slow way he spoke. Here were basically two
close up
a closer look at the two portraits... strangers showing up at his door with a couple of boxes of See’s Candy, yet he seemed as composed and nonchalant about it as if it had been planned for a long time. His laugh was the same as Uncle Tad and Grandpas too- low, soft and gradual, always delivered with a slight smile. He showed us around the house, which he said was built in the old style and that had stood for 100 years. In his tatami room, he showed us the butsudan where he prayed every morning and portraits of his mother and father and also a portrait of Uncle Tad when he was a young boy. He also had a class picture from when he went to grammar school in Salinas. On the side of the house, which is long and narrow, he kept a simple garden with some potted plants and a tsubaki tree and a pond which used to hold goldfish. He also had a really nice TV. He was very hospitable and kind and his Japanese was always polite and courteous, speaking to us like we were important guests. His demeanor was completely kind and welcoming and gentle.
Being there and then
departing made me feel kind of sad and it made me think about not only how he was alone in the sense that he lived by himself since the passing of his wife, but how he was the only remaining Hatakeyama brother of grandpa’s family. True Toyoko-san visits him everyday, but it seems as if his life is filled with a short daily routine, and a lot of time to be alone and to sit and think. Maybe this is not so, but I can’t imagine how it must be to be the only living member of your family. The house felt cold and somewhat empty and quiet, the only other inhabitants looking on in their frames along the walls. He did not seem in any way unhappy, only rather quiet and peaceful and content, reminding me so much of Uncle Tad and Grandpa. In that house were so many reminders of everyone that had passed on and it made me wonder if even his friends are still living- 94 is old even by Japanese standards. Despite all the interesting history in the house and seeing my grandfather’s brother for the first time in many many years, the experience itself
Grammer school portrait
This is his school class portrait from when he was in grammer school in Salinas. He said that the school is no longer there, but that he didn't really like it anyways. was tempered by a feeling of loneliness and separation and just of wondering what things would have been like if he had joined his brothers in America.
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