entry nº 7 // 20161031

It’s painful to get caught between the closing doors.

Even more so are the eyes of those looking at you. 

–One of a series of brutally worded PSA posters seen hanging on the train from time to time

so if you go left out of our place, as in, like, east, you’ll head towards bishamonyama. cross a bridge and go through a small little down, then you dip up through the rice fields and into the woods and next thing you know you’re on this little “road” (apparently it’s drivable but man oh man it’s pretty tiny + sketchy) climbing up through the forest. the last stretch is a set of stairs that climbs up (which, the first time i went up there by myself, there was an old man seated at the top of the stairs with sunglasses on, somewhat menacing-looking as he crouched there, like some sort of boss at the end of the level, and i girded myself for the confrontation, but as i passed next to him he produced some sort of aerosol spray bottle of bug killer and totally gassed this stick bug that was at his feet. very confusing situation. he smiled at me and i said “good day” and kind of laughed at the poor little bug but also it seemed a bit excessive to me, killing that bug, but also i guess i really don’t know much about the whole situation, or stick bugs, are they poisonous, etc.) and next thing you know you’re at the foot of this closed-up little temple w/ bananas views of the ocean + islands all around you. it’s incredible. but if you really know what’s up, you’ll walk up the little path behind + to the right of the temple, and you’ll pop out at the very tip-top of the mountain where the views are even better, as in, full 360º 3-d infinite ocean wind + birds floating on the breeze + people playing w/ their dogs down on the beach waaaaay below. when i was up there with shoko, we heard some rustling around down below us, and i peeped down through the trees and caught just the tiniest little glimpse of what i’m fairly sure was the hindquarters of a wild boar. “kevin, why would you assume it’s a wild boar?” well, because there are signs down at the foot of the mountain saying to be careful of the wild boar, of course. i wouldn’t just assume something like that out of the blue. not that kind of person at all. 

[fyi this is really, like, entry nº 6 material, timeline-wise, and i believe there are maybe some photos back there to illustrate? if you’re so inclined]

one of the aspects of japanese that i’ve been struggling with is this concept they have of “reversal of the opposite.” pretty tough to explain and to be honest i still don’t really have the best grasp of it, but basically what it boils down to is that as you’re writing or saying something, you’re supposed to hold in your mind the opposite idea so as to create a sort of balanced sense of expression. like for example if you were going to write “above” you would write 上 (pronounced “ooh-eh”), but while thinking 下 (pronounced “shee-ta”). pretty high level stuff but i’m at least trying to start working on it now so doesn’t totally wreck me when i begin to more fully integrate it in my speaking + writing later on. 

(you might be thinking, wait, what? that sounds preposterous – which it is, because i just made it up in my head this morning while i was on my run headed back home! come on, guys. let’s get real, here.)

a couple weeks back one of the volunteer teachers (the saturday one, to be exact) of the japanese classes that i go to was like, “not gonna have class the week after next because of inekari, guys.” after some scrambling around in the dictionary i discovered that inekari is rice harvesting, as in, he owns a couple of small rice fields and the time of year had come to harvest the rice. i managed to ask, “would you like some help?” and it seemed like he was like, no, not really. but then later that week or maybe the next, i got an email from him that was like, “kevin-san! if you would like to come help out w/ the inekari, here’s the details. come on out.” so i went. took the early morning train out and caught a different train a couple stops out of the city, and there was Konishi-sensei waiting to pick me up. he brought me back to his family’s house, where i met his wife, mother, and daughter; he got me all set up w/ some pretty sick work gear (big ol’ rubber boots, button-down long-sleeve standard farm worker’s shirt, official Kubota™ baseball cap, white towel to wear over my head under said cap to protect my neck from the sun, fresh pair of gloves). felt like a million bucks in that rig, that’s for sure. we drove out to the field in his Suzuki™ Carry™ (classic farmer vehicle out here – so tight – look it up). met up w/ Konishi-sensei’s father, uncle, brother, + cousin who were all out there. brother’s driving the Kubota™ ARN216™ combine (also very tight and kind of mesmerizing to watch); father + uncle + cousin are following behind, stomping out mud balls, waiting around. and by the way, his father must’ve been in his 80s, i’d estimate, but he was just out there stomping around in the mud and cutting up stalks the combine had missed like any other able-bodied younger person would do. pretty legit. anyway, once the combine is all full, pull the suzuki over while brother maneuvers the grain spout above it; then we hold open the rice sacks and fill ’em up with rice. once the combine’s empty, Konishi-sensei and i drive back to his place (i get to ride in the back: dream come true), empty the rice bags out into the big rice dryer machine, then head back to the field to get ready to collect the next round. once that field is close to finished, we zip over to the other field, get out our kama (little hand sickle) and clear out the four corners of that field so the combine can get in there + get started. very satisfying to cut the rice that way. [of course that’s easy for me to say becuase i don’t have a grueling full-time rice harvesting job, for what it’s worth, and it’s probably not satisfying for 8+hrs a day every day w/ shitty pay, for sure, but still]. it was a perfectly clear, beautiful early autumn day, not a cloud in the sky. 

[in the midst of all this, we went back to Konishi-sensei’s house for lunch – while were out there, his daughter, wife, and mother had been preparing food. ate w/ the fam + it was very delicious + i felt very lucky to get to sit and eat w/ them: so kind, such gracious hosts, such sweet people. grandma was impressed i liked the pickled vegetables she had made, so she went and got me some even stronger stuff to see what i thought. no idea what it was: it was gnarly, but it was good.]

after the work was done, went back to the house for dinner: the women had made about a thousand gyoza for everyone during the afternoon. we all sat and ate while watching the baseball game; i had to restrain myself from eating too much b/c i had capoeira that evening (too much food, upside down, spinning = barfing, tho fwiw it didn’t really work b/c i still ended up feeling straight up awful after class), but man, a couple gyoza and some beer after stomping around in the rice fields all day? nothing wrong with that. 

and to wrap up, a couple questions from the viewers, here:

q: and as for fukuoka-city? surely it is a dangerous place, full of various bad elements waiting w/ unerring patience for you to let your guard down, and to come in at you in that one unguarded moment, threatening not only your personal effects and your physical safety, but also doing irreparable damage to your veryability to careabout the things that matter most to you? 

a: actually, no, it’s quite safe! was hanging out at a little outdoor seating area/cafe the other day, and watched a woman set down her briefcase and purse at a table while she went inside to order coffee. left it there unattended, outdoors, for a solid 5ish minutes. it wasn’t even remarkable: it happens all the time here. it feels very comforting to imagine people generally agreeing that they won’t steal each other’s shit, and will keep an eye out so nobody else’s shit gets stolen. 

q: your life, kevin, as evidenced by these blog posts, is a joyful, dreamlike affair w/ nary a spot of darkness to cloud an unendingly sunlit sky, its deepest blues and most brilliant golden hues shimmering gently over you as you glide effortlessly from one day to the next? 

a: no, i wouldn’t quite go that far. it’s really hard sometimes! totally tough pulling out the safety net, in terms of friends, people to communicate w/ on a daily basis. of course i am here w/ my sweetheart shoko, who you may or may not have heard of, but even that is a fairly new relationship in long-scale terms, + so of course we are still learning each other. surprised every day at how smooth + sweet it is – but at the same time there are there still those days where i miss my friends, miss having that local friend network, days when i’m like who am i what is going on who knows me does anyone know me etc. + on + on, loop + repeat. 

q: yo kev, how’s ASIA? 

a: it’s good! 

all my very best, 

kevin