Sitting Ducks

these past few days i’ve learnt more than i ever wanted to know about nuclear power plants. i haven’t slept, been translating and passing on news articles almost around the clock to people i really love, but have yet to convince to leave their homes and preferrably the country. by some lucky coincidence i’m not there myself, i was scheduled to arrive on saturday morning. instead i have a flight booked for this friday, which of course i’ll never use. the sheer lack of information baffles and frustrates me, people are shown human interest stories and train schedules instead of the growing crisis in fukushima. they just don’t know, they just won’t believe it. even coming from me. there’s a kind of inertia i just can’t relate to, a lot of talking and nodding and sometimes crying, but no action. i must definitely not be japanese. feeling extremely powerless, and already devastated by what i’m pretty sure can’t be avoided.

Matane

to put it simply, the last three years have been hard, really. and i’m getting so ineloquent that i feel less and less like posting here. also i hate to be a whiner but lately the energy to write something upbeat to take my mind off things –always my tactic– escapes me. the new year has gotten off to a shaky start as well, what with my dad’s health and everything. so i’m taking a break from this place for a while. i’ll be back when i have something uplifting to write. meanwhile, whatever your beliefs or spiritual inclinations, if any of you get the chance to send some energy my dad’s way on tuesday for his operation, i’d appreciate it…

take care, peoples. and see you around, hopefully.

And It’s Definitely Winter…

-18C last night. Here’s a little something my nephew came up with:

Wardrobe, Hair and Make Up

Dress pants, a shirt and your purple sweater, she told my dad last night when he asked her what he should wear. And this morning at 6.30 when I walked into their bathroom, she asked to help her tie the belt on her sweater. Though a little later she came downstairs dressed in a different one. What to wear to go and have confirmed that it is cancer after all –three weeks of back and forth diagnosis– and that the kidney needs to be removed. Which, with my dad’s heart condition, is a really risky operation…

After they had left I went into their room and saw a black blazer with gold brooch lying folded on the bed. It seemed so infinitely human to me.

How Not To Fold Kimono

The bland, nondescript office across the road from my room turned out to be a kimono factory or something. Of course the kimono hanging on a stand in the corner should have been a giveaway, as should the posters with kimono clad women. But I thought it could be anything to do with the Kyoto tourist industry. Anyway, kimono…

I know because the other day some samples arrived, I guess for next season’s collection, and a bunch of people -men!- sat around the oval table discussing them. Afterwards one of the office workers -short, balding, glasses, sleeveless bottle green sweater over striped shirt and tie- was left to fold the samples and put them back into the box they came in. I had just made myself some morning tea and was standing in front of my window, contemplating some kind of plan for the day. And then suddenly I had entertainment:

The man was exceptionally clumsy and folding the four kimono took him something close to thirty minutes. He kept folding and refolding, aligning and realigning, huffing and puffing and shaking out the fabric to avoid creasing in all the wrong places…He was about to finish with kimono number two when he accidentally picked at the sleeve of the only one he had managed to fold so far. So close! Poor guy, he ran outside for an emergency cigarette at that point.

The kimono were gorgeous, by the way. Of the four I saw, I would have gladly taken two. For free, mind you, because I don’t even want to guess at their prices. They were classy stuff, nothing like the ones I own. One was turquoise with light yellow lining and white, yellow and dark purple flowers, and the other one a dark red with soft pink lining and white, light pink and lilac flowers (I was too far to see which flowers exactly, though I bet you’re not holding your breath). Haaaaa, I could just imagine wearing them -yes, I do from time to time, though without the under garments, tabi (white split-toe socks) and geta (wooden sandals). I team mine with boots and a t-shirt. Or would that be a sacrilege, for kimono as fine as those..?

In any case, I now know how to fold kimono.