fragments

I have just a few things I wanted to catch up on-

The young lady who found and turned in my daughter’s wallet will be coming to dinner Sunday night. She is a university student. According to Japanese friends, the rule is 10% of what was in the wallet, but my daughter had only a little money – more important were her identification cards. After much consultation, my Japanese friends decided that it would be the most polite to invite her for dinner and give her a “nice but small in size gift.” With the help of my friends I selected a small leaded crystal statue from a store with a lot of American imports. Now, I just need to plan a menu.

The tree next to my persimmon tree is currently dropping small, fuzzy, mushy, orangey-pink fruits all over my yard. I wouldn’t mind so much, but they seem to be drawing ants. They are too squishy-slimy to pick up.

I recently went to another shrine-sale. It was raining; it always rains when I go to the shrine-sale. I didn’t buy much. However, I did get a nice architectural piece – taken from a home that’s being renovated, I guess. It is a cutout woodcarving that probably went over a door or window. The carving depicts cranes standing in the water with trees around. I like it because it reminds me of the play I went to see a few weeks ago. I also purchased a decorative plate, which I plan to hang in the kitchen (just as soon as I get the right wall anchor). The plate says (in Japanese), “I am so happy that we can spend our lives together.” Since we love to cook, the kitchen is the perfect place for it.

The next organized run is the Liberty 5k, which will be held on the 4th of July. Remember, the Japanese seem to love any excuse for a festival, and if it involves fireworks – they’re all about it. A few friends are planning on running with me, but I couldn’t get my daughter to run (maybe next time).

I found out that our tiny neighborhood shrine is very special. Once there was a poor farm boy who watched his father work himself to death in the fields. The boy decided that the only way to escape this fate himself was to study. Night and day, he worked hard to support his younger brother. All the while, he studied whatever books he could get. There is a famous statue of him hauling wood holding an open book. Because he was educated, his farm prospered and the governor of the prefecture hired him to help fix the prefecture’s finances; he did such a good job, many prefectures hired him. He became very wealthy and influential. He was held up as a model for what you could achieve is you studied hard. Many shrines were named after him and held copies of the famous statue. For some reason, during WWII, most of these were destroyed. One of the last remaining shrines dedicated to this man, with one of the last remaining statues, is our tiny neighborhood shrine.

I have noticed that lately many of my entries have been a little pithy (our editors call stuff “pithy” all of the time). I think it is the weather. The rainy season has begun; it rains almost every day (as opposed to every other day, when it is not the rainy season). Everyone is crabby, and no one wants to do any work.

I sincerely hope that wherever you are, the sun is shining. 🙂