.

Oak Ridge Women Visit Naka-machi: September 24 - 28, 1998

Comments by the travelers:

The travelers - biographic information: On Sept. 23, 1998, ten women from Oak Ridge traveled to Naka-machi, Oak Ridge's sister city in Japan as part of the exchange program between the sister cities support organizations of both cities. They were the coordinator, Marese Nephew, wife of the former Oak Ridge mayor, Edmund Nephew, and an active member of the Oak Ridge Sister Cities Support Organization; Linda Brown, realtor and wife of Oak Ridge Mayor Walt Brown; Amy Brown, daughter-in-law of Linda Brown; Shirley Bayles, cellist with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and a buyer at the American Museum of Science and Energy; Barbara Becker, former Oak Ridge school librarian and teacher of English as a second language; Patricia Clark, former editor of President Andrew Johnson's papers published at the University of Tennessee and wife of a major landowner in Oak Ridge; Carolyn Krause, editor of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory REVIEW and former secretary of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association; Delores Kuhaida, wife of City Councilman Jerry Kuhaida and an employee at the Hot Bagel Company; Carol Lewis, editor of the newsletter for the Oak Ridge Sister Cities Support Organization; and Diantha Pare, former president of the Oak Ridge Chapter of the League of Women Voters, of the Oak Ridge chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, of the UT Arboretum Society, and of the board of directors of Aid to Distressed Families of Anderson County who was recently recognized by the city for her volunteer work.

Seeing the "monkey hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" shrine in Nikko National Park was memorable. So was hearing the beating of a drum and the chanting of monks with shaven heads during a service in a Buddhist temple.

Then there was the farewell ceremony in Naka-machi where the Oak Ridge and Naka women sang and danced together around a couple long tables (along with Naka Mayor Chikaaki Oyake). At that ceremony, it was particularly heart-warming to see Oak Ridge's Shirley Bayles play the cello to the piano accompaniment of her host, the attractive and talented Keiko Gunji. The next day the Oak Ridge women and their Japanese hosts hugged each other as we prepared to take the bus to Tokyo for a day or so of touring and shopping.

Our Japanese hosts treated us royally. We brought gifts for our host families, but they gave us even more gifts in return in addition to wonderful hospitality. The first night most of us were treated to a feast. While we tried to stay awake after a 13-hour airplane trip from Atlanta to Tokyo plus a two-hour bus trip from the Narita airport to the Naka town offices, our hosts covered the table with dish after dish of tasty Japanese food--salmon from the nearby Naka River, rice, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, fresh grapes and apples. It was more than I could eat, but I gingerly sampled everything and apologized for being too tired to eat it all.

My host family was eager to communicate with me, but only Toshiko Aoyama spoke a little English. She used a Japanese-English dictionary to help us communicate. In fact, the "fun" part about being with her was actually communicating--understanding her questions and answering them in a way that she could understand. It was a mental challenge for both of us.

Toshiko, who is coming to Oak Ridge in November, works for the Asahi beer company in Naka-machi. Her husband Hiroyuki, who speaks virtually no English, is vice president of a cement company and a mountain climber (30 years ago he climbed Mount Fuji). They have two sons--one who is an engineer with the Nikko Camera company in Tokyo and one who works in an Italian restaurant in Tokyo.

Hiroyuki's sister Toshiko is married to Syo Koizumi, chief of the finance section of the city of Naka and a friend of the mayor. Syo (pronounced Show) knows hardly any English but he communicated well in the universal language of laughter.

Hiroyuki found ways to communicate with me. He took me to his older son's room, which had a western-style bed (rather than the typical straw mattress, or futon, found in most guest rooms in Japanese homes). He showed me how to use the remote control to turn on the TV. Then he showed me how to use a different remote control to turn on the air conditioner. Hiroyuki and Syo both kept me updated daily on American baseball, saying "McGuire, 68, Sosa, 65," and so on.

Toshiko showed me the toilet, which is in one room, and the bathroom sink, tub, and shower, which are in another room. I liked the toilet--it's electric so it has a warm seat. I showered rather than take a Japanese bath, which involves scooping up water from the deep tub and pouring it over oneself onto the floor, which has a drain.

The Aoyama house is only four years old. It is modem. The rooms are small, but the hardwood floors are beautiful. They stay immaculate because of the Japanese custom of leaving your shoes at the entrance and walking on the floor in house slippers assigned to you. The house has very little furniture. The family room has one very low sofa I sat on this sofa at a low table around which sat the family on straw pads on the floor. During breakfast, Hiroyuki, Toskiko, and I sat on bar stools at the bar between the family room and the kitchen.

