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Letter 4
Thursday 15.08.13
Nori and I are going to Tokyo today, to sort out some loose ends. But
first I've promised to go with
them to the grave of the ancestors. That's been done within a period
each year - and tomorrow is the
last day. Grandmother is coming too, but his mother is working.
First we go to the supermarket to buy some good stuff for the ancestors.
It's purely symbolic, the
things will be taken back home and eaten. At the entrance of the
graveyard we collect two wooden
buckets and spoons.
They havn't been here since last year and are amused by the small tree,
that has grown big since then.
The gravestone is cleaned carefully with water so the marble shines.
When the cleaning is done the "goods" are placed in front of the stone
and each in turn bows to the
ancestors, me too, Nori thinks it will bring luck. One hold a praying
circle between the hands - and
think whatever one think. It's too much for the grandmother. When she's
getting up she's overwhelmed
by crying so that she nearly falls over but Nori's father and I get a
grip in each of her arms.
She's actually not the fathers real mother, she's the second wife of the
grandfather. It's only the
grandfather and his first wife that's "lying" here. The previous
ancestors are in Hokkaido from
where the grandfather originates.
Everything is cleaned and washed
When the ceremony is over, we go back home. Nori and I are dropped in
Torido Station, from where there's a train to Tokyo, where we change to
the circle line and end up somewhere in the middle of Tokyo.
It's hard to talk about one center, says Nori. The programme is: bicycle
bag, battery for my watch,
cash money (I had 45.000 Y with me from Denmark, but I want to see that
the cashing works and have some extra before going to Hokkaido), wi-fi
and having someone to look at my camera. I think it nice to experience
Tokyo from this practical angle.
But first we go up some tower with a great view over Tokyo, the view is
really amazing, but it's
(not surprizingly) hazy, so the Fuji Mountain cannot be seen. But one
sees this mingle of high houses,
skyscrapers and traditional low houses, that is special for Tokyo.
View over Tokyo
Then we eat at some small highly efficient place, that Nori prefer,
because you here also get Miso-soup
with the meal. It's a chain, so I hope to find it somewhere else. We sit
in a rectangular room with
a "counter" on three edges facing the "corridor" in the middle where a
waiter run back and forth with
dishes and orders. Before that we tried with no luck to find a McDonalds,
cause they should have wi-fi.
But we did it was only for customers with a certain network.
Then we find the watch house. They really have watches in every floor.
Repairs are in the basement.
After that we succeed finding a bicycle bag that's so big that only the
front wheel needs to be taken
off. So now I should be able to get on a train!!!
At Starbuck it says they have free wi-fi, so I offer a cup of coffee
while I try. Unfortunately
one has to open a link that's sent in an email - and I cannot get to my
mail before I'm at the net....
I don't know what they're thinking....?
But they's a solution to this. Nori get, by the help of a computer
somewhere else in the street, a
login, and I used that to get my own login.... So now I have to drink
coffee for the rest of the trip.
Starbucks should be in every city in Japan.
After this succesfull trip we're home at 20.30 and Nori's father picks
us up at the station.