Lots of excitement. Hurricanes, nuclear bombs, new Royal baby, Dreamers, Nancy in the hospital recovering, incredible third quarter comeback for UCLA against Texas on Sunday.
But for me, mostly boring sorting and packing this Labor Day weekend.
Japan Story
234E The Bluff
When we came back from our 1940 trip to North America everything had changed. We no longer lived in the bungalow, No. 11 (Ju Ichi Ban) The Bluff (Yamato), but moved to a six unit complex, about a mile away. At No. 11 we had a married couple living in the back, to take care of all the cooking, gardening, cleaning etc. Now, no Japanese would work for the despised foreigners. My mother was able to find a woman with an illegitimate child of Japanese appearance, about my age. Jane had bright red hair, was disgraced, ostracized by European and Japanese alike, and was glad to have job. Her name was Jane Savory, her child, Setseko could speak no English. They lived in a room in the back.
I remember cars with big speaker horns driving up and down the Bluff, blaring in Japanese a message of hate against all foreigners. The formerly friendly Japanese on the street would now spit at us, and call us "Baaka".
"What does that mean?" I asked. "Fool," I was told.
I had a very nice room at the end of the hall. The bathroom was a distance away, so I had a 'chamber pot' under the bed, just in case. The toilet was a western flush design, with a big wooden box to hold water, released into the toilet by pulling the chain.
We had a living room with a fireplace, and a dining area but not a separate room, as in No. 11. My father maintained British standards throughout. We ate roast beef, lamb, turkey at Christmas with a knife and fork, but never, never Japanese food. The only rice I ever ate in Japan was rice pudding, which I hated.
"Oh, what is the matter with Mary Jane?
She hasn't an ache, and she hasn't a pain
And its LOVELY rice pudding for dinner again."
A retired couple by the name of Burnie lived in the apartment above. My parents became friends with them, and Mr. Burnie made me a beautiful varnished wooden box with a lid. I treasured the box, and packed it when I left Japan forever.
Chrismas
My father was a Mason, and went faithfully to his meetings wearing Masonic regalia which my mother thought very amusing. It may have been the Mason's, or at his office, but he came home one day near Christmas with a live turkey he had won! Certainly neither Jane or my mother wanted to kill, eviscerate, and pluck the feathers from this turkey. My father disappeared with the cage, to return with a plump, fully dressed bird he had managed to exchange. We had it for Christmas Dinner, along with stuffing, cranberry sauce and all the fixings.
No comments:
Post a Comment