This week has been a rough one for everyone in the family. On Monday I woke up and checked my phone to see that I had received an email from my friend Mao Matsushita in Kagoshima with the terrible news that her mother was sick in the hospital. She explained that since her mother was ill and she herself was extremely busy with studying, her family would not be able to host me in late July after all. Since I had already bought my plane tickets to Kagoshima the week before, I felt very flustered indeed. I quickly shot off an email to Steve Amend, the home director of the Santa Rosa Kagoshima Student Exchange Program, which I participated in the summer of 2007. I asked Mr. Amend whether he would be willing to look for any families associated with the program who would do me the favor of hosting me or showing me around the city during my suddenly completely free week there after PII ends. Crossing my fingers, I commenced with my studies, but I was a bit distracted because I was really worried about Mao’s mom. Although I’ve never met her, we’ve spoken on the phone and she seems like an incredibly sweet person, just like her daughter. I really hoped her illness wasn’t anything serious.

 
I went home from Rifare at 5:00 with Ai-san in anticipation of a visit from her parents. We picked up Ha-chan on the way home, and it was clear that he was very excited to see his grandparents. “Do you know my grandma and grandpa are coming today?” he asked me about three times, bouncing up and down in his seat as we drove home from the daycare center.

 
When Ai-san’s parents pulled up in front of the house around 6:00, the boys rushed out eagerly, rhinoceros beetles in hand, to meet their grandparents. Both of the grandparents studied the beetles with fascination, rather than recoiling in horror as I had done the first time I laid eyes on the bugs. (Boy, I thought, these guys definitely get grandparenting points in my book.)

 
The visit lasted only five minutes, sufficient time for Ai-san’s parents to ply us with gifts (mostly food: corn, cherries, plums, watermelon, rice crackers, and three tubs of miso paste), take a group picture, and say their goodbyes. I was startled by their abrupt departure, and a bit disappointed. Ai-san’s parents seemed like such nice people, and I had been looking forward to getting to know them. Ai-san explained that they were very busy and were only in the area for a short period of time. Usually in the States we think of children and grandchildren as being too busy to spend time with their parents and grandparents, and not the other way around, but in the case of Ai-san’s family, her parents’ schedule did not allow for a lengthy visit.

 
I wasn’t the only one dispirited by the shortness of the grandparents’ visit. The boys, Re-chan especially, were very sad to see their grandparents leave so soon. Re-chan actually started crying at dinner that night, he was so upset. This really surprised me, as Re-chan is usually so lively and upbeat, and much less likely to dissolve into tears than Ha-chan, who is very babyish sometimes. Re-chan’s tears made me wonder how often they get to see their grandparents; I’m thinking that visits from them may be few and far between.

 
Tuesday started out pretty slow and continued that way for the rest of the day.  The boys were still morose after Monday’s revelation that their grandparents would not be staying as long as expected, and I was really exhausted after a full day of studying immediately following the weekend. Tuesday afternoon, the PII students went by bus for a mandatory visit to the Suzuki Daisetsu Museum. Suzuki Daisetsu, a prominent Japanese philosopher and author of works on Zen Buddhism, was born in raised in Kanazawa, and the relatively newly-built museum features exhibits centered around his philosophy. The museum was very modern-looking, with a white, boxy facade and a “reflection area” where you could sit and contemplate life’s mysteries while staring out over a glassy pond.

Also, on Tuesday I had quite a shock when I received an email from Mao’s mother, Shinko. Shinko explained that her hospitalization had been merely due to heat exhaustion, and that she was totally fine now. “Please, come stay with us in Kagoshima,” she wrote, “We are really looking forward to meeting you. The connection between our families is very important.” I was thoroughly confused. Mao’s email had made it seem as though her mother had a long-standing condition, such as heart disease, that had led to her hospitalization. After reading Shinko’s email, I wondered whether her repeated invitation sprung from some kind of ingrained Japanese tenacity or sense of obligation to guests. I worried that she was simply inviting me once more to be polite, and that she didn’t really mean it. I was also hesitant to accept her invitation again, as Monday had been the second time Mao had told me that she was too busy and stressed to host me. Furthermore, Steve Amend of SRKSEP had contacted me letting me know that he had forwarded my email to his contacts in Kagoshima and that they were in the process of finding me a host family. I was what the Japanese call komatteiru (troubled, in a pickle).

