1985/7 Japan

Kold Kyoto
13 January 1986
Posted 14.01.86; received 20.01.86

Can you believe I left home three years and seven days ago? This time in ’83 I was wandering around the streets of Jerusalem. In ’84 I was on my way to Nice to visit Cherie. In ’85 I was playing in the snow in London and having to break the ice in the loo before I could go. And in ’86 here I am in Japan. Working in a bakery. And freezing my balls off!! It has been BITTERLY cold this week. With a little snow. Not as cold as Iceland of course, but here the cold feels greater as the houses aren’t heated. The other night I dreamt I had an electric blanket which I had forgotten to plug in. The dream was so real that I woke and started hunting around for the cord. Cruel! Ever since then I have been sleeping with my feet UNDER my heater-cum-table and am now just fine at night. I only dread getting out of bed in the mornings.

Well – a belated Happy New Year to you. ’86 is the Year of the TIGER.

January 14…

I woke this morning to find a light sprinkling of snow covering everything, but decided to cycle to work as usual. Was somewhat nervous about descending our hill, but made it OK. And just when I thought it was safe to get back up to my top speed… I was rounding the corner onto Imodegawa-dori – racing to beat the lights and leaning into the curve. Singing Auld Lang Syne. Totally unaware of the ice on that particular stretch of road. WHUMP! My wheels slipped out from under me. I landed with one helluva thump – taking my full weight on my right thigh thank goodness and not on elbows and knees. As soon as I knew I wasn’t dead it was kind of funny, but I WAS lying in the middle of the main road and my skirt was caught between the brakes and the wheel. The Japanese are VERY self-conscious and tend to ignore anything ‘embarrassing’ to a fellow. So I was left to disentangle myself. Only to find my chain had fallen off. So I had to do a quick repair job before I could make my escape. Eventually someone came over to see if I was OK – a truck driver, of course, one of the good people – but otherwise everyone else looked the other way and kept a straight face. Except two Irish lads I encountered 100 yards down the road. They were waiting for their bus and had witnessed the whole episode and greeted me with the hugest grins!!

Back to New Year’s Eve. Had dinner and a bottle of wine with the people in my house before going out to the local temple just before midnight. New Year is a very big holiday for the Japanese. They send each other cards and give gifts to their children – usually cash. But unlike us they celebrate mainly in family units. Very few parties and NO kissing. The family usually watches a special TV programme and has a meal of SOBA noodles – for good luck. At midnight about 20% of the population go to a shrine or temple to ring out the Old Year and ring in the New. The Buddhists believe there are 108 earthly desires. Thus the temple bell is rung 108 times to cleanse the spirit and start anew. (A huge spring clean is done just before the New Year in every home and every place of work. We spent three days cleaning things that hadn’t been cleaned for a year in the bakery.) The temple we went to was small with approximately 400 visitors only. At some of the bigger ones apparently it is worse than being on a Tokyo train at rush hour. The temple bells vary in size, but even the smaller ones are huge and heavy. They hang in a building in the grounds that has no walls. They are intricately carved and are rung with a telegraph pole suspended from the ceiling and swung with a rope. (drawing) The sound they make is incredible. A very resounding GONGGGG – that reverberates and echoes for ages after each WHACK. At Shinyodo temple several fires had been lit in iron stands and there were five or six monks in attendance. Each dressed in black kimonos with white under kimonos and gold sashes around their necks. And really uncomfortable looking wooden thongs (drawing). A couple counting each GONGGGG off on Rosary-type beads. The sky was filled with scudding clouds and an almost full moon. Really quite beautiful. As it was a local temple all the visitors got a turn to ring the bell after the monks had had their turn at midnight. I too stood in the queue and got to swing the pole with a couple of Japanese people. It was almost 2am by the time the ringing had come to an end.

I worked on New Year’s Day. In fact, I’ve only had one day off from the bakery since the week before Xmas. My choice. On my day off I had my visa renewed for three months and taught in the evening. I am teaching three evenings per week and would like to increase that to five. Last week I was out every evening that I didn’t teach. Often until late. I’m on a kind of high. Filled with energy. It’ll probably all hit me at once and I’ll collapse next week. I’m off to Hokkaido on the first of next month – so I’ll have plenty of time to recuperate.

I’m still enjoying the bakery thoroughly. Everyone is very kind to me. Men I’ve never even met in the hotel come down to give me little gifts now and then. Once a gold tiger charm. Once some pink and white rice cake. The giver of that particular gift was too shy to give it to me himself, so he handed it to one of the bakers and disappeared before it was handed to me and I could say Thank You. During my lunch break I went up to the main kitchen to thank him. He was busy serving lunch to 400 guests in the banquet hall and nearly passed out when he saw me. I DROPPED a cake yesterday morning. I was pushing it up out of a flan dish, pushed too hard, and the next thing this brown flying saucer was circling through the air. I wanted to laugh, but everyone looked so terribly serious – I wasn’t too perturbed as I have seen others ruin a cake or two too – so I just picked it up and dumped it in the bin towards which Mori-chan pointed. Oh dear.

There is an Australian woman working at the hotel. She speaks Japanese and is married to a Japanese man. In the course of our conversation recently I discovered that she knows the Australian woman, Michelle, with whom I travelled for two weeks in Turkey and to whom I still write!! Incredible, huh.

Mom, thanks lanks for the clothes, hey. They all smell of your perfume and warmed up an otherwise cold day.

Sorry I have been so slack about writing recently. Hope this one makes up a little for the lack of others this year. I’ll phone you tomorrow.

Take care
Lotsaluv
Gail