it's not life that matters but the journey...

This afternoon I took a photo for my "gaijin" card - or alien registration card that I'm required to carry as a foreigner in this country.  We didn't need to go to a photo shop, just one of those little booths where you sit down behind the curtain and say "cheese" and you get your photos.  Easy!  Afterwards we drove up through the green tea fields, and I was amazed at just how much green tea there is around here.  Everywhere you look, its tea.  Really its quite pretty, and we drove high enough to get a view of the whole city (which is quite ugly, with its several paper factories, looking a bit like Detroit!). 

This weekend was pretty busy, for a change.  Friday night we went to visit one of Masahiko’s friends, Onoda-san, and just watched videos and talked at his apartment.  Saturday evening, Masahiko went out to see some of his friends, but I chose to remain at home.  Saturday afternoon, I finally ventured out on my own for a short walk.  It was not too dangerous, and it felt good to get exercise.  Its funny how I have been so reticent to go out on my own since I lived in Japan alone for two years!  After dinner, since  Masahiko went out, I had the first “conversation” with his parents, without him there to help me out (to talk for me, or interpret, etc.).  My Japanese is terrible, and their English nil, so it was interesting.  But I guess after some more time, my Japanese will improve. 

Sunday was my busiest day yet.  One of my former students came by to study English and talk.  She is taking a test to become a public school teacher (junior high) so she needed help with lesson planning.  We had lots of fun – she was always my favorite student, really sweet and easy-going.  After she left, Masahiko and I went to have dinner at a friend’s house.  Fujiwara-san is a musician too, and used to play with Masahiko in a band here. Fujiwara-san’s girlfriend, Bobbie, is an American woman who basically grew up in Japan and has lived here on and off her whole life.  Her parents were missionaries, so she spent her childhood in Tokyo, then went to college in the U.S., and worked off and on between the U.S. and Japan, finally getting a full time university teaching position in Tokyo 12 years ago.  They fed us really well, with temaki sushi (you roll your own sushi by hand, with sheets of “nori” – seaweed – and various ingredients like cucumber, egg, “sashimi” and rice), miso soup with oysters, tofu, and a delicious Japanese dish called “chawan mushi” which is made with egg, mushrooms, chicken and green onions, and baked like a custard.  She gave me lots of advice about where to look for work, and she suggests I try to get a part time job teaching at a university. She said they pay well, and I should get hired with a master’s degree and my experience.  Unfortunately, the school year in Japan starts in April, so I will either have to hope that someone leaves for the fall term (starting in September) or wait until next April.  As usual, my timing is off.

Last week, I went out to lunch and shopping with my friend Naomi.  While we were driving around the shops near the station, she said she wanted to stop at a pet store. I had never really visited a pet store in Japan, but my friend Natasha from England, who was also an English teacher with the JET  Programme during my first year here, had told me about seeing the terrible conditions at a Japanese pet store, the animals kept in small, dirty cages.  And Natasha was told that if no one buys the animals, they are put to sleep.  Well, this store was downright depressing.  There were all variety of animals in small cages, including a monkey, a goat, several kinds of birds, cats and dogs.  I shudder to think what will happen to that poor goat, or that monkey, if no one wants them.  Masahiko told me that often the pet stores are owned by yakuza.  Breeding dogs, especially, is an easy way for them to make money without having to do much work. 

I just wish that they would think about the animals, not the money.

I found a notebook the other day with some very choice English expressions. I will leave you with a few today:

Are you fortunate?  People have each happiness.

You decide fortunate value.

May your important persons become fortunate.