Land Ho

I’ve been at my desk an hour now and I’ve managed to wade through the pile of papers left on my desk, submit my attendance sheet for the month of December and pass out my omiyage to everyone’s desk. I have 4 days here before classes start for me. I still have to figure out exactly what I’m doing for my classes this term, so I’m going to need the days to figure that out.

I got home 2 nights ago, but it certainly hasn’t felt that long. I spent most of the trip from the plane to my apartment in a blurry delusion with one eye asleep and the other cutting in and out to check the station names for my transfers. I’m not exactly sure how I got home. I do remember clearly arriving at the airport and seeing the sign that in English said “Welcome to Japan” but underneath it in Japanese it said, “Welcome Home.” This is such a perfect representation of the dyadic feelings I have as both an American and a man who lives in Japan.

The hours after that were spent passed out on my bed. I woke up on Sunday with enough time to throw away molding food, wash laundry (I tried running the water first to get rid of any rust and in doing so disconnected the hose without turning off the water so it sprayed my entire bathroom and I had to run fans for several hours to dry it out), hike the half a block to my view of the ocean (and smacked my knee super hard on a bolt sticking out of the barrier and almost threw up because it hurt so bad) before heading to the Sano-san’s poruche ramen for dinner. I biked there to keep my knee from locking up – it was becoming quite swollen. I felt kind of bad about not coming for so long. I think Mr. Sano was a little distant because of the elapsed time. I said “hisashiburi” and he responded with a phrase that he explained meant longer than “it’s been a long time.” His grandchildren were there so it was nice to see them. His newest grandkid, a boy named Yuuki now a year and a half old, was wearing a shirt that said in English, “Friendship transcends national borders.” I thought this was so appropriate and a real sign that I should be spending more time at the Sano-sans. I think I might go every Sunday evening.

I biked across the road to the drug store after dinner to buy some ibuprofen for my knee. I was walking very slowly in the store. I was able to say and spell “ibuprofen” for the pharmacist and he recognized it with the Japanese pronunciation so I got a small package for about five-dollars. I was quite surprised to meet the girl working the register – she’s probably the prettiest Japanese girl I’ve ever met, and she even has really nice teeth. (A funny thing to say maybe, but you can’t take that for granted here. It’s unfortunately such a limiting factor with Japanese women…) I talked with her in my terrible broken Japanese and she was still smiling after 10 min. so I think she liked me. Her name is Yumi (You-me) and she lives right next to Ihara High School. We were interrupted a couple of times by other customers so I eventually said, “Ah, that’s right, you have a job.” She told me to come back and see her. I said sure, and she said anytime would be fine. I told her I’d make sure to injure myself again so I could come back.

This year (and anytime) is going to be a year that needs structure. I also have already made myself a calendar with dinners to be cooked each night of the week, a room in the house to be cleaned, and an evening activity. I really do not want these 7 months to go to waste. I don’t want a day to go to waste. I have so much to do and so many reasons to be happy here in Japan. I’m going to focus on very concrete ways of keeping myself occupied.

Well, now really should be work time. I’m keeping my work life and play life as far apart as east and west. That way I can hit it hard when I arrive “home.”

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