For breakfast, Toshiko gave me miso soup with eggplant and tofu, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, rice, nori (seaweed pieces to wrap around the rice), salmon or sardines, soy sauce, green tea, and scrambled eggs with bacon. I used chop sticks for everything but the "western" breakfast of eggs and meat; for that I used a fork. Whenever I used chop sticks or uttered a word in Japanese, Toshiko was very pleased and sometimes said, "Very rare.

For dinner, the Aoyama and Koizumi families took me to three different restaurants--Japanese, Chinese, and Italian. We sat on straw pads on the floor around a table in a private room in both the Japanese and Chinese restaurants; we sat on chairs and ate spaghetti and ice cream in the Italian restaurant. At the Japanese restaurant I sampled sushi, sake (rice wine), bamboo, eel, squid, and other delicacies.

I am interested in Japanese cuisine because, as a group, Japanese women live longer than any other in the world (their average life span is 86 years). One explanation is their low-fat diet. I filled myself with Japanese food, yet by the end of the week, I had lost a^pound, and I hadn't exercised as much as usual. Hmmmm.

Naka-machi is Oak Ridge's sister city because it is the site of the Naka Fusion Research Establishment of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and also the Japan offices for the International Themmonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is supported also by the European Community, Russia, and the United States. After we were given a tour of the Naka town of rices, we were taken by bus to the JAERI facility for a presentation on fusion energy. At this facility, Toshiko's brother works in administration (and his wife works for one of Japan's cash-strapped banks).

Next we visited St. Mary's School on JAERI property. It is a school for children of foreign scientists at JAERI and ITER in Naka. The principal and teachers are from countries such as Australia, England, and the United States, and they have small classes—2 to 5 students each--from countries such as France, Germany, Italy, and Russia.

In the afternoon, we were treated to a lunch party, lessons in calligraphy, a tea ceremony, and the making of rice dumplings by pounding steamed rice. Then we took the bus to the brand new Sony Music Entertainment factory, which will produce 6 million music and game CDs a month (all Sony factories in Japan produce a total of 24 million CDs a month). It was clean and modem, and we were delighted to be its very first tour group.

On the next day, we had a rough bus ride to Nikko National Park. Some of us became queasy from the switchbacks up and down a mountain on the futile trip to see a famous waterfall that was obscured by fog. But things got better as we disembarked from the bus for a long walk to see shrines (such as the sleeping cat and the hear, speak, and see no evil monkeys), a Buddhist temple, and the tomb of Ieyasu, who in 1603 became the first shogun (military leader) of the House of Tokugawa ( 1603-1853) and who helped bring peace to the war-tom country by encouraging much construction of shrines and temples.

On our last day in Naka-machi, we were entertained by our host families. My family took me to an aquarium on the Pacific Ocean, where we were amused by dolphin, sea lion, and penguin shows. Then we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon, Toshiko showed me a grocery store and a department store (Jussco), where I purchased a $20 blouse. Later in the day back at her home, she presented me with several gifts, including a scarf, change purse, rain coat, and one of her kimonos. She dressed me in the kimono and Hiroyuki took a photograph of me in it. In fact, Hiroyuki and Syo took numerous photos of me at home and in the restaurants and presented me with books of these "instant" photos before I left.

At the emotional farewell ceremony that night, our hosts sang and played Japanese instruments. Our group sang John Denver's "Sister Cities" song to a tape, and then we joined the Naka women and mayor in a lively dance around the room.

After hugs the next morning, we hopped on a bus destined for Tokyo. Two Naka representatives accompanied us, treated us to lunch in a restaurant on Tokyo Bay, and showed us a Buddhist temple, pagoda, and shopping district. We were intrigued by a Buddhist service featuring chanting, drum beating, and burning of a fire (symbolizing the destruction of worldly desires that cause suffering).

We unpacked our bags at the Keio Plaza Inter-continental Hotel, where we stayed two nights. The next morning we took a city tour bus around Tokyo, a sprawling modem city with a population of 8 million (same as New York City). We got a bird's eye view of the city from the Tokyo Tower, which will be replaced with an iron tower twice as high in an adjoining lot in 2003 to support digital television.

We briefly stopped at the grounds of the Imperial Palace and reamed that Emperor Akihito, 64 (son of Emperor Hirohito, who ruled Japan for 63 years and disavowed his divinity after World War II ended), is still hoping to have a grandchild (the crown princess, a commoner and Radcliffe College graduate, has been married five years to the crown prince without a pregnancy). We drove through Tokyo's financial district (home of the Nikkei stock exchange) and under the station for Japan's bullet train, which travels 190 miles per hour and reduced the trip time from Tokyo to Nagano for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games from 3 hours to 1 hour and 20 minutes.

