Me, Ali, and Baba's parents
I have eagerly awaited this special trip for a long time ever since I first introduced the idea to my friend Baba in Chicago back in December. He has made it possible for us to stay with his parents (who don't speak a word of English) at their house in Toyohashi. Baba's real name is Yasushi but uses his family name as a given name in America where he lives. I met Baba in Chicago and we have been close friends for over 3 years now. He hasn't seen his family in over 15 years but has assured me that they will welcome us with both arms.
Immediately after breakfast we slowly approached the port of Osaka. The weather was miserably wet and I remember being nervous about the idea of meeting Baba's parents. Surprisingly I had very few expectations and knew very little about his family. We caught a bus from the port to Cosmosquare subway station. The Chuo line took us from Oskakako to Hommachi where we changed to the Midosuji line. From here we traveled to Shin-Osaka where the JR (Japanese Railway) station is located. I called Baba to confirm our arrival in Japan and discussed our itinerary. He advised us that we should head straight to Toyohashi via the Bullet Train. He insisted that it's an experience we should enjoy at least once during our stay in Japan. Considering our bags weren't getting any lighter, we agreed.
11:53 and not a second later, the 11:53 bullet train glided into the station. The front of this thing looked like the head of a giant snake. As we boarded one of the fastest trains in the world, I couldn't help but notice how clean and organized everything was. Not just the station, but everything that I had saw since stepping off the ferry. Uniforms are immaculate, streets and public transport is clean and litter-free, officers stand to attention and the people in general seem to be much more civilized than Chinese folk. It seems Japanese really pride themselves on efficiency and productivity. Within 60 seconds the train was traveling at lightening speeds. I started to dream about how wonderful it would be for the Russians to have such speedy transport on their Trans-Siberian rails. We could have probably done the entire trip from Moscow to Beijing in 4 hours on this thing. I struggle to remember the scenery as we passed through Kyoto. It went by so quickly. I'm amused by the staff on the train as they take a bow at the front of the carriage before they exit the car. 170 miles an hour and it doesn't even feel like we're moving. Baba was right - it was an incredible experience!
Just over an hour later we arrived at Toyohashi train station and noticed banners promoting the world exposition scattered everywhere. I showed the taxi driver Baba's address and off we went. 10 minutes later the taxi pulls in at what looks like a shop of some sort, just off the main road. Just as I ask the driver if he is exactly sure of our location, Yoshie (Baba's sister) comes out to welcome us. Relieved that we had actually been taken to the right place, I walk towards Yoshie with a huge smile on my face. She invites us inside the office where we meet Kazunori (Baba's brother) and a member of staff who's sitting at her desk playing with an abacus. She must be the accountant. Yoshie offers us some Japanese tea while Kazunori set something up on his laptop. He has a great program that can translate written English into Japanese characters and vise versa. Kazunori also hands me a gigantic parcel from Baba which he had sent ahead of my arrival. The usual Chicago publications and newspapers where inside as well as a welcome letter. I was so happy that we had made it after talking about coming here for so long. Armed and ready with fingers at the go we all attempted to converse and ask each other questions by typing into the translation tool. As I was standing there drinking tea and trying to understand the not so well translated text on Kazunori's computer, I let my curious eyes wander around the room whenever I had the chance. Looking at the large piles of towels, stacks of trade catalogs and the odd silk screen here and there, I wondered what type of business Baba's father actually owned. In an attempt to find out what the company produced, Ali asked to see some of their work. We were shown several pieces of printed linen including a kimono style thick jacket. Kazunori asked me to try it on. As I stood there admiring the thick ornate robe that was wrapped around me, Kinko (Baba's mother), complete with electric blue highlights in her hair, walked in and said "konnichiwa" as she bowed. Next entered the father, Tukayuki. Like Kinko, Tukayuki was small in stature and bared the same broad smile. The whole family made us feel extremely welcome. The next thing I remember was Kazunori talking on the phone. He handed the phone to me so that I could hear the familiar but tired voice of Baba on the other end. Baba wanted to make sure that we got there safely and that there were no confusions. I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably with nerves at the whole experience. An event which I never thought would become a reality was happening right before my eyes. Without further ado, we were taken through the office with our luggage to the adjoining family house. It appears they live in the same building as the office. At the top of the stairs we were immediately shown our bedroom. Inside the room was two prepared beds. The walls were covered in cloud patterned wallpaper. Our tour of the Baba house continued with instructions on how to operate the tap at the sink just outside our room. It seems that this is the area where you can wash your hands and clean your teeth. Kazunori and Kinko then showed us the toilet which had a unique feature that I hadn't seen before. Apart from the soft fluffy pink toilet seat cover, the tank above the toilet had a small pipe that rose out of the top and poured water down into a recessed bowl molded on the top. As the water poured out into the bowl, it looked like it activated some sort of freshener before draining into the tank below to refill it. Kinko told us in a very clear manner that the two doors she was pointing at weren't to be opened. One of which was obviously her bedroom. Back downstairs we were shown the shower and laundry room. Then the kitchen and combined dining/living room. After the tour, Kazunori sat in our room with us and attempted to ask us more questions using his outdated laptop. We watched him type character after character for ages before eventually hitting the translate button. The hundreds of characters magically turned into just four nonsensical English words. I quite enjoyed the challenge and felt like Robin trying to figure out what the riddles actually meant. "Holy Manga!" I felt like shouting when I had finally worked out what the Riddler had asked us. Batman and I simply responded with either a nod or a shake of the head to questions like "a tonight bath for if I tired". Kazunori also showed us some interesting videos of Maturi festivities which happen in October around the Aichi prefecture as well as himself mastering the art of Karate. Maturi is an odd event which basically involves crazy men holding huge lit fireworks waiting for them to explode. I asked Kazunori if he could show me a few karate moves but he declined. He did however demonstrate a great move on Ali. After I heard a few cracks, I was convinced he had broken her arms. Ali screamed "ooowww" followed by "shit, that bloody hurt". Kazunori apologized repeatedly.
At 6:30pm, Kazunori drove Ali, Kinko, Tukayuki and I out to dinner at a sushi restaurant nearby. We all sat at the sushi bar where we were within hands reach of the meticulously prepared pieces of fish traveling around in loops on the conveyor belt. Katzunori couldn't control himself as he kept taking plates off the belt on our behalf. Before we know it, there are more plates of fish in front of us than there were Catholics inside St. Peters Basilica. Approximately 15 plates later, we had filled ourselves to bursting point. The food was excellent. My particular favorite was the fried squid and Unagi (eel). Kinko refused our several attempts of paying for dinner and insisted that it was a "presento". She opened her little kitty bag (which she seems to carry around with her everywhere!) and paid for the whole dinner with cash from within. We of course thanked her and insisted that we would pay for the next dinner. After all, this was the least we could do for letting us stay with them. Conveniently located next to the restaurant was a coffee shop called "Sun Rose". We stopped here for an after dinner coffee and relaxed for a short while before heading home.
I updated myself with more of the Chicago news that Baba had sent me before going to bed. As usual, I fell asleep recalling the days events. A big smile stretched across my tired face.
