How I spent my summer vacation #6
...confuse-a-cabbie!
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Ok, if you have only taken the bus or rail system in a city that really doesn't have addresses, and you aren't completely fluent in the native language, how do you explain to a taxi driver where you want to go? I gave him the name of the major intersection, then told him to turn left, go across the Enoden line railway tracks, then turn right at the street just before you get to a bar called "Live House Nashville" (noted in the book 'Best of Kansai' for having the best Elvis Presley singer in the area). He ended up calling someone on his keitai to validate my crazy directions. Well, they made sense to me, but I don't drive in Japan! I apologized, explaining that this was my first time taking a taxi, and I wasn't sure how to give directions because I usually rode the bus, but I was late. He was very nice about it, though, and I did get where I was going.
I was visiting my family for the first time in a year. I had done homestay with them two years in a row. The first year, I was very nervous--what big mistakes was I going to make? How bad a cultural ambassador would I be? This was the first time they had ever hosted a homestay student... Although much dictionary-flipping was done, due to my poor Japanese, we became very close over the years. The first year, I met everyone on Okasan's side of the family, including Obaasan, the delightfully genki 90-year-old matriarch. I felt really honored they considered me fit enough company to introduce me to Obaasan, and even more so when Okasan reported back that Obaasan remarked how polite I was. I met A-san (Otosan and Okasan's daughter) and Y-san (A-san's husband), and their daughter, M-chan. At the time, they lived in Kyoto, where Y-san was on the city police force. 18 month old M-chan was really scared of me at first--Japanese ghosts are pale-faced, but they have no feet (much like our ghosts)...maybe I looked like pretty ghostly to her or something--but we got to be good playmates quickly. A-san and M-chan used to visit almost every day. Otosan's business is on the first floor, so he does not have far to travel to work. His work is extremely interesting to me--he is an artisan and works with kimono fabric. R-san (Otosan and Okasan's son) came up from Nagoya to visit and meet me. He works for Toyota. T-san, Okasan's brother, who also works with Otosan, came to visit quite a few times. I also met K-san, one of Okasan's sisters, who lives near Fushimi Inari Jinja (a very famous shrine with tunnels of vermilion torii). So, this is the basic cast of characters for most of the rest of my story.
Once the cabbie found the right house and stopped, I paid him (no tipping--this is Japan), thanked him, and got my stuff. I rang the bell and R-san answered. It was a happy day! I apologized for being late, but I had had difficulties with my keitai, and so forth. Omiyage from my various stops were handed around, from Tokyo, Gifu, Osaka, and Uji, everything from here having been sent ahead by takkyubin. I apologized to R-san that I had no omiyage, but a wedding present instead. I had a nice visit with Okasan and R-san, who had to dash off to Osaka for a bachelor party. Okasan apologized that A-san and M-chan couldn't make it. M-chan, now having reached the ripe old age of 3, attends yochien (the Japanese equivalent of kindergarten) weekdays from 9 to 3 up in the nearest town south. Y-san got a promotion and is the sole prefectural policeman in the town of Nohara, which is a fishing village in the northernmost part of Kyoto Prefecture. There is not much in Nohara other than fish and vegetables and a nice beach. There is no bank, no library, no fire department, no ambulance, no bank, no ATM, no conbini, no school. But Y-san is on the job keeping everyone safe, which pretty much means he's always working. Fortunately, Y-san's three-year tour of duty in Nohara ends next year and they'll be returning to Kyoto City.
So here is my embarrassing noshibukuro story. After having purchased the beautiful noshibukuro at the handmade paper store, I then faced the challenge of completing the task: What does one write on the paper strip that comes with it? The answer was: the kanji for "wedding celebration" above the mizuhiki (decorative paper cords--usually red and white or gold and silver for happy occasions...the bow always faces upwards to catch the good luck) and your name, all to be done with a brush or brush pen. Taihen desu ne! (Oh shucks!) I have pretty bad handwriting, regardless of language, and my brush skills are minimal to non-existent. Fortunately, Okasan gave me an assist. She wrote the kanji 'kekkon o-iwai' on a piece of paper in large print, then let me practice on some old newspaper. When I felt ready to do the deed, I actually came up with a fair copy although it would never be considered a decent piece of calligraphy by any means. The question then came up: Ikura? (How much?) So I naively replied 'San man' (JPY300,000). I had read somewhere that the minimum wedding gift is JPY200,000, but I also have read that it is not good to give things in even numbers and that "san" sounds like the word for "birth", so it sounded like a good number to me. (Four is a bad number because one of its pronunciations sounds like the word for death, and nine is a bad number because it sounds like a word for persistent disease or something like that). I did not know that Japanese etiquette requires the recipient of a monetary gift to return 10% to the donor! I was so embarrassed...Otosan finally explained this to me, but I was still embarrassed.