 
I composed a response to Shinko with Ai-san’s help, asking her whether it was really all right for me to come stay with the family in late July. I expressed a deep concern for her health, and let her know that I would have no problem staying in a hotel if my visiting the Matsushita residence proved too inconvenient for the family. Feeling very anxious and ardently hoping that it would all work out, I resumed my studies and went home completely fatigued.

 
The Kagoshima Predicament came to what seems to be a resolution as of Wednesday. Both Mao and Shinko emailed me, reassuring me that Shinko was in fine health and that Mao’s email had been sent while she was in a panicked state about her mother’s sickness and her upcoming university entrance exam. I am so glad that Shinko is okay, and I’m relieved that my plans seem to be settled once again, but I’m still quite shaken from this week’s turbulence. In addition, I have been asked by Shinko to compose a 10-minute speech about my experience in Kagoshima 5 years ago that I will present at a Lion’s Club International meeting during my stay with the Matsushita family. I felt obligated to accept this duty, even though I already have to write a speech for my final project for PII. I guess now I’ll have something to do while I’m waiting in the airport for my flight to Kagoshima.

 
Wednesday came to a quiet close with the third and final pottery workshop. Today we glazed our baked tea bowls, and we will receive the finish products once they have been fired in the kiln one last time. I chose a deep green color called “Oribe” for my tea bowl, as I am a great admirer of the tea master Furuta Oribe for which the color was named. Oribe was known for his whimsicality in the practice of tea, and his methods deviated quite significantly from his predecessor Sen no Rikyu (the most famous tea master that ever lived). Sen no Rikyu revolutionized the practice of tea by promoting ideals of rustic simplicity (wabi) in the tea space. He favored unassuming, unpretentious tea instruments with very little excess ornamentation. Sen no Rikyu’s ideal tea room was small and dark. Oribe, on the other hand, brought out whimsical and unexpected elements in tea with uniquely patterned, lopsided tea bowls and sweet trays. His tea rooms had windows to let in the light. I admire Oribe because I believe that people both in Japan and in the West have a preconceived notion of tea ceremony as a very austere and rigid practice, with no wiggle room or opportunity for self expression. This is not necessarily so, and Oribe strove to enlighten others of this in his tea practice. Tea ceremony centers around an appreciation for the season, which changes from day to day, hour to hour. One of tea’s most famous mottoes, ichigo ichie, expresses the idea that when a group of individuals gather to drink tea together, they are participating in a meeting that will occur only once, in a season that will occur only once. The tea practitioner has the agency to select the decorations, tea, and utensils he or she feels are appropriate compliments to the season, and thus has the power to influence his or her guests with a carefully constructed atmosphere. Anyway, I digress. The color I chose for my tea bowl is named for Oribe, whose unique color preferences included deep green, brown, and white.

We’re experiencing some truly hot, summer-like weather now in Kanazawa. Although the days are mostly overcast, temperatures are in the 80s with about 70% humidity. Walking to the train station every morning usually leaves me dripping sweat, and trying to sleep at night has become very difficult indeed. My room has air conditioning, but I’m very hesitant to turn it on due to eclectic Japanese attitudes towards energy conservation. Ai-san rarely turns on the air conditioning in her home, even on very hot days, but continues to do laundry every day.

I’ve managed to come down with a cold, despite this hot and muggy weather, and I’ve come to the conclusion that although a cold in the winter may not be very pleasant, I’d much prefer a cold in the winter to a cold in the humid Japanese summer. My body aches and my throat is incredibly sore, but it’s too darn muggy to curl up under the blankets on my futon or drink a mug of hot tea. I’ve resorted to sucking on honey-and-lemon flavored hard candies to relieve the pain in my throat, which seemed to be doing the trick until Re-chan and Haru-chan discovered that I was toting candy with me everywhere I went and continually begged for it (not politely, either, mind you. As soon as I woke up on Saturday and descended the stairs into the living room, Ha-chan peeked up over the back of the couch and demanded a piece of candy without so much as a “Good morning.”) I finally told a little white lie to the boys, saying that I was very sorry but that I had no more candy; it was already all gone! Hopefully I can kick this cold before it develops into something truly nasty, as I only have about two weeks left in Kanazawa and I intend to make the most of them. Updates on the weekend to come! Take care, everyone.