Rebecca's Adventures in Tokyo: Another lovely day with my host mother!

I may have a new reader - my host mother!!!

After our meet-up in Ginza a few of weeks ago, we got together again yesterday so that I could drop off a wedding present for my host sister that my father very kindly lugged from the states. She also requested that I write a short card in English to my host sister, as the custom in Japan is that invited guests who cannot attend the wedding send a telegram, which is then read out at the reception. My card will be displayed along with her many other friends from all around the country, which makes me happy!

She was really curious about seeing the house I'm living in, which is pretty filthy and cluttered, so I picked her up at the station and we shared some tea as I gave her a tour of the kitchen, bathroom and shower. She certainly didn't look shocked, but I would not be surprised if she were. The combination of full time housewives, very pronounced tidiness sensibilities, and Shinto purification customs that still affect day to day life, Japanese houses simply do not get this messy... like, ever.

At the time she came, I was in a bit of a pickle, and my host mother unfailingly came to the rescue. Mom, who had picked out the gift in the states, hadn't wanted to wrap it because she knew that it would either get crushed or be opened by customs. I realized that I was lacking wrapping supplies a bit late in the game, and tried to find some in the usual places an American would look (drugstore, grocery store...) but there wasn't anything. I explained this to my mother and asked her if she could help me, and she whisked me off to Itoya, a beautiful store in Ginza, where I found the most American (silvery, glittery, gaudy compared to understated austere Japanese wrapping) paper and ribbon to wrap up the gift. We carted off our goods to a coffee shop, where we ate sandwiches for lunch, and then spread out our supplies and wrapped the gift right there. The effect was delightful, and I hope my host sister is pleased!!!

My host mother also surprised me by presenting me with a gorgeous calligraphy scroll written by my host grandmother, who's basically a professional calligrapher. She signed the scroll with the artistic name that her teacher gave her, and the meaning of the characters is that the spring wind brings new things with it. It's a very good meaning. She had told her mother - who is adorable and lives in the duplex next door in the type of multi-generational housing that I've really grown to like - that my parents had bought a small gift for her daughter's wedding, and my host mother wrote the scroll for us. I can't wait to give this to my parents. I'm sure they'll be just delighted, and it's all the more special since I was for a few months part of that family.

After that, we went on a huge adventure to the Harimaya Free Cafe, which I had never heard about before. The cafe is pretty fascinating... it's a large, open cafeteria-style cafe, where anyone at all can walk in and serve themselves coffee, tea, juice and nibble many kinds of Japanese rice cracker senbei for free. My host mother and I discovered that the cafe might actually be a marketing ploy for a right-wing group to publicize its agenda. They offer free snacks and a free place to sit (a premium in Tokyo), and while you are there you are exposed to signs hanging on the walls and brochures that discuss the economic and environmental disaster Japan is now facing, and seems to endorse some form of emperor worship. We were both pretty surprised at this realization! Knowing that I was curious about what this group was supporting, my host mother told me she'd get her husband (my host father) to do a quick translation of the publicity materials. I've copied and pasted his translation to the next post - it's very interesting!