if I could package it up....

We have an old friend coming to visit us this summer. Actually, "old" friend isn't the most appropriate title. She's a friend from a few years ago when we were living in Shibata City, Japan.
I'm looking forward to seeing her. I'm not looking forward to disclosing the fact that I've lost a LOT of my Japanese. I'm looking forward to getting to know her crazy personality again. I'm not looking forward to the strangeness of getting to know someone after a 4 year absence.

She has asked me again and again what I would like her to bring for me from Japan. This may seem oddly persistent, considering it from a western perspective, but in Japan, gift giving is serious business. You don't just show up at someone's door without something in hand to offer. We in Canada do occasionally bring a bottle of wine or a plant or something of the like to someone's house, but usually just if it's a special occasion.

I'm already thinking through what I'd like to have here for her in the way of a gift or two, because it's not just the person who visits, but also the person who recieves a guest, who gives a gift. This may sound really exhausting to you if you haven't been in that kind of culture before, but I have to say that we really learned to appreciate it when we were there. In fact, Ryan and I learned to like it so much that we wanted to start doing it at home too. We soon put that thought aside though, as we found people to be almost uncomfortable with being given little things. Either that or they didn't like our gifts. SHOCKING!

Anyway, as I thought about what I might like her to bring, I realized that there wasn't much in the way of practical, packable gifts that I wanted. So in light of this, I've compiled a small list of things that, if I could have it mailed over, I would, but I can't, so I'll just think about them instead.

A meal from our favourite restaurant in Shibata - Tonki Tonkatsu. The "master" at this restaurant was amazing. "Tonkatsu" means "deep fried pork cutlet" which sounds a little less than appetizing, but MAN! This guy knew what he was doing. It came with a pile of shredded and chilled cabbage, rice, miso soup, a little bowl of some kind of pickled vegetable, and a slice of tomato on the side. He also made his signature tonkatsu dipping sauce which, paired with the pork, was out of this world. And I don't say that lightly. I'm drooling right now.


A meal from our second favourite restaurant in Nakajo (a nearby village) - Yama....something - It was a ramen (noodles in soup) restaurant (right on Route 7, for those of you who are reading this from Japan) and their miso ramen was TO DIE FOR. Well, maybe not, because then you couldn't eat it. When we first came into this restaurant, we weren't very experienced in ramen eating. We wondered why all the tables had a boxes of tissue on them. A short while later, as we slurped our noodles up over the bowl in the Japanese way, we discovered why. You can't help but clear out your sinuses when your head is bent over a steamy bowl. This place was the best restaurant to visit in the frigidly cold winter.


A private dance show performed by my Japanese dance instructor, Fukumoto Sensei. - She was a small, older woman with a very warm smile and pretty much no English at all. She taught us "forgeign" girls by just speaking Japanese and using lots of words like "pi!" and "chu!" to express a hand being twitched to the right, or a head cock to the left. When she danced, it was like magic. The dancing was really really hard to learn, and even harder to make look natural and smooth, but she did it so flawlessly and gracefully. Lovely.


A visit to Patelin, the little sweet shop on the main road leading from the station (before the fork) - The couple that ran that shop were among the kindest, easiest people we ran into in Japan. There was no "YOU'RE A....A....WHITE PERSON!!!!" attitude at all. They were very friendly and their sweets were REALLY REALLY GOOD.

A evening party at Nigakushyo, the little hidden classically decorated cafe on the edge of the drinking district in Shibata. Master was a kind man with a warm smile who taught violin upstairs on his off hours, and who's wife was a lovely chatty woman who was quite musical herself. Master's brother owned and ran the shop on the other side of the wall, and would cater the evening parties they held at Nigakushyo. I remember really liking the food, and really enjoying the fun times there. I never knew Master's name. We always just called him Master. "Hey! There's Master, standing on the side of the road! HI MASTER!!!"

A visit with the moms and kids that used to be my little kindergarten class. I'm sure they're so much bigger now, and so much less innocent and childlike, but I miss them anyway. Sho, Nao, Nene, Yuma, Haruka, Kaya, Ayame....they must be 9 or so now. WOW. They're almost preteens. That makes my time in Japan seem like centuries ago!!!

A bike ride on my rickety red bike with the big basket on the front, at night, through the silence of Shibata. It was one of my absolute favourite experiences. The town became so quiet and I'd pedal slowly along the stone alleys between closely standing buildings and shrines. It was such a relief from the days of being gawked at for being a foreigner. I felt so at rest!

This is something I think my friend might actually bring!! A sweet treat that one eats during a Japanese tea ceremony. It's made from bean paste, which sounds gross, but I really learned to love it. These things were crafted into works of art, all different colours, holding the form of a delicate flower or something of the like. They were small, no bigger than a golf ball, but really good. I could go for some traditionally made tea ceremony tea too, full of green mulch, bitter to taste, but so nice with the sweet treat, to top off the experience.


So these are the few things I'd like from Japan. Perhaps someday I'll get back there and experience them. For now, we have no plans to do that, but I hope, I HOPE, that one day we do.