1985/7 Japan

22 March 1987
The final letter from the Land of the Rising Sun (Yen?)
Posted 23.03.87; received 30.03.87

Hi there!

This will be the last letter I write from JAPAN. This morning I took down all my posters and my world map and my ORIGAMI and generally dismantled my apartment. It looks as sad and dreary now as it did when I first moved in. I have a list of THINGS TO DO BEFORE I LEAVE that seems to get longer and longer with each passing day. I can’t really believe I’m about to hit the road again. I have spent a total of one year in this country and as a result will be leaving a little piece of myself here when I go.

Yesterday was a holiday of some sort and so John and I took a local train to the nearby town of Kurashiki where we spent a very pleasant day. In the town centre is a canal complete with curved bridges and severely trimmed willow trees and two swans. Along the banks of the canal are people telling fortunes and others selling jewellery and some offering rides in rickshaws and one old lady selling ice-cream in multi-coloured cones. The buildings lining the canal have been converted from old rice granaries into museums and very expensive and beautiful coffee houses and craft shops. We stumbled quite by accident upon a music festival in an ivy square. The instruments on the whole were traditional, but the music on the whole contemporary. A very nice combination. The variety and strangeness of the percussion instruments was fabulous.  A huge double sided drum was played by two semi-naked young men who had to stand with feet braced and beat upon the drum with large and heavy drum sticks held above their heads. Two hollowed out Reggae drums with a clear bell-like sound. Huge Asian brass gongs and lots of brass cow bells that had a life all their own in the sunlight. A wooden stand that produced an amazing variety of woody sounds. And several drums used in Shinto shrines. Then there were two young men who played the Shamisen (a string instrument) in perfect unison and a woman who played the Koto. The Koto is also a string instrument that is placed on the floor usually and played in the traditional Japanese pose – sitting on your shins. I have just bought myself a tape of Koto music performed by a blind man who is supposedly one of the best artists in Japan. At ¥3300 he had better be.

Gifts have started to roll in from my students and although I generally love to receive presents, the giving of gifts here follows a strict reciprocal code that is beyond my pocket. So I feel a little embarrassed about the whole deal.

Last Thursday I had my last woodblock lesson, after which a little party was held in my honour. Mrs Ishihara managed to produce both the BEST fried chicken and the BEST takuyaki (a batter ball filled with octopus, green onions, pickled ginger, etc) I have EVER tasted. We also consumed a bottle of VERY sweet Japanese wine. And then came the presents and the final farewell…

I’m getting ready to send a parcel of goods home. It won’t get there for some time, but please let me know when it arrives.

All for now. I will write again from KOREA!!!!!!!

Lotsaluv
Gail

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