We then visited a pearl factory and learned how oysters can be manipulated to produce more valuable pearls with the desired luster, color, size, and shape. Some of us then went shopping in the elegant Ginza district.

The next day we were on the plane from Tokyo to Atlanta. We were pleased that we had business class seats even though we had paid for economy seats (do you have special powers that we don't know about, Wanda Craven of Polaris Travel?) To distract us from any thoughts of an air disaster, Japan Air Lines showed us two movies on this 12-hour flight. One of them was "Titanic."

We arrived home safely and thought lovingly of our host families. We immediately called and wrote them. They gave us many small gifts, but perhaps the greatest gift of all is this memory.

We made music together, we danced together, and we ate and drank tea together. We talked with each other about our families and careers, and we reamed a little about each other's language and customs. We showed together that two different peoples of the world can live in harmony. It's a message we should all share with our friends and neighbors at home. We are now sisters from two special sister cities.

NAKA MACHI VISIT
By Carole Lewis
First of all I would like to thank our Sister City Organizations in both Naka Machi and Oak Ridge, for presenting this opportunity to our group of women. I was promised a trip of a thousand memories and I got that and more.

Japan Air was great, the flight attendants were always pleasant and the food was good and plenty. I did not think there was anyone left in the world who had not seen Titanic, but there was, and she and others watched the movie on the trip home. I don't know how their pilots do it, but they land the 747's as gently as a kiss. A pleasant flight both ways. Thank you Wanda (and Polaris Travel) for the arrangements.

Our arrival at Naka town hall was a bit late, but there were our host families to greet us My tomodachi (friend), Takataka from last year's Wings group was there, and was quite surprised at my arrival. Many happy hugs for a familiar face.

My family the Nakaoka's became like family during my short stay. My daughter Erica had met their son Shauntauro during her student exchange three years ago, and then I met him two years ago when he came to Oak Ridge as a Naka exchange student

Toshio his father, had set up wonderful Web Page, and included all the information on the Student Exchange groups since the beginning and this became a valuable tool, when we needed information on the student. We also could see via our Web Page the students as soon as they arrived in Naka-Machi, thanks to Mr. Nakaoka. There also were pictures and information and maps about the town, and links back to Oak Ridge, audio we have exchanged e-mail for two years. So I felt comfortable going to their home. A beautiful traditional Japanese home, with all the comforts of both countries. Hot tub included.

Eiko was such a gracious hostess, and even though she works, everything runs smoothly. I was so impressed by the true devotion shown her by the children. I was amazed by her ability to put the most wonderful meals together in a matter of moments without any fuss or muss. She had to attend to business out of town, and I regret that she was unable to go to all the wonderful places and share the good times we had on Sunday. Most of all I wish she had been able to attend the Farewell festivities. I hope someday to see her and her mother again.

I considered it such a great honor to be given the Tatami room and to sleep on the futon. I awoke each morning totally rested, though I'd only slept a few hours. My room opened to the magnificent garden tended with loving care by Hatue the mother of Eiko and grandmother to the three children. Shauntauro (16), Mai (12) and Mana (11). Hatue, and I found much in common, even though we could not speak the others language we had no trouble communicating. We took walks in the garden, and she told me about some of her family and clothing and life. She even introduced me to her women's group. One day she bought out a record player that looked ladybug. I had seen them years ago and was surprised to see she had one. Not as surprised as I was when she put on a record of her favorite song A song from her high school years, at 17, a song she shared and danced to with her future husband. The "Tennessee Waltz".

The children....I totally immersed myself in this wonderful family, Mai, (meaning Japanese dance) is the ~: quiet one, her father says he will be happy when she learns the computer in school, for she is a poet, and writes many poems for her own enjoyment, and he hopes someday she will write for the world. Lovely and graceful, and she makes a great pizza!

Mana (means Love) love of life, love of laughter, love of movement. A bundle of bounce and giggles. My shadow. Mana took it as her duty to see that I was on time for everything, and also that I would not get too homesick. Laughter should be her middle name.

Shauntaro, like most high school students is always busy. He has a very long day. He was accepted at a prestigious school and passed some very tough exams. He is also on the track team. His favorite singer is Hide' (Heeda) and he listens to her records and falls asleep in the car, and is a great kid.

Toshio,my friend, I found out that he loves everything about space....like me. He has a real planetarium in the back yard and a telescope in the house, but sad for me the run came and the viewing did not. With Eiko gone on Sunday it was Toshio's duty to be my guide around Naka His two friends and nephew, and Takataka and her English teacher accompanied us.

