Saturday July 6, 1991
10:00 Ellen arrives from Saga. As we are discussing the plans for the day Rachel arrives. She changes out of her school uniform.
10:30 As I am taking in the futons before we leave, I notice that there is another Shinto ceremony to bless the ground where the old house was. I think the ceremony was this time last year. At the time, I assumed it was a groundbreaking ceremony but as they never built a new house, I wonder if it is something else. Both Ellen and Rachel take photos.
10:52 We arrive at the Kamegawa station just as the train is pulling in. Jump chain and buy tickets on the train.
11:20 Meet M2 at Oita station. She is talking to Mary Ann. TM and Quigley are going to meet us at Hasta Manana after we run our errands.
Get M2 Tokiwa money. Ellen is fascinated by the escalator ladies at Tokiwa department store. We try to catch the escalator lady "changing of the guard". I need to videotape them.
Rachel, Ellen and I walk to the International Center to return books and pick up the new English-language versions of the Oita-ken guide and maps.
Eat lunch at Hasta Manana . MaryAnn, Quigley and I sit together on one side of the table; M2, Rachel, and TM sit opposite, and Ellen sits at the head of the table.
M2 tries to sniff out the secret of Hasta Manana's incredible pumpkin pizza.
13:30 After lunch, I agree to meet Ellen and Rachel at Tokiwa in 45 minutes., then walk to Quigley's to retrieve Mensonge and get his new address. M2 accompanies us on her way to Excel and then departs suddenly. Quigley and I talk about "Alien Eyes" and losing one's sense of wonder, taking things for granted.
13:34 I withdraw money from bank machine. On my way through Tokiwa to meet Ellen and Rachel I see a blue and white toothpick holder and buy it.
14:15 Find Rachel on the first floor of Tokiwa but she's become separated from Ellen. We shop a little and she buys a bento and a stuffed chuo-Totoro.
15:32 See Rachel off at Oita Eki.
15:33 Run into Ellen outside of the station. At the washi/shodo shop buy brushes, scroll and stationery.
16:16 Buy mushrooms for Itoh-sensei in Texas. Go to Chuo-machi; Ellen (after watching me film all day) decides to buy an 8mm camcorder.
17:07 Buy blank VHS tape at Rizumi. Walk toward Oita Eki, hoping to run into M2. I'm telling Ellen the my stories of synchronicity (running into Quigley and Tom Weber) when I see M2. Ellen goes back to the video store while M2 and I return to her apartment to drop off her packages and measure her boxes to be shipped back to Austin.
18:20 M2 and I meet Ellen on the platform at Oita station and the three of us take the train to Beppu Daigaku. Walk to the Samurai's. Eat, drink, videotape. I call Jenny. She joins us for awhile, then goes home. While we're talking at the counter, she tells me that JBH is pregnant.
Samurai and his wife chat with customers while they cook.
Ellen, M2, and I take a taxi to my apartment. We watch the first four hours of Twin Peaks (zapping quite a bit). Then, M2 and I can't resist watching a bit of Totoro. We stop after the scene of Mei falling asleep on Totoro and then, as it is nearly 1AM, we all fall asleep too.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
July 06, 2002
Comments
Yes, the Saumurai's. He was first introduced to me as "Tono-Sama", the master, and that's what I always called him.
When I first visited Beppu at Christmas of 1987 for an interview, I was taken to Samurai's original place nearer the university. I stayed late and discussed the "Bushido" with Tono-Sama. With his adherence to a stictly traditional dress code and his hair an echo of the Chomage (spelling?) he was the man to do it.
I became good friends with him over the 21/2 years I lived there. He took me on excursions to the countryside where we would drop in on friends of his in remote towns and feast on strange foods like boar stew and sashimied horse meat. We went to temples and Shinto celebrations and literary discussions over sake and beer with his friends from the university, many of them artists, potters, photographers and poets. Through the Samurai, I had an experience immeasurable enriched and he remains a force in my memory and affections.
Comment by: jbl. Posted July 9, 2002 05:21 PM.
i like to know theingrediance to make the pampkin pizza please thant you
Comment by: magret. Posted June 3, 2003 07:37 AM.
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