Saturday, March 22, 2008

A Riff on a New Season

It's Spring again, the winter is fading into another memory. Another chance at a new beginning seeing as New Years' (Western and Chinese) resolutions have have piled up unused in the corner. Time for them to be swept out, windows opened, fresh air let in.

In Japan, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (shunbun & shuubun respectivally) are national holidays. These holidays are marked by cleaning graves and leaving offerings to long past ancestors. I appreciated the closeness that the Japanese have with nature, superstition and the cycle of life. The subtle appreciation of falling cherry blossoms; throwing beans on Setsubun to chase demons away and inviting luck in; the haunting sounds of a bon-dance on a warm summer eve; Osouji (big cleanings), bonnenkai (end of the year parties)and sun-rise hikes on New Year's Day, washing hands for shrine visits, safe driving charms hanging from rear view mirrors, drinking beer wearing yukata at roof-top beer gardens; the earthly flavors of a bowl of tea served in a delicately scented tatami room, girls wearing hakamas with combat boots for graduation and more.

I find that where ever I am, I relate time now with the rhythms of my life in Japan. Now I am teaching Japanese to a group of believe it or not teens and ni-sei/san-sei (Second & Third generation Japanese) middle-aged women. How much more surreal can you get, the foreigner delivering language and culture to those who lost it along the way to American assimilation.

This year Shunbun no hi and Good Friday coincided. This day that would have been a holiday had I been living in Japan (for the former) or in Hawaii (for the later). But instead, I found myself on a long commute to Library Headquarters interviewing for the next stage in this new life I have been leading. New beginnings, old memories, time passes a new season begins.

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