Japan Travel Adventures
In previous post on Christmas Eve, I mentioned that sometime God sent angels in the form of friends to help us in our journey through life especially when we traveled the road alone. Although there are more stories of my personal encounters with angels in America, I would do it some other time. Today let’s move on to a different country, and this time the encounters were in Japan.
In 1982 I received a
research grant by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to do
research on skills formation among the blue-collar workers in Japan. At the time, Japan was at its economic
height in terms of her rise in the global market share of automobile and
electronic industries. My research
proposal was to study the skills formation method for labor in automobile
related industries. It was very
kind of Professor Odaka from Hitosubashi University who accepted invitation to
be my host scientist at the time of the grant application. He hooked me up with people in the
industries and academics for this research, and assisted with scheduling visits
at factories. Together with
another colleague from the Thai University I taught, visiting professor Adashi,
Professor Odaka arranged for visits to the Japan Institute of Labor, and
universities in Nagoya, and Kyoto in addition to Tokyo.
As I mentioned, at the
time of the five-week visit, Japan and especially Tokyo was bustling with trade
activities because of auto shows that were going on. It was hard to find accommodations even with JSPS’ generous
stipend for me. At the time, there
was a new PHD graduate from University of Hawaii that came to our faculty as a
professor and my new friend. She
was an answer to my prayer for accommodation in this short work visit to
Japan. Her nickname, Ying, which
is often a name for lady of the royal bloodline; she was an intelligent yet
very gracious and gentle young lady.
Her father had been a former Ambassador from Thailand to Japan, and it
was a fortunate coincidence for me that she happened to go to Japan the same time
as I, but for a different purpose.
When she heard that I had difficulty getting a hotel reservation, she
graciously invited me to join her to stay at the beginning of the visit at the Royal
Thai Ambassador’s residence!! She
was a heaven sent friend indeed!
When we arrived at the Ambassador’s
Residence, I was awestruck to see that the residence was actually a castle,
right in the middle of Tokyo where property square footage was very expensive
or big plot of land was rare. The castle used to be the residence of Japan
noble family, Mr. Mumon Hamaguchi, who was the adopted son of Mr.
Fukishi Fukuzawa, founder of Keio University. He was well known as a connoisseur of arts and antiques and
decorated the castle with arts and furnishing in French Louis Dynasty style, and
Imperial Chinese art works. I was
told that the brother of the last Emperor of China used to live there, and sure
enough I found out from the Embassy website that confirms the story. The website reports that “One of Mr.
Hamaguchi’s nieces, Lady Hiro, was married to Prince Fuketsu Aishinkakura, the
younger brother of the last Emperor of the Ching Dynasty of China who later
became the Emperor of Manchukuo (Manchuria). The couple temporarily
resided at this mansion before moving to Manchuria.” The Thai government was able to obtain and purchase this
priceless property probably because of its close affinity with Japan at the
time.
Well, in conclusion, this
is not an ordinary stay of a weary traveler: I was a guest in a place where
noble men and women, even the Royalties stayed!!! Who would have imagined that I, a humble citizen had an
opportunity to use the exquisitely designed (not sure if it’s French or Greek)
bath room that was used by Crown Princess of Thailand when she came to visit
Japan!! It was a surreal
experience!!!
See link to Website of The Thai Embassador's Castle in Tokyo
The stay lasted a few
days with my angel friend, who took me shopping in some special department
stores that the embassy people frequented. I bought quite a few beautiful silk blouses, which looked
new for a very long time, and one I still have to these days.
After a few days of
shopping spree, my young lady professor friend and I parted when she traveled
on to another country. I found
hotel accommodation, and started working for my research project. Since this trip was to conduct studies
of Japanese blue-collar workers and their skills formation, I started by
visiting the Department of Labor.
My host professor gave me names of people to contact, and before leaving
Thailand I had written letters asking for appointments with several people in
Tokyo including Mr. Hirota, the Director of the Research of this Department of
Labor.
Surprised By Joy!
When I went to the
Department, they had me wait in the reception area since something came up
related to work, and Mr. Hirota was not there to meet me at the time of
appointment. I was waiting there
for may be more than half an hour, reading magazines. I was getting impatient and worried that I would not be able
to get the information I need for the project. Then I looked up, and saw some one that looked so very
familiar walked by the room. It
was another pleasant surprise! It was Mr. Hiroshi!! The last time I saw him was two years before at the
Presbyterian Church in Bangkok that my husband and his whole clan were members;
we were just friends then. I
called out to him, “Mr. Hiroshi!”
