End-of-November Observations

Today I went downtown to have lunch with a friend from Cameroon, and in between that and church at 6 I had about three hours of downtime. I spent a little time engaged in one of my favorite hobbies: wandering through one of Sendai's many extremely expensive shopping malls. I like to watch the panic in the salesgirls' eyes recede as they size up my $19 shoulder bag and $12 sneakers and determine that there is no possible way I am going to buy anything and require them to actually interact with my Western self. It's almost as much fun as the day my family inspired great relief in the concierge of the Chateau Frontenac, by leaving his lobby. I think that life for people who actually have money must be quite dull.

But anyway, I also spent quite a bit of time simply wandering and reflecting on life at present in Japan. And I came to two realizations, both of which are comparisons.

1.) In New England, home of (and inventor of the phrase) leaf-peeping, fall is about a two-week-long party. In the middle of October, every single leaf changes color. Everything is completely stunning for about two weeks, then there is an icy-cold, day-long downpour that knocks off every leaf and heralds the beginning of late fall and winter. (And, if you're me, you always forget that this is going to happen and get super-depressed when it does.)

In Japan, people also plan trips around going to see the leaves change. But the whole process has been much longer and more drawn-out than I'm used to. My friend Taylor, who is from Connecticut, said that he has found it somewhat anti-climactic. The first trees started to change color in mid-October -- and they are still at it! We've had a couple of icy-cold, day-long downpours which have knocked down a good many leaves, but when I look up at the hillside it is still red and orange and yellow and even green in patches.

It's odd, especially since the reason that the Japanese people like to watch the leaves change is that it offers an opportunity to reflect on the impermanence of life. I would like to tell them that things are way more Buddhist-y in New England.

(This park is in the middle of downtown. It has a lot of statues of semi-nude people. Also late fall foliage. Also homeless people.)


2.) In the States (and, from what other ALTs tell me, most of the West), people think that, overall, winter sucks. Consequently, there are jobs, products, and entire industries devoted to making it suck somewhat less.

In Japan, people also think that winter sucks. But there are markedly fewer such jobs and products. Central heating does not exist -- and my teachers have needed to get special permission to turn on the kerosene heaters in the classrooms, even when the students are avoiding doing in-class work because they don't want to take their hands out of their pockets. Insulation barely exists. High-school girls are still biking to school in mini-skirts. Regular people are still biking around with no gloves on. I just learned that they won't use salt on the roads or on our steps.

I am not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it seems very silly to suffer for half the year, especially when you don't really have to. On the other, it is certainly more environmentally friendly, and possibly more psychologically healthy, to just accept the seasons for what they are. I am trying to recognize that the first hand is probably very Western. I am trying to be philosophical and open and accepting.

But it is easier to be these things when I am not scared of killing myself on my stairs.