To the pottery factory where the Master Pottery friend set all of us up in clay to mold and shape. I was amazed at Shauntaro and his cousin, and how focused they were at the craft. Then I was invited to watch the Master Potter and try my hand. What a,hoot of a good tune. On to a reshow, the Pacific Ocean and the Aquarium. What a wonderful day. My host and his friends gave me a day I shall always cherish.

Farewell....No one could describe the wonderful welcome luncheon, so it would be impossible to tell of the Farewell Banquet The singing of ancient songs, the dancing,the food, but most of all our wonderful new friends as well as the friends we made over the years. Hollywood could have not made it more perfect.

And to end all, Patti Page singing the "Tennessee Waltz", I requested that Toshio dance with me, the cameras clicked away the evening. A magical moment in a magical week of a thousand memories. Our families wanted to show us the best Naka has to offer. The best they have to offer is the warm and wonderful people who made us feel welcome.

Thank you my friends, and love from America.

Several aspects of the visit stand out—first the food. Most of us actually lost weight on the visit, although we were fed constantly. And it was an obvious fact that we saw no overweight Japanese people (except for the Sumo wrestlers). A typical breakfast at the home of my host family, Hiroko and Yosimitsu Watakiki, consisted of a large bowl of rice, a bowl of bean soup with kelp, cut up fresh pears, tomatoes and cucumbers, thin slices of a variety of raw fish, yogurt with blueberry jam, orange juice and green tea each food served on its own small plate. Of course I ate with chopsticks, rather clumsily to be sure.

Another aspect I enjoyed was the home in which I stayed, with the beautiful rice paper screens on all the walls and sliding doors, the shining floors and tatami mats maintained to perfection because we did not wear our shoes inside, the low tables and cushions at which we sat for eating and visiting. There were very few decorations, but all were simple and elegant.

My host, Yosimitsu, had 6 years of English in school, but very little spoken English, so we communicated by my writing out my questions and comments in block letters on a pad, and he looked them up in his excellent dictionary which gave him the phonetic English words. We actually got pretty good at it, and I learned a good deal about him and his family. He is a civil servant working for Ibaraki Prefecture at the nearby capital, Mito (there are 47 Prefectures in Japan—equivalent to our states) . His wife, Hiroko, works part time at a local supermarket, while their 20 year old son goes to the university and is in the Army reserve. His daughter is a chef in a Chinese restaurant in Yokahama. As she said, "Japanese cook, strong." Hiroko is an avid gardener, although her space for gardening is very small. She grows her own tomatoes, cucumbers, other vegetables, and many flowers and bonsai trees, all in pots in the small patio outside their home.

Naka-Machi, a town of 48,000 on the Naka River, is hardly on a map of Japan, because it is the result of the merger in 1955 of a small town and 6 villages. They call themselves the "Shining Town" and their flower is the sunflower. Their mayor, Chikaaki Oyake, greeted us on our arrival, and did many things with our group during our stay. The city is blessed with much flat land, (unlike much of Japan), so not only is there much fresh fish from the river, but local agricultural products include yams, leeks, pumpkins, rice and sake. The town is also home to a fusion energy laboratory set up by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. We were all impressed by the beautiful town hall, and the new community center and library. The Town Council meets only four times a year for several days at a time. But they have as goals for their community to keep the public informed with substantive accurate information, and are now looking for ways to promote more participation in government affairs on the part of the town's women by supporting women's groups and putting more emphasis on women's issues. There are two women on the city council. They are also working very hard to "plan events and symposia that will bring the town's neighborhoods and generations together in dialogue, in the hope of supporting community activities around the concept of Naka-machi as our hometown."

They are very proud to be our sister city.

One day in our short stay was given to sightseeing with our host families. My family drove me to Mito where we saw the building in which Yosimitsu worked, just downstairs from the governor. We then visited the Museum of Modern Art, which included examples of Picasso, Miro, Van Gogh, and others, but I enjoyed more the Japanese scroll paintings. After a huge Japanese lunch which looked like a work of art, with a small trellis graced by an orchid in one corner of the tray, we went on to Kairaku-En, a celebrated garden built in 1842 by the ninth Lord of Mito, one of the Shoguns. Included in the garden are thousands of plum trees, and bamboo. The associated buildings seem to grow out of the hillsides; simple and serene inside, with magnificent views of the gardens, stone lanterns, and forests beyond from every room. We then visited Kodokan, also founded by the ninth Lord of Mito in 1841, a school to provide higher education. The mottoes of Kodokan, were the harmony of Shinto (religion of the imperial family) and Confucianism (doctrine adhered to by the samurai or warrior class), and the learning of scholastic and military arts. It was a wonderful day, ending with a glorious celebration and banquet at the Community Center with all the host families, city officials, and members of the sister city organization.

