Mini castle

When people think of Japan, this is usually one of the images they have in mind, besides geishas and cherry blossoms. This is a Japanese castle. It stands in the city of Takamatsu, in the prefecture of Kagawa on the island of Shikoku. We visited there in 2001. It's not a very big structure; in fact it probably takes up about as much space as your average McDonald's, although the building is taller (and better looking) than a McDonald's. I was very surprised to find it where it is--which is right on the edge of the city next to the harbor. The city surrouds it on three sides--the third side (to the left of the castle in this picture) faces the harbor.

The day we saw it, we had gone down to the harbor area to meet several students from Okayama, which is across from Takamatsu on the main island of Honshu. These kids were from the very first group of students that I had responsibility for, in 2000. I coordinated their stay here in the Pacific NW--decided what teachers they would have, where they would go for their half-day activities, what kind of volunteer work they would do, where they would go on their full-day trip to Seattle. They were a great group of kids and I really enjoyed their stay. The student we had from that group was Shiori, who I will probably blog about here at another time. Anyway, the Kubos, who we were staying with in Takamatsu, took us down to the harbor to meet the ferry boat that the students were coming across in. While we waited for the ferry, we visited the grounds this castle sits on. It's not a large park; just big enough for some twisted pine trees and the castle. But it was my first exposure to Japanese feudal structures, and I was enchanted. It reminded me of pictures I'd seen of Himeji castle, which we later visited in 2003.

The thing that stays with me still, though, is the surprise of finding this piece of Japanese history sitting so close to the hustle and bustle of the city. The serenity of it and the reminder of a slower time evoked quite a contrast.

Thoughts on being a psuedo America-jin grandma

This is the latest picture I've gotten from Sachie (the very first student we've hosted, and whose wedding we attended in October 2001) of her firstborn, Reiji. I like to say he's my Japanese grandson, and I'm his American grandma. I have met him; he is as cute as a button and very charming. I got the news today that Sachie is pregnant again; she is in her second month and is suffering from morning sickness, poor kid. If she's in her second month, that means...let's see...the baby should be born the same month as Reiji--in November. I hope it's a girl. I mean, Reiji's adorable, and that shirt he's wearing in the picture is the one we sent him at Christmas, but I would love a little girl to lavish. Here's why:


This is Hiroko's little boy, Haruta. Hiroko is the student whose wedding we went to in October of 2003, and just last year she produced this little wonder (in October 2006). So I already have two grandsons; it's time for a granddaughter, f'goodness sakes! (BTW, the outfit he's wearing is, yes, one we sent him for Christmas. It's a tradition. ^_^)

Besides, then I can send Sachie all sorts of pretty girlie pink stuff...I have long wanted to buy the prettiest, frilliest things I can get my hands on to dress a little girl in. This would give me the perfect excuse.

Yeah, yeah, I know we aren't offically grandparents, but hey, this is as close as I'll ever get, so I'm enjoying it as much as I can. Hey again--someday these kids may be coming to homestay with us like their mothers did! I can dream, can't I??

(Now I know how weird my mom must've felt when she found herself to be a grandmother at 46. I'm too young to be a grandmother, f'goodness sake!!! Most of my hair is still its original color!)

Oh, one more thing that I just noticed. I can see both Sachie and her husband, Takao, in Reiji's face. It makes for a very darling little boy. I wonder if someday he'll be breaking little hearts when he goes to school?

Warning: Stalking gaijin lurking nearby!!!

I admit it, I'm weird when it comes to Japanese people, especially ones I see in the U.S. I want to have some sort of excuse to go and meet them. Especially college age Japanese girls. I just love 'em. They are so much fun!! Genki and happy and full of life--always ready for a joke or a good time. Mardel and I went up to the Mt. Vernon/Burlington/La Conner area recently for a weekend trip. We kept seeing these cute Japanese college girls up there. Skagit College must have a big ESL program that specializes in Japanese students, like Green River and Bellevue College do. Anyway, I wanted to meet them all, and adopt them all. I told Mardel my big dream is to someday have one of the girls I've hosted come back to the U.S. to study and maybe live nearby so that I can have a Japanese family with grandkids and everything. I'm pathetic. o_O

Anyway, this picture was taken in Nara on the last day of our trip in 2003. It was of a group of junior high girls (think Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon) that was part of a larger school group that had come to visit the temples for their school trip. I could have scooped them all up and taken them home. Really, they must've thought I was a weird, foreign stalker, the way I kept staring. Still--don't they look cute in their uniforms? All public and most private junior and senior high schools in Japan make students wear uniforms. They vary from school to school. They also change a bit from summer to winter. These are pretty basic summer uniforms.

One thing I've noticed about Japanese junior high girls is that they often are pretty chunky. They seem to gain a bunch of baby fat in junior high and then either lose it or diet it off by high school. Which is funny considering the way the manga always seems to show them as scrawny little things when they're in junior high. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Shoe, shoe baby

A few days ago the idea came to me to do a blog about my memories of my trips to Japan, based on random pictures I pull out of the dozens that Bill and I have taken over the years. I may also include memories of our student's visits, too, as it's a piece of Japan that comes to visit me from time to time. Anyway, the first picture I thought of putting up was this one. It took me some time to find it as it's not one I took--rather, it's one Bill took, scanned into the computer and then printed out as part of a composite of photographs of the Kubos. I may do a post about those pictures another time.

This one highlights a fond memory I have of Etsuko Kubo, Hiroko's mother. It's tradition in Japan to remove your shoes before entering a house; it certainly keeps the floors clean. The entry way is called the genkan. It's often a step or two below the main floors of the house. The Kubo's was relatively new at the time we visited (Oct. 2001) owing to the house being new. The floors in the entry were an attractive granite. Every time we'd enter the house we'd take our shoes off. However, Bill and I being the sloppy little America-jin gaijin we are, we would leave our shoes just any whichaway we took them off. Mr. Kubo and Hiroko weren't too much better, really, which is why this picture evokes memories of Etsuko. Every day I would see her methodically and neatly straighten out our shoes so that the toes pointed outward towards the door; making it much easier for us to slip our shoes on and go. She never appeared to scold anybody for this; she just did it quietly. But it struck me as fitting her neat, tidy, methodical personality. Hiroko told us once her mother was a "daemon!!!" because she could be tyrannical about making Hiroko study (Etsuko was an elementary school teacher before she retired). But to me she is a wonderful, thougthful, caring person, and I love her very much and miss her a lot.

We hope to return to Japan this November, and are planning to stay with the Kubos or Hiroko and her husband. I look very much to seeing Etsuko again, and once more observe her untiring effort to make sure all our shoes are neatly pointed the right way so we can go out and get on with life, just like Etsuko does.