My Golden Week Holiday! prt.4

4th of May, 2002ce* in: diary

We drove out to a large dam with the host’s son, in his passion wagon. A love mobile that seated 8 people easily, only played abba songs through a headache inducing subwoofer and had blacked out windows all the way to the windshield!
We joy rode here and there, even to some wooden cabins with a natural spring! (strange stuff this, a river, with bubbles) then on to a cafe p pstop place that hadn’t changed in 30 years. My favourite type of cafe.

The tour ended and we all went back the house. This house was incredible, and old. Old Japanese houses are starting to get thin on the ground so I do infact feel very lucky to see such a sight. We watched no-rules wrestling on the TV (K1 vs Pride) which gave great entertainment to all, although when the guys face slowly got more and more covered in blood I was slightly put off my food. Then in true Japanese tradition, all of the 8 or 9 people gathered around the floor level table fell instantly asleep! all of us lazing there in the mid afternoon sun, sleeping on the tatami mats, like a pack. A very animal and safe air was about this such procedure. Something I’ve yet to find in another western civilisation, Japanese seem to take comfort in big numbers - but that is a public moment, where courtesy must be met and rules obeyed. Private moments are usually one on one with Japanese people, more than one can cause confusion with formalities, so thats the way they like it.
Younger Japanese are starting to break this aging system apart, but still have the ingrained procedures that make Japanese families so strong.

An evening walk in the woods led us to no monkeys but instead to some shy Japanese kids of the age 17 / 18 or there abouts. They requested a photo or five with the funny looking ‘kakoi’ foreigners. I was able to speak minimal sentences and they seemed very nice. Everyone in the countryside had natural curiosity to the French and English faces that were thrust out there, natural meaning, they had only welcome and warmth to show us, natural in the respect of a babies curiosity.
In the city, being stared at holds a very different sentiment indeed, although as a gaijin I’m bound by my countries customs to either look away or try to stare out. Or talk, stick out my tongue when drunk!

The time came to come back to Tokyo. A joyous and eventful holiday. Best of all, I didn’t spend a penny!

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