My main reactions to my visit were my abysmal ignorance, not only of the Japanese language, but of the country's history, and the basis of its customs. My other feeling was of a warm and generous group of people who want to make contact with us, and from whom we have much to learn.

As I think back on this brief visit to Japan, I am struck with two things—first, my abysmal ignorance of Japanese history and the basis for its customs, and second, my gratitude to the many people who went so far out of their way to make our trip a delightful experience. We will have an opportunity to enjoy 14 Naka-Machi women who plan to come to Oak Ridge in November.

Oak Ridge Women Visit Naka-machi, Japan
September 23 to 30, 1998
Marese Nephew
Ten women from the Oak Ridge Sister City Support Organization traveled to Naka-machi, Japan in September 1998 and enjoyed our first home stay visit. Did we have a good times

The city of Naka is very involved in the Naka International Exchange Association; the mayor of Naka is the president of the association and personnel of the city Plar~ng Office as well as the Secretary's Office are board members of the Association. The main body of members of the association, however, are private citizens of Naka-machi from all walks of life. They are a wonderful lot

At our welcome party the day after our arrival, we found the meeting hall decorated with symbols of the seasons, flowers, flags and a huge welcome banner. The home-made food was delicious, the company superb. The best treat, however, was the friendly welcoming attitude, the joy in every face from meeting friends from a far away sister city. Most of the private members of the association appear to be women, but they had invited all council persons, the majority being men.

On the last day the host of the going-home party was the City of Naka; a catered feast was offered, we were treated to traditional Japanese music with drum, flute and singing. The choir* sang folk songs and the chairman of the city council proved to be an excellent soloist. Less artfully but with much good will we women from Oak Ridge sang the Sister City Song written by John Denver. A duet by a Japanese lady on the piano and our Oak Ridge lady on the cello rounded out the performance to much applause. The families of all hosts were invited, it was quite a crowd. We envied the city its facilities, roomy, clean, well appointed and apparently often used. The Naka people spontaneously started their City dance, a type of line dance oriental style and they invited us to join, which we did. It is not easy to learn the choreography the first time around, but when you have a Japanese neighbor in the lane next to you and you can observe his or her movements, the second round is much better and in the third you almost feel you can do it. Whether you are good or not, it is fun.

That was one of the surprising experiences I had: how natural, friendly and fun-loving our hosts were, the private ones as well as the City officials. See the Mayor line dance! In a kimono! And smiles Hear the chairman of the Council sing! And have the whole community join *n dancing!

For nature lovers like me there was a special treat when we were taken by bus to Nikko, a national park northwest of Naka-machi on our second full day. The neatly tended rice fields, now harvested, some of the rice still curing upside-down in small bundles hanging from fang rods, some bundled like small tents similar to the grain stacks of my youth in Germany. Along the rushing streams groves of bamboo, and climbing the steep hills deep woods of Japanese cedars, light green, dark green. Near the shrine of Toshogu we admired trees of a size that rival the ones in our national forests. The shrine itself was a treat of traditional Japanese architecture of the early Edo period, richly decorated, well kept by a religious order but open to everyone. We climbed many, many steps, the shrine is built on the side of a steep mountain.

Then there was the fabulous waterfall, Kegon Falls, hidden behind a curtain of fog. But we got a postcard with its picture on it! The roads leading through the national park are quite an engineering feat; we were driven around about switchback curves, yet the natural contours of the mountain side seemed hardly disturbed.

But the best part of our home stay visit was being with a private family and feeling welcome in their home. My family consists of Yasusato and Ayako Asakawa, whom we had met before, and their son's family, Kioshi Asakawa and his wife Momoyo and their children Munenori and Noriko. They live in a newly rebuilt home that has a separate part for the parents. The house is mostly in the traditional Japanese style and worthy of a more detailed description at another occasion. Everybody joined in showing me a good time; Yasusato showed many pictures he took on his and Ayako's world ravels, Kioshi cooked one meal, curry, and Monoyo and Ayako all the others. The food also deserves a separate full description, tasty, beautifully served, nutritionally well balanced.

