Please note may not contain any actual christmas material...
Final Night in Japan
It was cold up in the mountains of Minakame, winter was certainly creeping into Japan and the bitter weather reflected my opinions on leaving Gunma for new lands.
The previous week had been rollercoaster like, as expected. At the weekend a small farewell party was held with Noritaka his Mother ,the calligraphy teacher, and Father and their extended family the Iyoku’s, a small selection of Philipino trainees Including Kim, Drury and Eric, Yuka, Otosans eldest daughter and later some more friends I had met through Noritaka.
Later I went out with my Japan ‘posse’ for a final night on the town in a trendy R+B club. The lad known as Hamburger had bought a new car, It was huge and luxurious but I forget the make. It felt good cruising along the roads of Japan in this spacious black beauty complete with GPS, a TV screen and even a rear fitted camera to assist with parking. But alas I was in no mood for partying my mind was filled with thoughts of my last week in Japan and what the weeks after would hold. My spirits were lifted when Noritaka gave me an extremely thoughtful leaving present. A picture of us all at the full moon party, he had some how etched onto it the words “Don’t forget!! We are Friends!!” Perhaps not the most heartfelt of words but presented in a frame chosen by the girls it was perfect.
Other fantastic leaving gifts included the chopsticks and rice bowl I had used for all my meals, a crazy but beautiful scroll with hand drawn symbols from the Calligraphy teacher, some exquisite Saki from Wani san, an awesome anime T shirt from the Iyoku family and a set of jingling eggplants that are now hanging in my car from Yuka.
The working days ticked by and the evenings were spent saying goodbye to the Soccer club, the English class and the two towns I had frequented. Friday night came and there was a small intimate gathering in Otosans house. Otosan cooked us Chinese food, something which occurs extremely rarely I was told. It was very good and I suggested he should maybe cook more often and relieve Okasan of the task every now and again. Naturally Okasan thought it was a good idea and Otosan thought it was a bad one but it was a very nice evening nonetheless.
And so the final night came. A whole melting pot of emotions were rumbling around inside my head. I was extremely lucky on three counts 1. It just so happened another full moon party was occurring on the night before my departure. 2. Kindly Noritaka had offered to drive me to the party and then back to my bus leaving Isesaaki at 6 in the morning and 3. My old pal Hiro from Tokyo had come along to say goodbye!!!
Sitting in our little, cosy living room I was checking my bags and room every 5 minutes finding something new to cram into my luggage. In true “Matt the procrastinator” fashion I had left packing to the last possible hour and was probably not being a very attentive host. When I was sure everything was packed I settled down to enjoy a cloudy white Saki with my friends. Kim was very quiet. I could tell he was going to miss me and the feeling was mutual. He had been a very good companion, He had always picked me up when I was down, covered up my mistakes and generally went out of his way to make my life easier. A true friend indeed, reading back his sayonara message tonight stirred up good memories of the cheeky scamp and I hope I can fulfil a promise I made to him. I feel sure I will see him again. As for my other house/workmate I am not so sure. It was getting towards the time of leaving the house for the last time and still Drury had not returned with Eric to say goodbye. I had exchanged a few words with him before he left but they were by no means adequate enough to be a proper goodbye. Perhaps he thought they were, or maybe it was too difficult to say goodbye, Drury had always seemed to struggle with displaying his emotions but I know he had respect for me and I for him. Unfortunately he damaged my respect for him by not showing up when the time eventually came to leave.
I knocked on the door of Otosan’s house. Okasan answered and went to wake up Otosan. We had a hearty hand shake and he wished me well. Somehow it didn’t seem appropriate to hug him in his green velvet pyjamas but the feeling was there. . .
That Concludes the first part of 'Final Night in Japan'
Please join us again for part 2 in the near distant future
No comments:
Post a Comment