Hubby takes a trip down memory lane

As I wrote in the previous post, on 15th August, the last day of our trip to hubby’s ancestral home (jikka), we visited my late mother-in-law’s grave to offer our prayers, and also visited various schools where hubby studied and made a base for his future. In the evening we returned back to Akita. Today I will write about this day.

In the morning of 15th August, my father-in-law and his wife went to play golf with several relatives of hubby. Hubby stayed back home as he was tired due to playing golf the previous day in the hot and extreme humid weather of Aichi prefecture. I guess he got used to the cool weather of northern Japan where we live. Hubby and I got up rather late that morning. Later we prayed at the family altar at home to commemorate our ancestors and welcome the soul of my late mother-in-law and the spirits of all the ancestors, which is the purpose of Obon Buddhist event. Hubby lit incense sticks and read some sutras.

Family altar at home

Family altar

Hubby praying at the family altar

After having breakfast, hubby borrowed his father’s car and we moved around in Ichinomiya city the entire morning. First we visited my mother-in-law’s grave to offer our prayers. Hubby cleaned the gravestone with water, and then offered flowers and lit some incense sticks.

My late mother-in-law’s grave

Me praying at mother-in-law’s grave

Hubby standing near his mother’s grave

Next hubby took a trip down memory lane. Needless to say, I went along with him for the ride. We visited the hospital where he was born and also visited various schools where he studied. Hubby was rather excited to visit all these places. These places were near hubby’s jikka in Ichinomiya city itself. First we visited the hospital where hubby was born. Nomura hospital is a clean little hospital. Several decades ago it was a prominent hospital in my father-in-law’s neighborhood. There is a famous incident story amongst all the relatives that while my late mother-in-law gave birth at the hospital, my father-in-law was busy playing Mahjong and could not be contacted for several hours. My hubby is the first born child of my mother-in-law. She went into labor all of a sudden and had a difficult delivery. The doctor tried to ring up my father-in-law many times to inform him about the birth of a son. Apparently, my father-in-law did not hear the phone ring as he was very focused on playing Mahjong with friends and relatives. The doctor could finally contact my father-in-law after several hours. The doctor was very angry with him and scolded him a lot! I have heard this story from many relatives of hubby including my father-in-law himself!

Nomura hospital

Another view of Nomura hospital

After this, we visited various schools where hubby studied in his childhood. First let me briefly write about the school education system of Japan. Children enter yochien (kindergarten) school at age four for two years of education. Yochien education is not compulsory. Next the children enter first grade of shogakko (elementary school) at age six. There are six grades in elementary school. Chugakko (junior-high school) covers grades seven, eight, and nine, and 12 to 14-year-old children study in chugakko. Education in shogakko and chugakko is compulsory. Kotogakko (high school) covers grades ten to twelve, and 15 to 17-year-old children study in kotogakko. High school education is not compulsory, though 99% of junior-high school graduates enter high school.

Hubby wished to visit his yochien school but unfortunately the school does not exist anymore. So we went to see his elementary school. Hubby was very happy to see the shogakko he attended for six years. However, he was a bit surprised to see the school building as he thought it was much larger in size. Well all those years ago, the building might have looked large from the perspective of a 6-7 year old child.

Elementary school of hubby

Another view of elementary school

Playground of elementary school

Next, we visited the junior-high school that hubby attended for three years. He talked about many pleasant and naughty memories of the school-days.

Front gate of junior-high school of hubby

Backside gate of junior-high school

Playground and buildings of junior-high school

Buildings of junior-high school

Later we visited the high school that hubby attended for three years. The school was rather big with many buildings and a big playground.

Front gate of high school of hubby

Another view of high school

Side gate of high school

Playground and a building of high school

There was a twinkle and sparkle in hubby’s eyes when he talked about his high-school days. It was a pleasure to listen to his high-school memories. He had a close friends’ circle of five boys and whatever they did, they were always together in it. There were school and class excursions during his junior-high and high school days, and they often visited various castles to learn about the history of Japan. It seems that he and his friends would climb the walls of the castles like a samurai warrior and take photos for the sake of memory. Recently hubby showed me a photo of his school-days where he and his friends posed while climbing the wall of Himeji castle. Apparently he is still following and continuing the tradition of climbing the walls of the castles even after a few decades. A few months back hubby and I had been to Goryokaku fort in Hakodate city of Hokkaido. I was amazed at the swiftness with which hubby climbed the wall of the fort and told me to take a photo of him while he climbed the wall. Old habits die hard!