I made friends with Noriko, the seven-year old daughter. She was very shy at first but after practicing some English words with her she played the piano and then shared her little treasures with me and we communicated quite well. She has the biggest, reddest satchel and a yellow hat, and the sweetest smile on her face. She learned to swim by the crawl stroke recently and is proud of being a strong young girl. Tears were flowing when I said good-bye. I wrote her a letter after I got home and hope to hear from her. Friends in a sister city, that's what our effort is all about.

I am staying with Mitsue, a divorced woman whose two daughters are living in Tokyo. She is an architect and owns her business (called THE LIGHTHOUSE) and has a construction company as well. We drive around a bit to see some of the apartments and houses her company has underway. After she picks me up at the town hall, we go home for dinner (at 10 pm.!). She has 3 guests, Minoro and Keiko; he is a veterinarian and can speak English, who explains to me, for example, how to use the bathroom(s) and toilet (washlet), and Eiko, Mitsue's best friend, who have been waiting for hours as our plane was so late. We sit at the table and cook sukiyaki, dip the meat, noodles, mushrooms, onion in raw egg, we also have tempura and salad. It is delicious but I find myself wishing for hunger.

My bedroom, alone on the top floor, has a Western style bed with a buckwheat pillow. I feel a slight tremor as I lie on my bed. Mitsue’s and another room are on a level below, and the living room. dining (Tatami room), kitchen and baths are on the main floor.

We change into different slippers for almost every room (but none for the tatami room), even into outside-slippers which we wear in the morning for breakfast in the garden. The bathroom(s) are very beautiful in this house. All glass on one side and a door leading to a garden with rocks and trees, where one could fill a large pool and bathe al-fresco! I never have time for this, tho, so use the soaking tub in the huge indoor bathroom. A quick shower and shampoo in the morning has to suffice. A different room for the "washlet" and a tiny sink. I should mention that, of course, Mitsue had designed her own house! Beautiful.

Friday morning: As I am writing in my journal, the house shakes for about 4 seconds (seems longer) I think that Mitsue has shut a door with a bang, but as the shaking goes on, I realize that we are having a little earthquake. Only Diantha and I experience this sensation (plus a rooster crowing at 3 a.m.), so we know we are living close by. Breakfast is enormous: omelet, bread, coffee, fish, bacon, asparagus, a salad of lettuce and tomatoes, Italian dressing. yogurt. Delicious.. I have a good appetite again. Mitsue goes on to work after dropping me at the town hall where I am reunited with our fellow "sister-citiers", have a

tour of the Town Hall with the mayor and the chairman (both very charming and enthusiastic men), then to JAERI (Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute) for a talk and movie on Fusion Energy (the words sound familiar to most of us!). The head of JAERI had lived in Oak Ridge for a year 15 years ago and I had taught English to his wife, Ritsiko. He calls her, but she is playing tennis! Too bad! We tour The St. Mary's school for the international children whose parent(s) work at JAERI temporarily. Twelve children, four teachers. Only two of the children were from the same country (same family); the teachers were from England, Australia, U.S. and Japan.

Back to Town Hall where I am 'almost' sorry I'd had that sumptuous breakfast after all! The Japanese "wings" women have prepared so much (and such good) food for our lunch! Many town officials are present including all of the city council, so it is an occasion for speeches, presentations (Marese presented the tiles that my friend, Jeannie Cole, had been commissioned to do to commemorate this visit). We eat (and eat). We learn Japanese calligraphy, Japanese Tea Ceremony, followed by the "rice pounding" which evokes many photo ops, laughter, and interest. Back upstairs where this now pasty-gummy sweet was formed into balls and rolled with various concoctions, some of which were enjoyed but not all. Regardless of how well or not-so-well loved these new tastes are, none of us are at all hungry! Ooops! A trip to the new (yesterday) Sony plant for CDs is next on the agenda. Very impressive. Have to put booties on our shoes for the tour, so sterile is this place.

Mitsue picks me up, our friend tells me that Mitsue wants to know if I'd like to go to a sushi or Chinese restaurant. I choose Chinese. I know what Chinese is in the U.S., right? I don't take into consideration that the menus are written in Japanese. nor that the waiters don't speak English. Fine. I only want a little soup. Should be easy; ask for hot and sour soup. Blank looks. O.K. Wonton? O.K., wonton. Get a strange mixture of wonton soup with some vinegar. pepper, mushrooms, etc. They have tried their best to make the kind of soup I want. Who knows, maybe we have made a unique and desirable one that will be added to their menu next year! We go home and get on the phone. Mitsue is planning a "barbecue" in my honor for Saturday night. I mention that I think a few of my former students might live nearby, and that I had learned in the U.S. how to use my calling card to call city-to-city in Japan. She misunderstands, thinks I want to call home, which I do not, Dick is out with friends, I know, and besides, I have no idea what time it is in Oak Ridge, about 11 hours difference, I think. She calls the two Japanese numbers I give her. Tomoko and Ikuot, my students for two years, the Iokas live only 10 minutes away! Not even a toll call! Mitsue invites them to the barbecue and then immediately calls Yoko and Ken, who live 30 minutes away. They, too, are invited to the party. If I'd only known, there are many more of my former students who live nearby and as neither food nor space seem to be a problem they would probably have been invited as well.

