Last day in Japan

Shinjuku garden in Tokyo, last day in Tokyo We came home from the Fuji trip rather tired and spent the end of the day resting. The next morning, Sue had only half a day before she had to go to the airport, so we decided to go to a garden that was walking distance. This was the Shinjuku Gyoen (garden) which dates from the 1600’s and once belonged to Emperor Hirohito. It was a beautiful day and the various themed gardens were well maintained and designed. We visited first the formal garden in which the roses were arrayed along paths, the floribundas, the grandifloras, and the tea roses. Then we visited the Japanese

shinjuku gyoen taiwan pavilion, last day in japan — Taiwan pavilion in Shinjuku.

Garden with the Taiwan pavilion, a teahouse and a gift of the Taiwanese government to the emperor in 1926. This magical little cottage on the side of a pond certainly created a contemplative mood. cypress grove in Shinjuku Garden, last day in Tokyo Walking around we visited a cypress swamp area with trees straight out of Louisiana and then the Mother and Child garden designed so that parents can take children who grew up in the city for the experience of the Japanese woods. We visited the rest house used by the emperor and his wife in the 1920s and it was like a window through time. You could see the rooms reserved for the emperor, the empress, the guests, the smoking room…they came here to play tennis and enjoy the park. A Vision from the Roaring 20’s In my mind I could almost see them in their tennis clothes. Suavely dressed characters roam through the smoking room in my mind; the curlicued flowered carpets reminded me of all the carefully shod feet of flapper girls and men in white flannels … I can imagine the tennis rackets, the long, long cars, the sense that nothing would ever change, that the world had reached an ideal state and there was no more reason to worry. But of course there was reason to worry. Onward.

The Greenhouse

lotus flower in Shinjuku garden tokyo, last day in tokyo We went to the greenhouse and saw a remarkable collection of orchids as well as, outside the greenhouse, lotus flowers which are said to remain dormant for hundreds of years and then grow anew. Sue had to catch her plane so we went back and got her bag and then we went to the Shinanomachi subway station, which we had already staked out as having all the things humans need in a pinch. I remember they had a grocery store, a Starbucks, a burger shop, a noodle shop and a bookshop.

Sue Leaves Tokyo

highway outside shinanomachi station, last day in Tokyo We decided to eat at Burger King and waited while the food was prepared. When we got it, it was not exactly like an American hamburger, but it was close enough. It was time for Sue to catch her train. We walked out to the crosswalk, where dozens of people were crossing the boulevard identified on my map as #13 Oedo Line. I gave Sue a hug. She smiled and took her duffel bag and her backpack and turned back into the station. I walked a couple steps and I turned around and then looked back, and she was still walking, and I looked back again and she was still walking, and I looked back one final time and I caught the last sight of her shoulder disappearing into the crowds.

Back to Shinjuku Garden

Time itself passes on and magical vacations end. I went back to the hotel. In the afternoon I went back to Shinjuku garden and I stopped to draw with my watercolor pencils. I drew a bench and a bush and a tree and I watched the people. A Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane in flight against a clear sky during daytime in Pune, India. Some people lay in the grass in the big park in the middle of the garden and so I tried that and as I looked up I saw an airplane coming from Haneda airport flying over the city. I wondered if it might be Sue’s plane. I watched planes take off for 20 minutes. They were close, you could see the details on the bottom. To me, it’s still mysterious, the flying of airplanes. I thought about how my grandmother took a boat journey to come here, but I myself can be back home in less than a day.

I Eat Dinner Alone

I went back to the hotel and decided to eat dinner in the hotel dining room, bringing a book by W.G. Beasley to read since I was alone and the Maitre D’ came up to say hello. “What are you reading?” “Japanese history. But perhaps it would have been better to read about the Japanese language.” He smiled. “But the Japanese language is so easy. Do you know ohaiyo gosaimasu?” (That’s good morning) “Yes.” “Konichiwa?” (That’s hello for daytime) “Yes. “ “Konbawa?” (That’s good evening) “Yes.” “Sumimasen?” “No.” “This is for if you bump into someone or …” “It means excuse me?” “Yes.” It was the thing I had been wishing I knew how to say. “Yes I need to know that one.” We both laughed.

I Visit the Post Office

The next morning I had to go to the airport in the late morning. I packed and I mailed my six postcards to my grandchildren.