Hubby (first from left) at the age of 16 with his high school friends

Hubby (first from right) and his friends climbing the wall of Himeji castle at the age of 16

Hubby climbing the wall of Goryokaku fort in July 2009

While driving back from his high school towards jikka, hubby talked very enthusiastically about his passion for boxing sports during his high-school days. He was so much in love with the sports that he pasted the photo of Mike Tyson in the backside last page of his ‘gakusei techo’ (student diary) and wrote his own name in the diary as ‘Mike Kazuo Tyson’. He also wrote the name of Richie Giachetti as his guarantor as well as boxing trainer. It is really funny and amusing! He still keeps that diary and the front page photo of hubby when he was just 17 years old is so cute. Unfortunately he could not continue his passion for the sports and opted instead to go for higher education and eventually earned a Ph.D. degree in Physics, which is very different from his dream of becoming a professional boxer. Hubby is still very enthusiastic about the sports and just a few days back he practiced boxing with his cousin brother when we visited Tatsu-chan’s home. Time permitting he still practices boxing punches by using me as a sandbag!

Photo of hubby in his high school diary at the age of 17

Backside page of hubby’s high school diary

Hubby (right) practicing boxing with his cousin brother on August 13, 2009

After visiting hubby’s schools, we returned back to jikka. My father-in-law and his wife had also returned home after playing golf. It was almost 1 pm and we all went to a nearby Chinese restaurant to have lunch. After lunch we took rest at jikka for an hour or so. We were to return back to Akita in the evening by flight. At about 4 pm, my father-in-law gave us a ride up to Komaki airport. We reached the airport rather early and so hubby and I walked up to a nearby museum called Ichiro museum, where baseball goods of Ichiro Suzuki are on display. Ichiro is a famous Major League baseball outfielder for the Seattle Mariners whose hometown is in Aichi prefecture. Unfortunately, the museum was closed as it was already past 5 pm. We took several photos of the museum building.

Ichiro museum building

Another view of Ichiro museum building

Sign of ‘Office Ichiro’ in the museum building

Sign of ‘Exhibition room’ in the museum building

The flight to Akita was at 6.50 pm and we got a beautiful view of dusk above the clouds from the aero-plane window. We reached Akita airport at about 8 pm and reached our home by 9.30 pm. The Obon holidays were really nice for hubby and me.

View of dusk from the window of aero-plane

Relatives

As I wrote in the previous two posts, on 12th August hubby and I visited Hikone Castle in Shiga prefecture. On 13th August we visited Tatsu-chan, hubby’s aunt, in Okazaki city of Aichi prefecture. The next day hubby went to play golf with his father, while I had a nice time with my sister-in-law and her kids. Today I will write about these two days.

Visit to Tatsu-chan’s home
Tatsu-chan (formally Tatsuko-san), my late mother-in-law's younger sister, has been a source of great influence and important fixture in my hubby and his sister’s life. Whenever we visit my father-in-law in Ichinomiya city, time permitting we try to meet Tatsu-chan also. Tatsu-chan is a smart and kind lady. She bears a striking resemblance to my late mother-in-law which makes me feel like meeting her more often. I had written a post about Tatsu-chan earlier which is posted here.

Tatsu-chan and her granddaughter

On 13th August, hubby and I had an early breakfast at Hotel Route Inn in Hikone, where we stayed the night before. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and hired a taxi to go to Hikone railway station. We then took a train to go to Maibara railway station in Shiga prefecture. At Maibara, we changed train and finally reached Okazaki railway station at about 12 noon, and waited outside the station for my sister-in-law and her family who were also going to meet Tatsu-chan. They travelled from Ichinomiya city to Okazaki by their car, and gave hubby and me a ride from the railway station to Tatsu-chan’s home. Eldest son of Tatsu-chan (my hubby’s cousin brother) lives with his family near Okazaki, and they also came home that day.

As always it was a pleasure to meet Tatsu-chan and other members of her family. After the initial greetings, we all had lunch as the kids were rather hungry. Tatsu-chan had prepared mouthwatering dishes like Japanese fried karaage chicken, shrimp tempura, nikujaga, miso-soup, rice, and salad. That day there were nine visitors to Tatsu-chan’s home, and it was impossible for all of us to sit at the dining table. So we formed two different groups and had lunch at different tables. Needless to say, all women sat together for lunch as we had a lot of catching up to do along with a lot of gossiping. It was really a nice relaxed lunch time for all of us. The food was so delicious that hubby and I both overate.

Lunch

Womenfolk having lunch

That day we met daughter of hubby’s cousin brother for the first time. She is one-year-old very cute baby. It felt so nice to coo, chatter, and hold the little bundle of joy. She observed new people like hubby and me with so much wonder and baby’s curiosity.

Me holding daughter of hubby’s cousin brother

Hubby (right) amazed at the smallness and softness of a baby’s hand

After lunch, kids of hubby’s sister as well as his cousin’s kid got very busy playing, drawing pictures and illustrations, listening to kid’s stories, and many more things. My hubby read a story to the elder daughter of his sister. It was fun to watch the kids play.

Kids busy playing

Hubby reading a story to his sister’s daughter

Hubby and his cousin both love boxing sport a lot. So they practiced boxing training for some time just for fun. It was nice to watch them practice boxing punches. However hubby’s sister was rather surprised as she had, somehow, never seen him practice boxing until that day. Of course, she knew about this love for the sport since his high-school days. Even now in Akita, hubby sometimes practices his punches by using me as boxing sandbag! I compiled a video of hubby and his cousin practicing boxing.

