My first trip to Japan (Part 3)

Day 2, 24 March 2001, The Birthday

Early wake up. A long day is ahead of us. Diana asks me if I prefer tea or coffee. Coffee, I answer. With milk and sugar, or black, she asks. And now I have to smile. It's been more than 8 months since the last time someone asked me in the morning how I like my drink. Feels nice!
Somehow I don't feel any jet-lag. That's great, we won't be wasting time with it, so we head to the market - with the bicycles. To an American that may sound a bit odd, but to a Bulgarian that's fine. It's a good idea to take the bikes, because we can see more of Okazaki. Everything around me is so interesting - tiny houses, narrow streets, even the cars are miniature versions of what's driven in Europe and America. The tree crowns are chopped oddly, very short branches. It's so that they don't get blown by the winds and not to tear any electric wires. And all wires are above ground - because of the earthquakes.
We first go to the Grand Market, where most stores are American chains. Feels like back home, but wait...the grocery store is also a miniature version. Very small shopping cards, small packages. Coka-cola is nowhere to be found in a 2 liter bottle, the max is only 1 liter. The largest milk carton is also maxing at 1 liter - not like in America, by the gallon (3.78 liter). There is an abundance of food that looks unfamiliar and I can't stop asking about this and that, and the thing over there... Diana still has the patience to answer my questions, but very soon she will switch to a 'Well, I'm not entirely sure.' because even after a couple of years in Japan, she is still as lost as me at times.
After we added a cake and a box of birthday candles to the shopping card, we can call it success! We have everything needed and we are ready for the party!
Back at Diana's apartment and before the guests arrive we sit down to plan the following two days. We will go to Tokyo and visit the graveyard where Mikao Usui was buried after his last years of work with Reiki. And then we will head to the foothills of Fuji, where Diana's son could play in his favorite Tomas's land park, while we enjoy the snow covered mountain. In order to plan it all, since there is no internet in the apartment, we open a number of travel guides, maps, train schedule tables...and Diana starts reading, looking for connections, hotel to stay at, checking the distances...and I feel like an idiot, because I don't know a word in Japanese!!! My PhD is worth nothing, but at least it's fun to watch Diana figuring it out!
Next comes the party. But I'll save you the details ... the important thing is that Kliment managed to blow all 4 candles in 3 attempts...attaboy! and had tons of presents to unwrap!!!
And the adults had all kind of rice cookies and snacks, and some sushi too. You gotta love rice!
The company consisted of 4 Bulgarians, 1 Russian, 1 German and 1 Thailand lady. The last two compeated in a speedy-getting-drunk Tequila contest...The German lost! Still...a good show! :) The festivities ended around 2am ... quietly watching a Russian movie.

...to be continued...

My first trip to Japan (Part 2)

