Just a Foot away

(image by google)

This week’s entry takes us more to a Zen mode, as we make our way to Japan. Here in the United States we have a “personal space” of about 3 feet, which we politely try to maintain to the best of our abilities. However in Japan, the space shrinks to about 3 inches due to the size of the country and the amount of people. I interviewed Mr. Aaron Try, a friend of mine who lived in Japan for six years. To “escape” the hustle and bustle and find some peace, he would go fishing out on a lake known as Ashi no ko, or translated as “Foot Lake” because it looked like a foot. There are 5 outlying lakes around Mount Fuji, he told me, that were caused by volcano activity many decades ago. “I would grab a case of beer and rent a motor boat and go fishing all day. It was an escape for me to be out there all-alone. Sure you’d see other people fishing out there with you, but this was a decent sized lake, not a pond, and though there were other people out there you were still alone.” He said. “It was interesting the perspective, of having to be so close, then going out there and being near nothing.” He said.

            He fished most of the morning when the lake would be covered in fog and one could see only 100 feet away. As it got later the fog would lift and he would come in for lunch then go back out and it would take all day. Eventually by mid to late afternoon you could see Mount Fuji rising up beyond. “If you were close enough you’d have to look straight up to see it.” Aaron said.

("Black Bass" image by Google)

            He fished for black bass, which were introduced by the Emperor Hirohito, and in the back of his mind he would think that these are not indigenous fish. In the middle of the lake, there was a small island which he and his friend dubbed “Rabbit Island” because some one let loose some domesticated rabbits there, and the bred “like rabbits” so there was this small population of domesticated colorful rabbits running around this little island.

(image by Google)

            Lastly he spoke of the temples, which were scattered about the banks of these lakes, and he would read the plaques on their histories, and say to himself, “Man, these temples are older than my country.” Remember, 800 900-year-old temples are considered young in Japan. “The whole country interested and fascinated me.” He sighed, “I can’t honestly think of any one thing that stood out more than the rest.”

           

 Japan can only be described as Unique. There is no where else like it in the world, its culture, its land, people, and cities all carry a dignity and nostalgia about them. As if one were constantly looking into a dream, or painting; at first you don’t believe a place like this could exist, yet it does, every nook and cranny of Japan is covered in history and stories. Will you make one?

(image by Google)

Shifting Tides

This week I interviewed my close friend, Maggie Sheffield, on her visit to a small French village know as Luc Sur Mer. It is a small coastal town, which borders the English Channel, in North France; about 35 minutes form the larger city of Caen.

(image by Google)

Ms. Maggie went there for a foreign exchange program for school before she entered college. “It was a neat little town,” she said, “It had lots of good sea food! Their scallops were very good, and had this pinkish colored meat inside of them. There was plenty of good music and small markets.”

(Image by Google)

            “The tides there were amazing, they would receded to the length of a football field or pier length!” she described, giving me a vision of one minute there was an ocean at your beach, and then the next nothing but beach. It is because of these tides that a small town attraction and legend of sorts was created. The La maison de la baleine, or “the house of the whale”, is a brick building that holds a sort of tribute and museum of the town and has nice old story. Back in the year of the early 1900’s the great receding tides the town possesses shifted back as usual only this time to reveal a huge dead whale hidden beneath the water. Well, the town’s folk stripped the carcass and used it as best they could and hauled the skeleton up the beach and built a brick house around it to keep it. Today the whale sits just outside its little home and the house and he still stand and serve as a museum of sorts.

(image by Google)

            My friend went on to tell me about the really old cathedral that was there, the Basilica Beatae Mariae de la Delivrande. “It’s not the biggest or grandest as far as cathedrals go, but I thought it was beautiful. There used to be another much larger cathedral in Caen, but it was obliterated during WW2 by the bombs. However in Luc Sur Mer, not but 35 minutes from that location, that church was not touched. Not a single scratch. It did not have to have any renovations or rebuilding to it after the war, so it’s the original church as it was when it was built way back in the day.

(image by Google)

            Maggie then told me about her experience being a foreign exchange student. “It is a small town where everyone knows everyone else, like Ashland (VA) here.” She said. “It was so neat being the ONLY American in that whole town. That’s what I remember the most. They would want to try and talk to me in American, as apposed to just regular English. I had no idea there was a difference.” She said. “They would ask me to say things, say something American and I would ask, ‘like what?’” to which I smartly replied to her, “Howdy Y’all!” she chuckled and continued. “They would say, “describe what you see around you,” and I would, and they would all be fascinated, and all I was doing was describing the sand and little fish,” she smiled, “It made me feel special.” She said. “They all assumed that because I was American that I would have a bad taste in food, that I would not like French cuisine, but in truth I already had loved it, and had had things similar back home. So this at first was a little insulting, but I soon changed their view. I ate everything I was given and loved it all. “This may not be what you are used to” they would say.” Funny how stereotypes can catch up to us all isn’t it? Even to the most well rounded, humbled and educated ones as well like my friend. But the family she stayed with was very good to her and she made friends and forever remembers her stay in this small town.

            So if you are looking for an authentic experience where you will get the greatest stories of all, throw yourself out there, where you can teach and be taught. Be uncomfortable, lost and insulted, because you will soon make the greatest of friends, memories and feel the best about yourself

After I thanked her for her interview she added one last thing, “Oh, and they had big snails…And white cows!” she chuckled. I smiled, “Aww white cows!” we both like cows.

           

(image by Google)