Goodbye Japan

 



A scene out the window of one of the JR (Japan Rail) trains we took from the Osaka airport to Ashiya.
Notice the laudry hanging outside.  Everyone hangs their laudry out, thus most people do not own dryers.
Japanese are very concerned with conserving energy!

A Day of Travel in Japan

Jess and I said our goodbyes to Anna on February 9 and took a taxi, a bus, a plane, two trains, and a taxi up the hill to arrive at Mark and Stephanie Bartsch's condo in Ashiya again.  This day of traveling went much better because Jess and I established our roles.  Jess was the "mule" carrying his big backpack AND my big heavy (45 pound) suitcase up and down escalators, stairs and inbetween trains as needed.  I was the navigator, listening to Japanese words on the trains, getting us on the right transfer train, and doing my best to pronounce Mark and Stephanie's street address for the taxi driver. "We did it!"--this was the phrase we said to each other all month after each accomplishment of travel on our own.  In reality, God helped us a lot, often sending people to help us when we asked for help, which we had to do frequently!

Trying a "simple" kanji.

Calligraphy Lesson and Tea in Japanese Home

Stephanie made arrangements for me to have a Japanese Caligraphy lesson and tea with her neighbor and friend, Hitomi. She had special practice paper and Japanese callligraphy brushes.  I have done English calligraphy before, and even used this type of brush a bit in college--but it is amazingly difficult to use.  I held the brush perpendicular to the paper and with my whole arm, tried to make the strokes.  Japanese kanji are made with a strict stroke order and direction.  I did okay, but it was amazing how hard it was to make a straight line!  I decided to try the kanji for person--two lines, one slanting left and a shorter one connected half way up the first and slanting right, reaching down slightly lower that the first.   Hitomi told me the symbolism of each line.  The first slanting line means "man" and the second shorter line means "woman".  The "woman" props up the man and goes a little lower because she is closer to the earth.  So I worked for the next hour trying to write these two slanting lines just right. 



Hitomi doing the kanji for "Naomi".

Part of Japanese caligraphy is that it is therapeudic--you are supposed to let your worries and anxieties leave you as you use the brush with a relaxed movement.  I really liked it!  Hitomi did the kanji for my name.  She explained that "Naomi"  in Japanese means "honest" and "beautiful" :)  The kanji for "beautiful" includes the symbol for "person" that I was working so long to get. 




Daifuku, brown sugar cake, and thick green tea.

After my arm got tired, we took a break for tea.  Stephanie had brought daifuku, a traditional Japanese sweet made of mochi (pounded rice), filled with sweet red bean paste and topped with a strawberry.  It is customary to bring sweets as a gift after you have traveled or in this case, as a "thank you".  Hitomi also had some sweets for us. 

 

Homemade sweet sake dessert with dried persimmon and red sweet beans.



Hitomi is a traditional Japanese woman in that she stays home and works to perfect Japanese cooking and other arts--like calligraphy and the tea ceremony.  She served our first thick green tea in a beautiful pottery bowl.  She wisked the tea with a little wooden whick/brush.  The second tea she served was thinner (regular) green tea.  We enjoyed lively conversation, with a little English beween Hitomi and I and Stephanie translating the rest. 

  


Hitomi's poodle, Bob, who joined us for tea!







Stephanie translating in Japanese.




Hitomi's baseball has the kanji for my name. 
I am holding my final project with the kanji for "person". 



After being stuffed with sweets, I was ready to practice my kanji for "person" and do my final lettering on the baseball shape Hitomi had for my final project (since I am an American!).  I don't think I did too bad . . . but I came away from the lesson with a whole new appreciation for the hand-lettered kanji I saw on signs in Japan!!  What a beautiful, simple, meaningful art Japanese lettering is!!





Jess and I with Mark and Stephanie Bartsch

 Back to the Good 'ol U.S.A.!

We woke up Tuesday, February 12 at 4:45 a.m. to walk down to the station with our luggage.Two trains, and two planes later, we arrived at the Chicago O'Hare airport at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, Feb 12--that was a very loooong Fat Tuesday for us!  We sacked out at Kristine Nofziger's for a couple days to work off some of our jet lag.  The first day, we slept from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., then from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., then from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.--BLEH!  We got to see Marie at Northwestern on the second day.  We got to lead her Intervarsity Arts Fellowship Bible study (a group of musicians). 

Transitioning

We came home to Ohio for 2 1/2 days--unpacked, did laundry, opened a mountain of mail, did our taxes quick(!), repacked, and headed to Virginia for a short visit with Grace, Ben, and Naisa before we came to Washington D.C. for the second part of our sabbatical--serving at the International Guest House.  I will continue my blog with our adventures in D.C. so stay tuned . . .

Naisa is 4 months old now!