Hubby (right) practicing boxing with his cousin

Video of hubby and his cousin practicing boxing

Later hubby chatted with his cousins, Tatsu-chan and her husband about his experiences of several sightseeing trips to India. I had a nice time chatting with wife of hubby’s cousin. Our conversation was very funny as it was a mixture of Japanese and English language.

After some time, we gave gifts (temiyage in Japanese) to all relatives, which is a very important tradition in Japan. We gave cute pink and sky-blue frilly dresses to the girls. My sister-in-law’s four year old elder daughter was so happy and excited to get a pretty princess dress with lots of frills and laces that she wore it immediately. She looked so cute in the dress.

Older daughter of hubby’s sister very happy wearing a frilly princess dress

Soon it was time to go to Ichinomiya. We were in Tatsu-chan’s home until about 4.30 pm. Time passed so fast! Before leaving, we all took a photo together for the sake of remembrance.

Group photo

Hubby and I were going to stay at his jikka (ancestral home) in Ichinomiya city for two nights (13th and 14th August). My sister-in-law was kind enough to give us a ride by her car up to the jikka. We reached jikka at about 6.30 pm. Sister-in-law’s family was too tired and so they went back to their home, which is about 15 minutes car-drive from the jikka. At about 7 pm, my father-in-law, his wife, hubby, and I went to a nearby grilled meat restaurant (yakiniku-ya) for dinner. After returning from the dinner we retired for the day as it had been a long day for us.

A day with my sister-in-law and her kids
On 14th August, my hubby, father-in-law, and his wife got up at about 4.45 am, got ready, and left home at 5.30 am to go for playing golf. I preferred to stay at home and relax as I am not much interested in golf. I was going to meet my hubby’s sister later in the day. So I spent the entire morning lazing around. I read a few pages of a novel, drank several cups of tea, and watched television.

My sister-in-law and her family live nearby in Ichinomiya city itself. She came home with her kids at about 11.30 am. Nowadays, I really look forward to meet my sister-in-law. With time, she has become one of my very good friend with whom I can talk about my real feelings in ‘honne’ without worrying about the norms and expectations of the society. Another reason of my liking her a lot is that she has absolutely no trace of ‘burikko’ behavior in her. The word ‘burikko’ literally translates to ‘pretend like a child’. I have never heard my sister-in-law speak with baby like high-pitched voice and behave in a certain manner which is supposed to be cute and attractive. I think ‘burikko’ is a part of Japanese culture, although I am not sure about it. In the past 12 years in Japan, I came across a remarkably large number of adult women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and even 50s who talk and behave to a certain degree in an infantile manner. It is supposed to be feminine and kawaii and is apparently attractive to a large number of men. Although I can understand such type of behavior but find it very difficult to appreciate it and make friendship. So I feel extremely fortunate that my sister-in-law is not at all the ‘burikko’ type. Love you, Nori-chan.

My sister-in-law

My sister-in-law made cold somen noodles for lunch, which was ideal for the hot summer day. It was a simple but very delicious lunch. My nieces, sister-in-law, and I enjoyed our lunch and cold mugicha. After lunch, I played ‘hide and seek’ with my nieces for an hour or so. It was fun playing with them. However, I was very tired due continuous movement for almost an hour! Kids have a lot of energy. Seeing my tired condition, sister-in-law suggested that we play jankenpon (rock-paper-scissors), which did not require us to move around. Later kids started making a home using building blocks, while sister-in-law and I chatted and gossiped about many things. Afterwards, we took several photos of us for keep sake. It was so funny to see my two year old niece trying to imitate all the poses of the older niece while taking photos. Kids are so adorable and cute.

My nieces

Me and nieces

Younger niece trying to imitate all the poses of the older niece (click on the photo to enlarge)

At about 4.30 pm, hubby, father-in-law, and his wife returned back home after playing golf. Hubby played with his nieces for some time. At about 5 pm, my sister-in-law and her kids went back to their home. After half an hour or so, hubby, father-in-law, and his wife prayed at the family altar to welcome the soul of my late mother-in-law and all the ancestors, which is the purpose of Obon Buddhist event. My father-in-law offered some food items at the altar, lit incense sticks, and read some sutras. That night there was a fireworks display in the city, so father-in-law and his wife went to see and enjoy the festivities. Hubby and I had a quite dinner at home.

Hubby and nieces

Hubby and older niece

On 15th August, hubby and I visited my mother-in-law’s grave to offer our prayers. Later, we visited the hospital where hubby was born, and also visited the elementary, junior-high, and high schools where hubby studied and made a base for his future. It was a pleasure to see hubby take a trip down the memory lane. In the evening we returned back to Akita. I will write about this last day of our trip in the next post.