Sylvia's Journal

My first breakfast in Japan was a treat. I mind mapped the various items in two categories: Japanese and ‘western.’ Western included various breads and croissants, yogurt, frosty cereal and cocoa puffs, canned fruit salad, a green salad with a choice of dressings, orange juice, bacon, sausage and eggs and coffee. The Japanese breakfast consisted of rice porridge, various kinds and colors of pickles, fermented soy beans, miso soup with sea weed and other add-ins, steamed rice and green tea.

I tried everything, including the fermented soy beans. This was the most difficult item to eat as the fermentation had produced long thin (slimy) threads that strung between my mouth, the rice gruel bowl and the plastic cup with the beans like a sticky spider web.

A thin blond woman sitting next to me took what looked like lemon wedges that were set out at the buffet table. I thought that was weird but later I discovered they were grapefruit wedges something that I am not allowed to eat anymore because of my cholesterol lowering medication.

I watched the woman closely as the invented an interesting fusion breakfast. First there was with rice gruel to which she added the contents of a small packet of blueberry jam and another of strawberry jam. For her second course she filled up her bowl with steamed rice and added two pieces of gourmet chocolate (judging from the wrapper) that she had brought herself. No wonder Japanese are confused about what westerners eat for breakfast.

My co-trainer met me in the lobby of the hotel and we set out for the training center where we met the person we had been corresponding with. We walked through the notes, made adjustments here and there, divided roles and organized the room and flipcharts. I was also given earthquake instructions (away from windows, under the tables) and was told there had been an earthquake (3-Richter) last night. I had slept right through it and was grateful for that.

The plan for a Thai lunch was nixed when I told my hosts I would like to have as many Japanese meals as is possible during my short stay. And so we had noodles for lunch.

After the workday was over my colleague took me to a Kabuki-like theatre performance of her guru. This relationship allowed us a peak backstage and a greeting from the actress herself, still in her scary spider woman (no, not like the American version) costume with heaps of long monkey hair and enormous brocade robes, a fancy wig and hard and angry make up. Her grandchildren stood nearby gaping at grammy who made them run away shrieking with a playful growl now and then. We received gifts, candy in a fancy box (the Japanese have mastered the art of gifting and packaging) and a symbolic spider web, a small version of the spectacular one she used on stage to cocoon a hapless prince whose sword she was after.

The theatre show runs the entire day and into the night with people showing up at various times to see their favorite actors, teachers, friends or relatives – producing a lot of comings and goings back stage and a general fair-like atmosphere in the lobby. Most of the women in the audience wore their finest kimonos and there was a lot of bowing all around me. I had to keep myself from saying ‘salaam aleikum’ – my brain had not quite made the switch out of Dari – but I mastered the slight bow of the head quickly.

For dinner we met up with another ex-MSHer who is now teaching at Nagasaki School of Public Health. We feasted on sushi and sake in a busy restaurant section of Tokyo and had years of catching up to do.