Breakfast again the next morning (Saturday) is eagerly consumed. Oh, Barbara! Our bus leaves at 7 a.m. for Nikko, where we see (no, hear, too foggy) a lovely falls, tour the temple of the first samurai, have lunch (choose Japanese style), back to Naka, time to have tea ceremony, this time at a public place. and then am picked up by Mitsue and Eiko, in aprons, having worked all day, preparing the many foods for the barbecue. Many people come and go to this barbecue which has to be held indoors as it is inclement weather (quite) and I shall probably recall all of the people I meet only in my dreams as but one young man speaks a little English. The identities and connections of the others will remain an enigma. Thank goodness for Tomoko and Ikuo, Yoko and Ken, who arrive with pictures and memories and, I must say, VERY good English! They stay in touch with other students with whom they had shared their time in Oak Ridge and go on vacations together!

Sunday is our day to be with our host families so after breakfast (again delightful), we clean house a bit and I with Mitsue, Eiko, and an interpreter (whose house Mitsue had designed) travel to Kasama which is famous for pottery. On the way we stop at a "coffee house". No coffee, but ocha, ceremonial foamy tea, some kind of transparent noodles with sea weed, very salty and mustardy, a yellow-colored chestnut (looks like an egg yolk) on top, a challenge to eat with chopsticks! A sweet something on the side. I do not like ceremonial tea. Ocha. The owner, an older(!) man, says he thinks I am a movie actress from Paramount Studios. Hmmm. Perhaps he thinks all American women are movie actresses from Paramount Studios.

We then go to do a little pottery ourselves which is to be fired at a later time and brought to Oak Ridge in November. Back home, I dress, and Mitsue packs her kimono and gear and we are off for the beauty salon to be kimono-fitted (Mitsue) and for me a shampoo and hair styling for the farewell ceremony. What a treat, this shampoo.. so gentle and which includes a little neck and shoulder massage. The farewell ceremony at Yoshino Hall is a lovely event, singing, dancing, eating, photos, speeches. Again great food.

Monday morning has to come and Mitsue and I part, all of us teary-eyed as we wait for the bus to take us to the hotel in Tokyo. Our hosts, including the mayor and the lady "wings", all come to see us off, and Keiko, Yasuo, and Tomoko accompany us to Tokyo, pit-stops carefully arranged, and well-timed. Lunch at the Tokyo Bayoasis, the bridge goes over the bay to the center of it where you may then either enter a tunnel and go 40 meters under the bay for the remainder of the expanse of the bay (this is to enable large ships to enter the harbor). We stop for lunch by entering a different lane and climbing high above for a spectacular view of the entire bay (huge!). Not wanting to leave us at the hotel early, our solicitous hosts take us to a Buddhist temple where we enjoy a service, very beautiful, drumresounding-forever, chanting. Fire, taking our need for worldly goods upward, profound and meaningful. We are very sad to have our last connection with Naka leave us, but they have spent a long day with us again, and we wish them a good journey home.

Tuesday morning and we are on a previously-planned tour of Tokyo by bus with an English speaking guide. He tells us "how grateful the Japanese were to American women as the American soldiers did not pillage and rape after WW II, that MacArthur was revered as a God or an emperor; he could have fooled around with any number of women, but he only fooled around with his wife."

Carolyn, Shirley and I splurge on our last night and have Sukiyaki made at our table by a lovely little waitress-cook. It is good, but I shouldn't have. I have eaten too much on this trip. Slim Fast for me?

Time now for memories, the flurry of activities in Naka, the enthusiastic energies of our hosts and hostesses, the excellent driving! The lovely way children are treated; the friends we have made, some of whom we shall see again, very soon; my Mitsue and Eiko will be here with the "wings" ladies (and one gentleman) on the 6th of November! So the friendship of the Sister City continues and grows, involving more and different people each visit.

The hospitality of the Women’s Wings of Naka was beyond imagination. They arranged a beautiful welcome luncheon complete with extensive decorations and individual gifts. This was followed by instruction in calligraphy, demonstrations of the Japanese tea ceremony and tempura cooking, as well as their folk custom of pounding rice into rice cakes (similar to dumplings, only sweet). They also arranged local tours of their city hall; JAERI (the Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute, where fusion research is being carried on); the small private school for children of JAERI scientists; and a brand new SONY factory that had gone into production of CDs only one day earlier.

