Tanabata

If you didn’t know already, Uchinoura is the first Rocket Launching site in Japan and currently one of the three. Therefore, everything in this town seems to have a space/astronaut/rocket theme. The elementary school has a mural. All the bridges have satellite or rocket bookends. The town’s bar is called the New Roketo. The town’s ‘posh’ hotel/onsen is Cosmo Pier. Anyway, you get the idea.

Well, for many months they have been talking about their next launch. It was supposed to be yesterday, but was postponed due to rain. Apparently it’s a big deal because it is the biggest rocket that Uchinoura will have ever launched (and to be honest, Uchinoura doesn’t have the best record of launches). However, this isn’t why I mention the launch in particular, though I would hope that you find it interesting.

For the past month, Uchinoura has been relatively full or people. Not full like a city is full, but full like a small town is full with an extra 100 people that no one has seen before. I look around and notice that none of the faces that I see mirror any child in Uchinoura’s schools. Furthermore, every morning there are people standing at the side of the road waiting for rides from JAXA (Japan’s NASA) cars or taxis that spend their mornings and afternoons just shuttling them back and forth. I hear that Cosmo Pier is completely full as is all the small, family-run inns.

Yesterday, as I was studying kanji for the Japanese Proficiency Test in the library, several men were roaming about checking the reading material. In any case, that is not what struck me, though the library is usually not nearly that full (with grown ups). What struck me was that some of these men were in their yukatas (thin, flimsy, cotton robes) strolling about like it was their personal house. I have heard of people doing this in small towns that have several onsen. I guess it wouldn’t make sense to put on all your clothes for a 5-minute walk if you are simply going to take them off and bathe again. However, Uchinoura is not really an onsen town. And, they are just all over the place. They are sitting in a library with nothing but their robes on. I just don’t get it. You could have put your clothes on for that. It’s not like you’re going to bathe in the library.

I mentioned the Japanese Language Proficiency Test previously. Cristina and I will take Level 3 in December. There are four levels in case you are wondering. Level 4 being the lowest and Level 1 being the highest. Cristina and I were not able to take the Level 4 last year because they only sell a limited amount of applications and they were sold out at the time we decided to take it. However, it is easy and I imagine that we would have passed had we taken it. Therefore, we are “doing level up” as they say in my office and schools. I have already begun studying the kanji needed for the test. You need to know about 300 and all their readings and meanings. I would go as far as to say that I know nearly that many, but not necessarily the ones that are on the test. For a Japanese person to read a newspaper, they have to know about 2,000 kanji.

As for the instrument playing, Cristina and I have hit a wall. We cannot find a way to tune the guitar. All we do know is that it is extremely out of tune. We bought a guitar tuner and have tried to tighten and loosen the strings, but no luck (not even close). I think I may just stick to my ukulele (though I have not bought it yet).

Finally, I will conclude today’s entry with a Japanese story.

A long time ago there was a princess who loved this boy. Everything in the world seemed to pale in comparison to the thought of
the other. They were so in love that they ignored everything
else. Like Narcissus imprisoned by his own affection for himself, the
couple was imprisoned by their own affections for each other. So much so,
that they ceased to do their duties to the gods and their country. Like
every bad deed, this one too had to be punished. So, they were
banished to stars in the Milky Way distant from each other. One to Altair
and the other to Vega. There they would stay for all eternity.
However, even the gods recognized that their love was too strong.
Therefore, they were granted one wish. The lovers’ stars would be allowed
to come closest to each other one day every year – on the seventh day of the
seventh month. And thus it will be for all eternity.

Henceforth, the Japanese have celebrated Tanabata on the seventh day of the seventh month by hanging their elaborately folded paper wishes on a bamboo branch hoping that their wishes too will be granted by the gods like the princess and the boy.