He looked at me, but did not remember that we met when he was the Labor attaché
from Japan in Thailand. At the
time, Japan companies had factories in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Mr. Hiroshi was a diplomat in matters relating
to labor relations in a foreign country outside of Japan. He was a Christian, which was a bit
rare at the time to find a Japanese Christian, in Thailand at least. He was a church friend in Thailand, and
my husband and his late wife used to entertain him quite a few times before. By this time, my husband, a widower and
I were married but Mr. Hiroshi did not know since he was reassigned back to
home in Japan. I only met Mr.
Hiroshi a couple of times at the Thai Church in Bangkok so he could not
remember me. He asked who I was
and the purpose of my visit, and when he knew that I was the new wife of my late
husband, unbeknown to me, he went to work right away to connect me with two
church families!
He invited me first to
stay at his apartment, with his wife and two children, a pre-teen daughter and
a little four-year-old son. It was
a very pleasant stay Japanese working family style. Then he took me to his little church on Sunday--with
preaching all in Japanese. Of
course, I did not understand a word!
But it was good warm congregation.
He arranged for me to stay at the home of a church elder, who was a
children book publisher. He and
his wife had grown up children, and they looked after me as if I were one of
his children. He told me that my
name means alligator in Japanese, and gave me children books that he published
as souvenirs. After the delicious
b-b-q fish with fresh and pickled vegetable, it was time for a bath, Japanese
style, which meant taking scoops of hot shower from the bucket before dipping
into the big piping hot family bathtub.
Aahhh….very soothing indeed..
After the awesome bath, I
was shown where to sleep. It was
in the living room on the floor with fluffy white comforter and futon Japanese
style. Under the ambiance of the
nightlight, I went through the children books that my host gave me. It was peaceful and calm; this reminded
me of my mom who used to read stories from Chinese children books to us.. I felt like a little child. I felt the
warmth and safety of a home, as if I were in the house of my own grandpa and
grandma I never met in real life.
It was easy for me to fall asleep there after looking at pictures in the
children storybooks.
Getting to Work in Japan
The next morning, I had
an appointment to visit one of the automobile part factories, so my host sent
me to meet with my colleague to catch a train to the factory situated somewhere
between Tokyo and Yokohama City.
He was amused that I carried my alligator purse and brief case with me, matching
the Japanese translation of my name!
Interpreter-Dr. David Merriman, Colleague-Dr. Lily K., & Yours Truly
End Result of the Project-A Research Paper
On the Train, In the Back Street, More Angels Guiding My Way
There were more visits to different
factories, and my mean of transportation was by sub-way and trains. I did not know Japanese, although some
of the Japanese characters were like Chinese, which helped me a little bit to remember the names
of some train stations. Most
Japanese in the general population in Tokyo did not speak or understand English
at the time, so traveling to different places of appointment was a challenge,
but I survived each time. There
was one time that I was not sure I was taking the right train or not. When I stepped into a packed train, suddenly
my eye met a lady, and I recognized right away that she was the librarian at
the Labor Department. So I asked
her how to get to my place of appointment, and she was able to tell me which
train to catch next!
Another time, I already got off the train,
but was not sure about the direction to the factory of the next visit. A gentleman that walked by figured that
I needed help, and asked me in English, if I was lost and where I wanted to
go. It happened he was one of the
Board Member of a Non-profit labor organization affiliated with international
labor union so he could speak English.
Who would guess that in a city of millions of people in this busy
non-English speaking city, there were people that appeared out of the blue, and
could assist me to show me the way in English?
Work and Enjoyment with My Personal Angel
After the Tokyo visit, the next stop was
Nagoya, and near by where most companies that were affiliated with Toyota, and Nissan
were situated. Two out of my three
case studies were from this area. My Japanese colleague, visiting Professor
Adashi was the host there together with his friend, Professor Kuramitzu. At the end of the Nagoya visit, my dear
husband came to join me, and went with me to Kyoto, where I interviewed Professor
Koike at Kyoto University while he was free to visit the cultural landmarks. This visit is a little more laid-back,
with more opportunities for adventure and visit to culturally significant places. With my husband with me, I was
adventurous enough now to stay in a charming little inn that we found along the
way in Kyoto. The inn looked to me
like a scene in my high school play: “Tea House
Although I forgot about
most of the work aspects of this visit, the memories of surprising elements of
the loving care of God and his earthly angels, including my late husband,
forever imprinted in my mind. These
memories helped in continuing strong in my journey through life of faith, even
when there were heavyweight-sized trials that I encountered every now and
then.
I hope the stories of this
adventure encourage you to be strong as well, my friends…
No comments:
Post a Comment