[August's New Normal
]
How long has it been since we started our "new normal" lives with Covid-19?
And how long will it be before it ends?
By now, the following three high risk situations for contracting Corona virus (known as the 3Cs) are now well known to everybody:
confined spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places with many people nearby, and close contact with people.
However, I've learned about another set of more positive 3Cs from children while spending time with them at school.
Their 3Cs are change, challenge, and chance.
First, they are not afraid to change their situation and themselves. The minds of children are much more flexible
than those of stubborn adults. Rather, they seem to get excited about any sort of change.
Next, they don't like to give up doing anything they enjoy doing, and they have a strong desire to accomplish their goals
even if the situation or condition makes it difficult for them to achieve them.
I see them trying to tackle tough study assignments in class with stick-to-itivness and curiosity.
Finally, they take hold of chances without hesitation. I admire their enthusiastic participation in class activities.
When I observe such behavior, I think it demonstrates how much these 3Cs allow them to accumulate small accomplishments
and thus grow ever more confident. Children enjoy every moment of each day.
In this way, they reinforce my awareness of important things in life.
I feel that these days are a great opportunity to start paying attention to things I've never noticed before.
(Y. Kashio)
This is the 75th August since the end of WWII.
A hungry, shell shocked 10-year-old is now in his middle eighties. But pining for world peace is like crying for the moon.
I think I've lived enough. There is no end to human desire.
Form is emptiness and vice versa. -The Heart Sutra
Somehow this awareness gives me a relief. Of course, I'd like to live-on provided I can take care of myself.
What I fear more than Covid-19 is falling victim to dementia, which means I will lose my personality.
And I won't even bring up euthanasia. As it is, I have no choice but to allow my life to lead as destined.
Now, I feel free, free from the shackles of convention. I live my daily life to its fullest,
enjoying the rich variety of summer flowers, glittering green leaves, the racket of people's daily activities and whatnot.
Besides relishing the daily turn of events, I sometimes experience something out of the ordinary, such as traveling to enrich my life.
Life is more livable with some cause for modest anticipation ahead.
Looking back, I think I've come through some comparatively propitious times, apart from the tribulations
during the war and the ensuing years of chaos.
My working life coincided with the period of high economic growth when people's living standards improved rapidly.
After my retirement, consumer prices stayed low and stable owing to deflation, which was fortuitous for pensioners.
Today, our country is beset with unprecedented difficulties stemming from having both the world's fastest-aging population
and a low birth rate. Under the circumstances, it's a pressing issue for us to reach a consensus on what sort of society we need
to build in order to cope with the impending social impasse, for example, realizing a concentration of rural and suburban population into the central part of a city
to maintain deteriorating infrastructure. We should not entrust this matter only to politicians
as they are liable to try to only please their constituencies, a strategy which often ends in fiasco.
I am soon quitting this stage, but I can't set my mind at ease until a specific vision for our society as it should be comes to light.
(H. Tarumi)
Hi Kay, If you'd be available for hire again to translate for me,
I'm thinking of heading to Matsuyama with the kids this summer. So, we'll need to go to the cemetery again.
Last February, she texted me from Toronto.
Akemi, a travel advisor, had already visited Matsuyama with her two teenaged children the summer before.
As a volunteer guide, I assisted them on their O-hakamairi, visiting the graves of family members and ancestors.
My main job was interpreting between this Canadian family and their Japanese relatives for a sort of a family reunion/luncheon party.
Akemi is a second-generation Japanese-Canadian.
That she would visit the souls of departed family members is a promise she had made to her late mother.
A chance to experience her Japanese roots with her children was another reason she wanted to come to Matsuyama.
And as a travel professional, she was also interested in Matsuyama and Ehime as tourist destinations.
At her family's graves in Joshin-ji temple in Dogo, Akemi lit incense sticks and prayed,
and her children followed her in prayer. Then her uncle, who is now over 90, chanted a Buddhist sutra.
In this way, she fulfilled her promise to her mother.
One of her aunts suggested I tell Akemi and her children about the new temple bell.
I demonstrated the correct way to strike the bell, and they followed suit.
But as a local guide, I always add some background or brief history to whatever it is I'm showing visitors.
For example, during WWII, bells and all other metal objects materials were donated by families, schools and even temples to make weapons.
Post-war, Akemi's grandmother donated some money for a new bell for the temple.
That's why I regard bells as a symbol of peace in this day and age.
What with the continuing pandemic and quarantine, we were unable to meet again in Matsuyama this year.
Maybe next summer.
(Kazuyo)
Prime Minister Abe has launched his "Go To Travel" campaign, but with the continuing pandemic,
there are still a lot of people who think tourism and travel in general isn't such a great idea right now.
But I did manage to take a small trip last August, and short as it was, it allowed me those precious moments when I could be myself.
My daughter and I went on a "yukata walkabout" around Kyoto, something we had been looking forward to for a long time.
At a rental shop, we chose yukata, traditional summer cotton kimono, from a variety of different designs
and had our hair done up specially. Then, with our one-day unlimited passes in hand, we hopped a bus.
Whenever from the windows we spied a good spot for pictures, we jumped off the bus, took "instagramable" selfies,
and caught the next bus that came along. After all, this was Kyoto, and wherever the bus was bound, was bound to be photogenic.
This is how our day went until we met a middle-aged couple at a shrine.
Normally, we would have only greeted them and gone on our way, but they were visiting from Israeland took an interest in our yukata.
Coincidentally, I had been working on an essay about Japanese-Jewish Common Ancestry Theory, and once we got started talking about that,
it was difficult to stop. Exploring in yukata gave us a real sense of both the traditional and modern in Kyoto.
But Kyoto was experiencing the highest temperature of the year, and the tightly wrapped outfits were suffocating.
At the end of the day, when we were finally able to unfasten our obi belts, we laughed at each other in relief.
My late grandmother would often wear kimono at home. Even during the sultriest part of summer, she dressed up before going out.
At any rate, my grandmother wouldn't look at all uncomfortable in kimono, even in the heat of summer,
and she always appeared neat and well-dressed.
I sensed her pride, which came of being a woman born during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
Men in yukata look nice too, so hopefully my husband and sons will wear them together the next chance we get to visit Kyoto.
(Miwa N.)
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