1985/7 Japan

Downtown McDonald’s
25 November 1985
Posted 27.11.85; received 03.12.85

Hello there

It had warmed up a little early last week, but it has recently gotten cold again. So I was very pleased to receive the Jersey jersey in the post. Tah. I daresay it is getting hot at home now and you won’t be needing it. For awhile anyway. Finally received the letter you forwarded from Garth, mom. It took much longer to get here than the one from yourself posted the day before. Please could you forward my letters to him when you have finished with them. That way he will get the details of my doings and I can cover some other odds and ends in my letters to him. This morning I finished paying off my deposit. Next week is rent week and by the end of December my key money should be paid. Yay! I have just collected the photographs I took of the kids on the 15th and am very happy with most of them.

I went to my first Ikebana lesson on Friday morning. And LOVED it. Hiroko-san, my teacher, is absolutely beautiful to look at and spent a year in New York so her English is fairly good. She is teaching me Ikebana from the Ohara school. Fairly contemporary in style and without all the symbolism of the traditional Ikebana. I used yellow peppers and chrysanthemums and dogwood in my first arrangement. And get to bring the flowers home with me to redo for my room afterwards. Lovely to wake up to in the morning. I am going to photograph my arrangements and will send the pictures to you – OK.

I spent Tuesday in Osaka – about 45 minutes by train from here. Went first to the Keitakuen garden. Another haven in a city centre. A pond with bulrushes and water lilies and stone lanterns reflected in its surface. Surrounded by a variety of carefully trained trees. Thence to the Sumiyoshi shrine. The original shrine was founded on this spot in 211AD by the Empress Jingu after her triumphant return from Korea whence she had gone to subjugate the resident ‘garlic eaters’. She was later deified and enshrined here along with the three sea-gods who have always been worshipped in this area. Until 1434 the shrine buildings were rebuilt every 20 years like those at Ise, but in that year it was decided to repair rather than replace the shrines. The current building date from 1810 and retain the oldest, simplest style of shrine structure. They were one of the few historical buildings NOT destroyed during the war.

I went in the evening to my first Anti-Apartheid meeting. A lecture and slide show given by a 22 year old black South African refugee who fled the country in ’81 and is currently attending a school set up in Tanzania by the ANC and the Dutch. I was pretty nervous being a white S.A’n an’ all. Also kept looking around to see who was representing the Secret Police?!

I spent Thursday afternoon at Nijo castle. There are two palaces in the castle grounds – only the one, Ninomaru, being open to the public. The palace is beautiful. Simple and elegant – with far more ‘class’ that the more elaborate styles of Europe. Each group of rooms is completely surrounded by a wide wooden passage. The outside ‘walls’ of the passageways are plain white paper screens which provide natural lighting to a building that only utilized candles. The rooms are partitioned from each other and from the passageway by painted paper screens. The paintings are truly wonderful and I couldn’t resist buying myself a couple of reproductions. Pine and cherry trees. Cranes and tigers and winter geese. All painted on a gold background. The floors of the rooms are covered in tatamis. There was no furniture. Beds were rolled up and stored during the day. Small eating tables were brought from the kitchen for meals. Just the odd alcove to hold an Ikebana arrangement. And now and then a couple of shelves. And no heating. I’m not surprised the Japanese learnt to move with such grace – living in homes where EVERY sound could surely be heard. The passages in the palace were especially designed to squeak when you walked on them. To warn of assassins – as this was the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. Ninomaru was built in 1603 by the first Tokugawa shogun and it was here that the fifteenth Tokugawa shogun returned the real power to the Emperor in 1867. (drawing)

Spent an evening watching videos and drinking red wine at Pub Africa. Saw Lolita for the first time. James Mason, Peter Sellers and Shelley Winters. Excellent.

Well, I guess that’s all for this week.

Take care
Lotsaluv
Gail