Two Stories

I went to a cultural performance on Culture Day last Thursday. I didn't realize it was going to be a sort of 'matured person's' event. I went with Etsuko, who is getting to be matured, I guess, and we were late because her group of friends was performing last. She's been introducing me as her 'daughter,' which is awfully confusing for some people, but quite entertaining for the two of us.
Anyway, I was surprised when we went in she went all the way to the front of the auditorium in the middle of some lady doing a fan dance and sat down. She beckoned me then to follow her. So I went down in the middle of this performance, and a few minutes later Etsuko told me she had to go, to give her group some last words of encouragement before the performance. As soon as she left the auditorium, these two extremely old ladies sitting at the end of the row stood up, shuffled over and sat down next to me. One turned to me(and now there are three shamisen(Japanese stringed-instrument) players playing) and in a very loud voice said, 'Are you a Tai Chi teacher?' I looked at her and said, 'Uh, no. Not at all.' She says, 'Your mother said you were a Tai Chi teacher.' Now, everyone in the audience including those without hearing aids could probably hear her over the performance on stage. No one seemed to mind. I said, 'Oh, that's interesting, but she's not really my mother.' The ladies both looked at me like I was crazy.

I was on the train last night, returning from an Aikido seminar in Kumamoto. An old man sat down next to and started talking to me. From my experience, I know that if an old Japanese man starts talking to me out of the blue, the chances are good that he is drunk or he wants to talk about The Second World War. In this case, it was both. He asked me where I was from, but after about one minute into the conversation, I was somehow from Florida. I told him I was from Colorado, but he thought it was nice that I was from Florida, and what nice weather they have there. Not like when the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. Actually, I'll just stop there. Suffice to say, he was a nice man who was a little sad to talk to. I've had maybe three experiences like that now...