Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Mata Ne - Au revoir to Tokyo

Unlike previous writings, this last one from Tokyo is a joint effort. Although I may not easily move to the next grade in Japanese class, I did learn to say "mata ne", a term much less permanent than "sayonara" when saying goodbye.

Today was our last one in this wonderful city. We spent most of the day packing our non-essential stuff into a 10kg box to send home by surface mail. For those of you who plan to do this, be aware. You are now required to itemize the contents, including weight and value. There is a warning that this is an anti-terrorist measure and, if you are wrong, it will be sent back. I do hope I guessed right since we just paid quite a lot of money to ship some sentimental books and mementos.

To all of our new friends, I have but one simple wish, may we become "old friends".

Marcel

The above is a photo of a gathering of friends in our Tokyo apartment last Sunday. Originally, we named the event: "Sayonara (good bye) party" But with the news of Sari and Hideki's engagement, and upcoming move to Japan, we expect to be back soon. We therefore named our gathering " Mata ne (see you soon) party" I also named it "East meets west party, since we ordered Pizza and Sushi for dinner with our friends. My friend Bella suggested that it would more accurate, considering that Montreal is our permanent home, to order Poutine and Sushi. Although there are many gourmet foods in Tokyo it may not be easy to find Poutine. (Especially home delivery) but there is definitely no shortage of Pizza places. There are more Italian restaurants in Tokyo than in New York.

The 2 beautiful young women on the left side are Makiko  and Akiyo . They are good friends of our daughter , but I call them: Watachi no Nihon no Musume (My Japanese daughters. They were both instrumental for our easy adaptation to Japan, acting as guides, translators, recreation directors, and fun and lively companions.

The woman sitting on the right is Dr Sonoe. She is a physician with extensive interests, whose mother was also a doctor. Sonoe''s daughter, Miyako, is a young surgeon, a friend of Sarah. (Unfortunately
she could not attend the party) Miyako, her mother and grandmother challenge to the Western steriotype of women in Japan. Next to Sonoe is Akiyo's mother, who invited us to her home for a very special meal, and good conversation. In the centre are Tomomi and Nahoko and their lovely daughters. The oldest daughter, Yuki, is studying hard for the university entrance exams, and therefore could not attend. In the back are Akiyo's cousin and sister, and Ann and Barry, our Tokyo neighbours from Chicago.

We thanks our friends in Japan for making our stay here enjoyable, interesting, fulfilling, and quite exceptional!

Mata ne, see you all soon

Pnina

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