Roman Holiday

After what seems like a long hiatus, I’m finally back in my natural habitat: sitting at my desk and staring at a 12-inch screen for eight hours while various people scramble around me like worker bees, answering phones, bowing to each other and thanking visitors profusely. The New Year has been a bit of a whirlwind thus far, as my father came to visit me for two days immediately after I returned from my own vacation (hint: he’s the short, Japanese grandpa on the left who looks suspiciously like Superintendent Komata). While two days might seem like a short trip, he was going to be passing through Japan on his way back to America from Sri Lanka and figured that he might as well stop in for a short visit. I was initially a bit nervous about his coming for a variety of reasons, the foremost being that he would be the very first visitor I would entertain since moving here in July. Had he visited under more temperate conditions I probably could have devised a whole schedule of things to see in the area but as it’s the dead of winter, I was at a bit of a loss. Luckily, I was able to rely on the helpfulness and local expertise of my co-workers.

Despite the extremely confusing nature of the Tokyo subway system (even though I’m able to read some Japanese, I’ve spent many a minute staring at station maps and scratching my head), my father somehow made it from Narita to Tokyo station, where he hopped a shinkansen to Hachinohe on Tuesday morning. He wisely purchased a Japan Rail Pass prior to his arrival, thereby saving a fair amount of money on travel expenses. I picked him up at the station just after noon and after dropping off his bags at my apartment, we went out for sushi. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much activity at my favorite kaiten place, so we had to settle for the mall’s inferior Kappa sushi. On the way there, I received a call from Okubo-San, who inquired as to when we would be stopping by the office.

When we arrived at the office, we were quickly ushered into the meeting room (which is generally only used for distinguished guests), where we had coffee with the Superintendent, Supervisor Nakamura (from the office next door to mine, first from the right in the photo) and this guy who is in charge of school lunches. My supervisor had to go to Tokyo due to a family emergency, so Nakamura Kacho had stepped in to take responsibility of my dad as a guest. While some might have found it annoying that my co-workers essentially “hijacked” my dad’s trip, I was more than happy to have their guidance, being that I am new to the area. When they asked me to ask him what he was interested in, he replied that he would like to see some Buddhist temples. I told that to them and added that I planned to take him to an onsen. Although I was really planning to go to the fabled Asamushi Onsen (near Aomori City), I lied and said that I was going somewhere nearby, knowing that they would forbid me to drive so far. After a few minutes of debate, they eventually decided not only that Misawa’s Komaki Onsen would be the best choice but that it was also “Japan number one”. While I appreciate their concern for my safety, I do find it slightly demeaning that they seem to think that I can be tricked as easily as if I were five years old. You can tell me that you’ve “got [my] nose” all you want but I will probably not believe you.

At any rate, Nakamura Kacho immediately ushered us over to Momoishi’s newest attraction, the Shogi Museum, which they opened up especially for us (it was closed for the holidays, I think). While this place is boring even for me (imagine a museum about chess, where you can barely read or understand anything, including the rules of the game), they sent one of the guys from the office to give us a guided tour, which I attempted to translate for my father. He seemed to think that it was pretty interesting, so I suppose it was time well spent.

After that, Supervisor Nakamura ushered us into his car and drove us to a nearby Buddhist temple. I didn’t even know that there was a temple in Momoishi to begin with, so it was a real treat to be given the royal treatment and shown around by one of the monks in residence. The temple apparently dates back to the Meiji period, so it is likely a hundred years old, if not older. For such a small temple it possessed a surprising amount of interesting artwork, including ornate woodcarvings, statues of Kannon, Amida and various bodhisattvas and two very old-looking scroll paintings; one featuring a depiction of hell and another of Amida and his retainers cold chillin’ in the Western Paradise (like those used by pure-land Buddhists when chanting the nembutsu). Out of curiosity, I asked the monk how old the paintings were but he said that it was not known. Before we left, they even invited us into an area where laypeople are usually not allowed in order for us to appreciate the woodcarvings on the ceiling. Nakamura Kacho was quite excited about this, telling me that he has been going to this temple his whole life yet had never seen these carvings before.

Following our visit to the temple, we traveled all the way to the Komaki Onsen in Misawa. My father had never been to an onsen before, so I’m sure he felt some level of apprehension about disrobing in front of and bathing with complete strangers. Regardless, he seemed to really enjoy it and chimed on about how he had enjoyed an “authentic Japanese experience”. Komaki is really nice for an indoor onsen; modeled after Lake Towada, it aims to recreate many of that vista’s waterfalls and landmarks in an artificial setting. Unlike other onsens I’ve been to, it only had two large pools: a hot one and a really fucking hot one (“This is much hotter than a whirlpool,” my dad was heard to remark). If I understood correctly, they actually pump water from a natural hot spring into the building, along with water from the Oirase river.

Afterwards, Nakamura-San walked us around the huge onsen complex (which featured four hotels, a number of restaurants and myriad gift shops) before treating us to a huge dinner of washoku, a traditional Japanese-style meal that consists of a number of small dishes served together on a platter. I’m sure that I’ve forgotten something but from what I recall there was sashimi, grilled squid, yakiniku-style clams with vegetables, some sort of egg dish and an oyster soup. All of it was delicious and Kacho insisted that we wash it down with my father’s favorite Nippon libation, warm sake.

The next day, after showing my dad the local sights (i.e. the mall), we met Baba-San at the office at half-past five for the official welcome dinner. We ended up going to what was described to me as a Japanese home-style restaurant. It was a tiny place in Momoishi’s bar district (although this “district” would probably be better described as a street about one-fourth the size of a city block) that was just barely able to accommodate those of us in attendance. As is the standard for Japanese parties, they ordered about three times as much food as was needed and ensured that drinks flowed freely. As my father expressed an interest in sake, they made sure that we cracked open every bottle in the place, working our way up from the standard house sake to the upper reaches of the top-shelf. The pinnacle was a limited run sake of which only 100 bottles were produced right here in Momoishi. As an almost superfluous sign of quality, it had real gold flakes suspended in it (a la Goldschläger). Were I the type to jest, I might remark that this particular sake represented a “gold standard”. Luckily, my disposition is such that I will make no such claim for the sake of a joke.

All in all, the visit seems to have been a rousing success. My father felt as if he was able to see a lot in his two short days here and was also able to eat a lot of good food that neither of us paid for. It is also somewhat serendipitous that we were led around by Nakamura Kacho, as he is much warmer and friendlier than my own, generally stoic, supervisor. In conclusion, you are all now welcome to come and visit me in Momoishi although it’s worth noting that floor space is limited and will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis. Additionally, the drinking of any liquor that may be in my possession is strictly prohibited.