The city provided a large van, and we were transported to the Shinto shrine at Nikko, a national monument, where an early influential shogun is entombed. Before being returned to our host families that evening, we were guests of the mayor at a tea ceremony (thank goodness we knew what to expect and how to act, having been carefully instructed the previous day.)

One day was set aside to enjoy our host families, doing whatever we saw fit, followed that evening by the Sayonara Party, another elaborate affair, which had been prepared by the Women’s Wings. Food was delicious, decorations were lovely, and the women in their kimonos were exquisite. There was also traditional Japanese entertainment, singing by the Naka women, an attempt at singing by our group, and folk dancing. And more gifts for each of us.

Departure morning saw a huge crowd of host families, city officials, and Women's Wings members. Everyone hated to be saying sayonara! Once again, more gifts for us. We came home with much more than when we had arrived.

Naka's van transported us to Tokyo. Since our check-in time was not until midafternoon, they planned yet another side trip--this to a Hindu temple near Yokohama (and we learned about "holy smoke"). The two days in Tokyo provided us with an overview and incentive to return for a really good look.

Each of us, before the trip, had been asked about food preferences, and to a person, Japanese food had been requested. With ten of us in ten different homes, we had great fun comparing what we’d eaten and how we got along with chopsticks. Foods were beautifully presented and delicious, from sushi to octopus to shabu shabu to seaweed to exotic fruits that we've not seen here. And salad for breakfast!

We sat on the floor (on cushions), slept on the floor (on futons, surprisingly comfortable), watched a little TV (baseball and sumo wrestling and bilingual news), and conversed by means of body language, dictionaries, and pointing. All of our hosts had a lot more English than we had Japanese, having had English instruction for many years in school but conversational experience they had not bad.

This was without a doubt an unforgettable experience. We can only hope to show a fraction of the warm hospitality extended to us when a group of Naka women will be visiting Oak Ridge in early November.

Pat Clark
Some Impressions of a Visit to Naka-machi, Japan

My two hosts families, the Asanos and the Gunjis, where I spent one night when the Asanos took their two-year-old son to Disneyland near Tokyo, were so warm, sincere, and hospitable. I will never forget my first view of the Asanos. We had arrived late (our plane had been late) to the city hall where the host families waited. On the edge of the crowd, I spotted Sanae and her husband, Kazu, who held Mockey, their two-year-old. I went to them immediately. My visit really became a family affair, as my young hosts lived behind his parents home and his mother was in frequently, and Sanae’s parents came over to meet me. Her sweet father brought three tee shirts for me to choose one to bring home to my husband. I was fortunate in that my hosts, Sanae and Kazu, being young, had had English in High School and college. Although they had a reading-grammar knowledge, they found conversational English more difficult, so Kazu kept his dictionary handy. (Would that my Japanese were as good!) To have their son fluent in English, they play tapes of English songs. Strains of "She’ll be coming round the mountain," Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah," and "Pop Goes the Weasel," met me when I arrived. Winnie, the Pooh books, in English, were also visible.

The Gunjis, where Shirley Bayles was staying, were wonderful to me the night I shared with them. At supper Keiko and her husband, their three daughters, and his mother were Shirley’s and my dinner companions. In addition to my host families, I really feel as though I have warm friends in Naka as all our host ladies were marvelous to us.

I was impressed with the beautiful homes of both host families. The Asanos’ house is only two-years old and already Sanae has planted a lovely garden.

The City

Like the founders of Oak Ridge (the U.S. Army), the Japanese government pulled three villages together to make a city, but unlike Oak Ridge (which was built in secrecy for a wartime project), Maka-machi’s villages and supporting farmland are still intact, as is its population--not removed but added to. It is still with regret that I ponder how the Oak Ridge communities of Scarboro, Wheat, and Robertsville looked before we came, because the army bulldozed nearly everything. My young host family’s home is bordered by a vegetable garden with farm fields adjacent.

In addition to the National Lab, JERI, Naka-machi now has a division of Sony, which we visited the day after it’s opening. The city hall is quite large; my young host, Kazu, works there in agricultural promotion! I could not find the city on any map. It seems that there are several Naka-machis in Japan so one has to give the province also. Our Naka-machi is in Ibaraki province.

Page maintained by
  Ken Luckmann & Nina Petrov & Ken Namiki
Your Comments are welcome!