Destinations
A ’Friendship Mission’ to Japan, with locals welcoming Canadian visitors into their homes, was a trip to remember
To celebrate our retirement in 1992, my husband Reg and I joined a Friendship Mission group travelling to Japan. It was led by one Laverna Saloum, who had headed the mission to Japan for 28 years, held in April every year to coincide with the cherry-blossom festival season. Part of the group was from our hometown. It was planned that we would be billeted with Japanese hosts but tour as a group to destinations such as Fukuoka, Tokyo, the beautiful baths in the Suginoi Hotel, the town of Yoshino with its narrow streets on a mountain top, Beppu and Kyoto. We were to bring each of our hosts gifts. The “Canada” ball caps that Reg brought were a big hit.
One of our homestay people owned karaoke bars, which were a big hit. I sang with the ukulele I had slung over my shoulder throughout the trip, and the group from our town were fellow entertainers, so we entertained one and all with song and dance: one of the favourite songs being “All Around the World.”
Our favourite homestay was with the Gotos in Atsuma, Hokkaido, in the north. Our hometown and theirs were twin-towned many years ago, because so many features of our respective locales are alike. But we were nevertheless amazed when we got off the bus and were met with greetings from the mayor and celebrity treatment from the local media. We were wined and dined, given tours of government buildings and honoured at tea ceremonies, where we all knelt and received our tea from ladies in their formal kimonas. We were also asked to speak before them and entertain, to which we happily obliged.
Our initial hosts— the Gotos— were the only school teachers in their teacherage who spoke English very well; our other hosts often struggled to understand and talk to us. Thankfully, we had the services of Hiromi, an interpreter who was very talented and experienced at providing this vital link between cultures. We grew to become good friends with many of our hosts. We laughed
and joked with them, and, a year or two later, we had the pleasure of having some of them stay as our guests back home in Canada. Very conscientious, Hiromi did not think she was so talented and wished to know more. Her English, she said, was “not good” and she brought out a thick book of English idioms to get our help with them. She wanted to know which were obsolete, out of date or simply not used anymore, such as “Make haste.” After analyzing our language, I realized why the Japanese had such a difficult time with our expressions—particularly jokes, for which my husband, the joker, was known to spring on people unexpectedly. As we relaxed and became friends, Hiromi’s husband, Fuyuki, began to enjoy Reg and his jokes, even though he had to struggle to understand them sometimes. Imagine yourself being Japanese—and very literal—and you hear the following one-liners: “Families are like fudge— mostly sweet with a few nuts.” Or “A closed mouth gathers no feet.” Or “I could have been a snowboarder this winter, but I had stomach trouble—no guts!” Who wouldn’t be confused?
When I started reading Hiromi’s book of idioms, I realized that our speech is filled with idioms—especially our jokes. Here are a few that inevitably lead to confusion for those whose mother tongue is not English: we were floored, under the gun, take a rain-check, foot the bill, having a change of heart, putting on the dog, and the list goes on. And yet, even though he looked puzzled sometimes, Fuyuki wanted Reg to save his jokes until they got to Canada so he could really enjoy them. They loved Canada and even named their daughter, born the following year, Kanako, which means Canada.
They don’t have much fondness for sweets in Japan: their “dessert” at the end of a meal consisted of a large bowl of rice. When I went shopping, I saw pictured in a café window a fluted glass, which looked like a sundae. I hurried in, pointed it out and my mouth watered until they brought it. I believe it was bean sauce, not chocolate, poured over something completely foreign to my taste, which definitely was not ice cream or whipped cream. I lectured myself about going through “sugar withdrawal” and later heard someone proclaim that “Real Japanese men don’t eat sweets.’’ No wonder they are so healthy!
Japan was amazingly clean and the people were polite, willing to learn and accepting, helpful, honest and patient. I shall remember forever the people we met, with great fondness.