A respectable lady! She goes to the post office. She stands at the window and the postal clerk says something unintelligible in Japanese. She says ohaiyo gozaimasu and presents the postcards. He does some calculations and types into a calculator and shows her the figure: 100 yen. He taps each card. She nods. 600 total. She buys the stamps. Takes the stamps and attaches them to the cards. Brings them back to the window for approval. The clerk takes the cards, looks them over, nods and puts them in a bin. She bows and says “arregato doseimas” (thank you) and goes out.

I, that lady, go back to my room. The grandchildren will receive cards mailed from Japan. Good. I look around at the beautiful Japanese hotel room. It is tiny but perfectly appointed.

Getting to the Station

I put all my things in my suitcase. I review my directions. Since my phone is offline, I can’t use Google directions. Shinanomachi station. Yellow JR line. Going towards Shinjuku Station. 160 yen. Bus ticket. Bus station upstairs on the 4th floor. I download picture instructions for how to get from the JR line exit to the bus station. There are many platforms, escalators, elevators, floors, and shops in the Shinjuku station. I don’t know how many lines converge there, or even all the types of transit. I go and check out with the front desk. My suitcase is ridiculously heavy! I later find out it weighs 46 lbs, just under the limit that United Airlines imposes. But nevertheless I drag and roll it and make it to the subway, I make it to the bus station, I wait and I get my suitcase onto the bus and I sit as the bus drives through Tokyo.

Tokyo From Up High

As we drive through the true downtown, we are so high up this must be the fourth or fifth deck of freeway built on top of other freeways. Way below, there is water under the freeway. Buildings rise beside us. I realize we are in the harbor district and something like canals are down there. I see two men in some type of uniform standing in a boat beside a building. Idling. Waiting for something to happen. My fear of heights pokes out its head, but I tell it to sit down and shut up, after all I’ve been through my fear cannot get excited about this. We get to the airport and basically everything is simple. Customs is a matter of putting your passport on a scanner and walking through a gate; I get stopped at security but only for a moment and only because I forgot to take the water out of my water bottle. The plane trip is uneventful. I watch The Goat and The Devil Wears Prada and part of Moana on the seatback screen and the Japan trip is over.

Los Angeles, Midday

I am in LA. My phone data works again. I rent a car from a discount car rental service. (I promise myself never to use a discount car rental again, but I will not bore you with the details. The upshot: it took an extra hour and a half to get the car, and I wound up with an upgrade, an SUV instead of the compact I had requested.) From LAX, I pulled out onto the 405 going south towards Irvine. I lived here 25 years ago or so and am staying a couple of days with old friends. The freeway is jammed, naturally. I listen to KRTH, the golden oldies station, as I did years ago but now the songs are ’80s. The ’80s songs are mostly bad just like they were back then, but I listen anyway.

Thinking About Japan

I think about Japan. I think about the importance of small things. This is what part of what makes Japan what it is: an attention to detail. Pico Iyer in his book A Beginners Guide to Japan wrote that in Japan there is an obsession on exteriors, on presentation, and I suppose that must be true. But it’s not quite that simple, of course. What have I learned? The way we do things is important. Of course I know that as a teacher and still. We may get lazy. We may think as we put on a t-shirt that no one really cares how we look, no one really cares how our car looks, or our home…but perhaps presentation matters more than we think. Beauty matters. Certainly it matters more than we might think. So does how we speak and how we treat others. I marveled during my trip at how polite those we met in Japan were, given that I know Americans anywhere, let alone in Asia, can be loud, obnoxious and careless. I have experience in other foreign countries. Americans abroad certainly get the cold shoulder sometimes. Yet the Japanese I met were polite, and several were really kind. One must give their culture credit for this. The other important thing of course is that my fears did not come true. I did not stumble because of my lack of Japanese going through customs when I arrived. Despite my phone not operating. My trip to Mount Fuji, was challenging but I made it and in the end it was a triumph. And my final fear, which was perhaps not articulated, was that I would be embarrassed, confused, unable to do the most basic tasks that needed to be done. “Hopelessly clueless tourist syndrome.” This too did not happen. Now I go back to the ordinariness of life, gardening, cooking, exercising, walking the dog. Teaching. I hope I can hold onto the things learned through the upcoming year. It is good to be home. But I miss Japan already. And Sue. Without her invitation, all this would never have occurred. Tolkien says Bilbo Baggins came back to his hobbit hole after Smaug the dragon was vanquished, and his adventure days were over. He went back to resting and talking. We will have to see if the same is true of me. But I somehow doubt it.