...To be continued
I was visiting my family for the first time in a year. I had done homestay with them two years in a row. The first year, I was very nervous--what big mistakes was I going to make? How bad a cultural ambassador would I be? This was the first time they had ever hosted a homestay student... Although much dictionary-flipping was done, due to my poor Japanese, we became very close over the years. The first year, I met everyone on Okasan's side of the family, including Obaasan, the delightfully genki 90-year-old matriarch. I felt really honored they considered me fit enough company to introduce me to Obaasan, and even more so when Okasan reported back that Obaasan remarked how polite I was. I met A-san (Otosan and Okasan's daughter) and Y-san (A-san's husband), and their daughter, M-chan. At the time, they lived in Kyoto, where Y-san was on the city police force. 18 month old M-chan was really scared of me at first--Japanese ghosts are pale-faced, but they have no feet (much like our ghosts)...maybe I looked like pretty ghostly to her or something--but we got to be good playmates quickly. A-san and M-chan used to visit almost every day. Otosan's business is on the first floor, so he does not have far to travel to work. His work is extremely interesting to me--he is an artisan and works with kimono fabric. R-san (Otosan and Okasan's son) came up from Nagoya to visit and meet me. He works for Toyota. T-san, Okasan's brother, who also works with Otosan, came to visit quite a few times. I also met K-san, one of Okasan's sisters, who lives near Fushimi Inari Jinja (a very famous shrine with tunnels of vermilion torii). So, this is the basic cast of characters for most of the rest of my story.
Once the cabbie found the right house and stopped, I paid him (no tipping--this is Japan), thanked him, and got my stuff. I rang the bell and R-san answered. It was a happy day! I apologized for being late, but I had had difficulties with my keitai, and so forth. Omiyage from my various stops were handed around, from Tokyo, Gifu, Osaka, and Uji, everything from here having been sent ahead by takkyubin. I apologized to R-san that I had no omiyage, but a wedding present instead. I had a nice visit with Okasan and R-san, who had to dash off to Osaka for a bachelor party. Okasan apologized that A-san and M-chan couldn't make it. M-chan, now having reached the ripe old age of 3, attends yochien (the Japanese equivalent of kindergarten) weekdays from 9 to 3 up in the nearest town south. Y-san got a promotion and is the sole prefectural policeman in the town of Nohara, which is a fishing village in the northernmost part of Kyoto Prefecture. There is not much in Nohara other than fish and vegetables and a nice beach. There is no bank, no library, no fire department, no ambulance, no bank, no ATM, no conbini, no school. But Y-san is on the job keeping everyone safe, which pretty much means he's always working. Fortunately, Y-san's three-year tour of duty in Nohara ends next year and they'll be returning to Kyoto City.
So here is my embarrassing noshibukuro story. After having purchased the beautiful noshibukuro at the handmade paper store, I then faced the challenge of completing the task: What does one write on the paper strip that comes with it? The answer was: the kanji for "wedding celebration" above the mizuhiki (decorative paper cords--usually red and white or gold and silver for happy occasions...the bow always faces upwards to catch the good luck) and your name, all to be done with a brush or brush pen. Taihen desu ne! (Oh shucks!) I have pretty bad handwriting, regardless of language, and my brush skills are minimal to non-existent. Fortunately, Okasan gave me an assist. She wrote the kanji 'kekkon o-iwai' on a piece of paper in large print, then let me practice on some old newspaper. When I felt ready to do the deed, I actually came up with a fair copy although it would never be considered a decent piece of calligraphy by any means. The question then came up: Ikura? (How much?) So I naively replied 'San man' (JPY300,000). I had read somewhere that the minimum wedding gift is JPY200,000, but I also have read that it is not good to give things in even numbers and that "san" sounds like the word for "birth", so it sounded like a good number to me. (Four is a bad number because one of its pronunciations sounds like the word for death, and nine is a bad number because it sounds like a word for persistent disease or something like that). I did not know that Japanese etiquette requires the recipient of a monetary gift to return 10% to the donor! I was so embarrassed...Otosan finally explained this to me, but I was still embarrassed.
...To be continued