OKAERI

Okaeri is a polite Japanese greeting that means "welcome home," but is not limited to your family or people you live with.  At the beginning of this summer, the obachans ("grandmothers") of the neighborhood started greeting me with "Okaeri" as I made my way home from school, instead of the habitual "Konnichiwa."  It only took a year, but I think this means I've been accepted into the tribe?  

48? WATERFALLS*

With the weather getting cooler, we are all eager to take advantage of being outside before winter hits and we go into hibernation.  To that end, Paul planned a day trip to the neighboring prefecture of Mie to visit Akameguchi, which is famous for its waterfalls.  We were lucky to venture out on a rainy and somewhat chilly day, which kept away most of the tourist hoards. Still, there were some intrepid hikers outfitted in their best mountaineering togs, looking as though they had just stepped out of a Patagonia catalog and were on their way to summit Mt. Fuji.  Keeping it simple in shorts and tennis shoes, we looked vastly less professional, particularly at a rest point, when the Japanese broke out their power bars and Nalgene bottles, while MR, one of the new Brits, bought a beer and a hot noodle stir fry to accompany his 6th cigarette of the day.  It was 10am.

The falls themselves were enchanting; so much so that I completely missed the fact that two 20-something Japanese photographers we encountered on the trail had brought with them a love doll (which is exactly what it sounds like), and were posing it in front of the falls.

*Apparently akameguchi can be translated as "48" or "many."  Turns out the advertising for 48 waterfalls was a bit misleading- the real number is closer to 35.

HIGANBANA MATSURI

In Japan, one of the harbingers of fall is the higanbana, or "red spider lily," which crops up everywhere like a fiery red weed.  This year, JETs were invited to participate in the higanbana festival, which consists of dressing up in costumes from the Nara period (circa 1300 years ago), and wandering through the hills of historic Asuka, which is considered the birthplace of Japanese culture.  The procession was more like a reenactment; there was a queen who sat atop a large shrine, which was then rolled along the trail.  The rest of us, Japanese and foreigners, made up the queen's entourage, shouting "Onaigi!" in unison, which I believe is something akin to "All hail!"  As foreigners, of course, we were relegated to wearing servants' clothes, which were a coarse cotton, compared to the shiny silks of the Japanese courtiers.  

The procession wending its way through the hills.  The higanbana are in the back.

The costume: a long-sleeved cotton under robe, topped by a heavier, long cotton robe and a long cotton skirt that made us all look like maypoles. 

Our homely garb did not discourage people- hundreds of people- from taking photos of us at every possible moment, including the two times we stopped for a brief break over the course of the 8 hour day.  Our fans were particularly amused to watch all of us guzzle cold tea and air ourselves out, hiking up our skirts in a distinctly unlady-like fashion (we all wore pants or shorts underneath).  Sometimes you just can't fight being foreign. 

The Queen's Court