Day 1, 22 March 2001, The Departure

The night before my early morning flight, I didn't go to bed. It's my way of fighting jet-lag. A colleague took me to the Tucson airport before the first signs of dawn. To depart when everybody is still sleeping, and the Sun is still below the horizon, is a magical experience. I'm calm and I smile...the morning is full of hope! I feel like a tiger who lies low right before attacking the prey. I feel strong!
I'm changing flights in Los Angeles and Portland before I head to Nagoya. Portland makes me homesick...it's been a year of daily encounters with palm trees and cacti, I am missing having normal trees around me. I'm missing the birches I planted with my Dad in front of our home in Bulgaria, the walnut threes on the street, the maples in the park... But I'm in good spirits! Flight was smooth and uneventful. What more can you ask for! Next to me was a 15-16 y.o. girl on her way to visit her sister in Osaka. That was the first flight abroad, ever, and she was obviously nervous...if not terrified. I tried to calm her a bit and felt good about myself. After a couple of trans-Atlantic flights under my belt, crossing the Pacific didn't seem to impress me.
At last, we are landing. I'm going through passport control in no time. The customs officer decides to inspect my rather large suitcase and finds the 'rain prayer stick' - a Native American souvenir. He was obviously not please to see it...after all, in Japan people use dehumidifiers, thus how is a 'rain prayer stick' a good thing...
In the last minute of packing, I threw my underwear on top of everything else in the suitcase, and that turned out to be a good thing (for me)...because out of embarrassment at the sight of my lace undies and bras, the officer didn't dig deep enough to find the tin with Bulgarian feta cheese - purchased in the US and brought as a 'special' gift to my friend who has not had any Bulgarian food in over two years.
At the end I am through and ... here is Diana, smiling in disbelieve that I'm in front of her, after 4 years of separation, a Bulgarian friend arriving from America. Nevertheless, she is holding a camera and ready to photo-document my first steps on Japanese land. Moving! She has also brought me a box of candies, a traditional Japanese 'Welcome!' present. The box is tiny, dark blue color, with two white and light blue roses on top. So pretty!
The unbelievable is now a fact - I am in Japan!!!
And then the action starts - is that the right bus to Okazaki? did we buy the right ticket from the vending machine? are we waiting at the right platform?...the Japanese writing is so...confusing!!! And there is barely any English signs at the bus station. Luckily, we made it ok to Okazaki, the small provincial town where Diana has lived in the last couple of years, and which I had heard so much about...and not much flattering things. From the main bus station we are taking a smaller bus to get to Diana's apartment. The bus is very narrow, but the streets seem even narrower - a bus and a car can not just pass each other like that...one has to pull over! And then continue on. Despite the need of the described maneuver, each road has two lanes and they are well marked with blue reflectors on the road.
Finally we arrive at the small apartment where Diana's husband Rado, and Kliment - her son, are patiently waiting! Sigh!
First thing first, we all have green tea - full of antioxidants (trying to live forever? ha!).Then it's time to unpack the suitcase. An abundance of presents is putting smiles on everyone's face. Rado is overwhelmed to get the book on airplanes he so much wanted to have, but didn't dare buy because it was ridiculously overpriced in Japan. Kliment is happy with the toys and the candy! Diana doesn't even want to look at hers, I am her present for today, the others will be unwrapped tomorrow. OK, fine!
Before we know it, it's time to sleep.
So it is true - we all would be sleeping on the floor. We unfold and place the thin sleeping mats on top of the 'tatami' - traditional rice straw flooring providing some extra softness. At the morning the mats will be folded again and tucked in the closet...and so on every day! The legless chairs and 30cm tall table are moved into the corner to free some space for the mats. Everything is so tiny...like an Asian Lego world...incredible! I start feeling like a giant!
We soon doze off...we need the rest...tomorrow is Kliment's Birthday and there is gonna be a party! My first party in Japan!

...to be continued...

My first trip to Japan (Part 1)

A multitude of reasons sent me on my first trip to Japan. Many people and events intertwined making it impossible to pinpoint what actually started it all. Was it out of curiosity what I would see? Was I hoping to gain some wisdom along the way? Or was I just tired...and seeking an escape from reality? Regardless of the tipping point...my story goes like that...

A few years earlier I became a Reiki practitioner - a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. Mikao Usui, a japanese buddhist started it, and I wanted to go to his land, to submerge in his culture, the culture of Asia - so much spoken of, yet, perceived differently by each of us.
Shiatsu is another Japanese alternative medicine approach I'm very fond of - one that treats the reasons for an illness, not the subsequences...How wise!
My love for nature and beauty lead me to Ikebana- the Japanese art of flower arrangements...
Further on, Origami - the Japanese art of paper folding, which is as much fun as creating beauty...

The people involved in this trip are a few...
Diana - best of friend without which my first months in Tucson, AZ would have been unbearable, but with some kindness and a few jokes, she made it all much easier.
Keita - my Japanese boyfriend at the time, who taught me to accept our cultural differences and to love him despite not always understanding him.
Saori - a quite Japanese girl, who was always willing to hear my problems, yet never shared hers. And I'm sure she had some too.

With an on-going divorce at the time too, I went to the beginning of the day, to the land of the Rising Sun, hoping I'll find what was missing... tiny pebbles to fill the mosaic of my days, in a more harmonious way, with more light and hope in the future...

...to be continued...