For Sharon

Okay, I have not posted anything here in ages, or more than six months for accuracy buffs. Well, we are in the process of getting rid of most of our stuff and packing up and shipping off whatever we can't seem to get rid of which is turning out to mostly be photos and tons (120 kilos to date) of books.

I have been saying goodbyes and connecting in strange and marvelous ways with people and memories from the past 25 plus years. Today we took a guest to the local bath house. I will not go into cultural faux pas at this point, but am relieved we did not get caught. (Even told our guest that I would act as if I did not know her if she was found out...rather pointless I know since we were the only foreigners there and she, at least, is an Asian foreigner so the fault would all be mine!) But did have a deja view experience dating back to the time I was at Dogo Hot Springs (1983) on the island of Shikoku and I was probably the only foreigner that the people in the bath had ever seen up close. As I stood up to leave the baths to return to the "put your clothes back on" area, everyone in the bath (women and children of both sexes) lined up and shook my hand. That and people coming out of shops and houses to stare at me as I walked down the street are experiences I will never forget. Also the myriad of people who would comment on the size of my nose.

Today an older woman in the local nice bathhouse kept miming a large nose and then pointing to me. She did it over and over. I wasn't quite sure of how to respond, so I just said, "Yes, my nose is large/tall" At that, 4 women, who were observing this, all said in unison, "Wow, she speaks Japanese." which in this instance simply meant that they understood the sentence I said but did not expect much more. It was like times have not changed (but they have since people are really not that freaked out by foreigners anymore and many will even carry on normal conversations without calling attention to my use of Japanese).

It is nice to understand what people are saying and not have to sign back!