Friday August 11, 1989
You would approve of my developing sense of closure. I wash dishes as I dirty them. Laundry cycles through in an orderly sequence from miniature clothes basket, to miniature washing machine, to miniature clothesline, to miniature closet.
I have spent the day working out a place for everything. This is more difficult than you might imagine because people keep giving me things. Today I acquired a gray metal drawer/cabinet monstrosity from the school's warehouse. Also, I was given a wooden bookshelf which I managed to get one of the futon closets that we use for our clothes. I did put my foot down at the offer of this really hideous old burnt-orange couch. I am grateful for everyones kindness, but they just don't understand the word "no" here. They've given me this really nice Japanese-style apartment and then want to fill it with army-surplus Western-style furniture.
I'm glad I grew up as an Air Force brat because I'm able to ignore the government issue stuff and focus on the nice things. I'm beginning to understand how growing up in temporary housing made me desire a permanent and stable ritual in my life. I see why I have to have things my own special way, to put my stamp on everything.
Two things I'm finding difficult to adjust to here are my sense of total dependency and the concept of gift giving. If Murakami-sensei were to desert me, I could do nothing on my own. I can't read, write, speak, or use the phone, or drive anywhere on my own. I'm independent only as long as I stay in my apartment. This week I did learn to walk the mile to the supermarket and buy some foods (though most were unrecognizable).
Tomorrow, which is the first free day we've had since we got here, JQS and I are planning an adventure on our own: a trip, by train, to downtown Beppu. This is a very small adventure, but for someone who has never lived in a city and never taken public transportation, it is a start. It is a 20 minute walk to Kamegawa station and a 7 minute train ride to Beppu station. I have no idea how far that is in miles, because only 3 countries have failed to convert to the metric system, and Japan is not one of them. I can't even tell you how many kilometers it is. People tend to measure distance in time here: "It's a 4-minute walk." "It's a half-hour drive."
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
August 11, 1989
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I can't read, write, speak, or use the phoen, or drive anywhere on my own.