So I've been in Japan over 2 years now...and it's funny the natural progression of how you observe life in the Japanese countryside as the the experience continues.
In the beginning it was the biggest, most obvious things that made me wide-eyed...the language, the food, the temples, the general atmosphere. But over time you begin to be amazed by the more subtle parts of the culture, all in finer detail. It used to be one whole day that I would look back on and break it down into smaller compartments that amazed me...the festival I saw, the weird thing I ate, that work party I went to. But recently these things are less immediately impressive and I've begun to look back at smaller, singular events, and break those down into smaller and smaller pieces until one 5-minute exchange has the same amount of sensory information and impact that a full day used to.
You begin to think less about the actual things that happen here, and more about the way that they are done. Today...the weather was great and I went out to just walk around the neighborhood down roads that I never checked out, and went into shops and places that I often overlooked.
On the way home I stopped to say hello at my student's family's place. It was the first time I just popped over unannounced but they demanded that I stop by anytime so I thought I had better obey.
The person who opened the door was the Grandmother, at least 80 years old (so, the exciting thing I'm going to talk about today is me talking to an old lady for 5 minutes. Yes, that's right. But she was awesome.). When she saw me her eyes widened and she immediately dropped what she had in her hands and fell to her knees and bowed as though I was the Emperor. She immediately began apologizing for the fact that my student and the rest of the family weren't home, but only her. She went off in more Japanese that I couldn't understand because the heightened level of respect she was showing me was reflected in the level of her spoken words. I tried speaking back at the same level but I just don't have the vocabulary, so the whole exchange was backwards...the elder, the matriarch of the whole household was bowing with her nose to the ground over and over, apologizing in the most formal of words for the fact that she was the only one home, while I was speaking in plain Japanese and not bowing as low as she, as that would have been physically impossible. She apologized and bowed over and over, berating herself for my own bad timing and throwing her heart out in the open.
I know it seems like nothing special but it really affected me for some reason. It wasn't the fact that I was just hanging out with an old Japanese lady that was unique, but instead the form and flow of the conversation and the overwhelming humility permeating the whole situation stood out the most. The form of the greetings, the way the apologies were given and the deepness of her bows were all done with such exacted grace and purpose. Form is in important word here, and style over substance is the rule of thumb.
On a random side note, as I was leaving for the walk I hung with a big snake who was squirming around outside my apartment. He was pretty big and cool looking, and I knew it wasn't a mamushi (Japanese viper, poison baddie) so I decided to get a closer look. I tried to move him so he didn't get squished but he got kinda peeved and started coiling and making mean "I totally wanna eat you" faces at me. Anyway we stared at each other for a couple minutes and then i picked him up and put him in the garden where there aren't little kids running around to scare.
Later I showed a picture to a Japanese friend and he was like "holy crap! did you touch that thing? you could die!" "uhh, i thought only mamushi were poisonous" i said. "yah, but also yamakagashi snakes, they have back fangs so they have a harder time getting their venom into you and they're not too aggressive, but those things are dangerous. geez, that's a big one. "
OK, so add that to the list of things that no one told me about, especially when I asked "ARE THERE POISONOUS THINGS AROUND HERE?". Nope, just mamushi and those huge centipede things, they said.
So, new note to self. Stop playing with poisonous beasts.
Here's my pissed off friend...
Here's some info I found about the snake. To you other JETs, avoid. It's not just mamushi. Yamakagashi also equals bad news:
"In Honshu don't step on the "
Mamushi" AKA the "Japanese pit viper" and the "
Yamakagashi" AKA the "Tiger Keelback". Both have lethal venom, but the Mamushi is the most likely to kill as it has front fangs and the Yamakagashi has rear fangs. Yamakagashi live around my house, but they are of little concern as they are quite gentle creatures. Mamushi are not so polite. You may be able to get anti-venom for Mamushi from a Police box (Koban) if there are many mamushi in that area, but best go straight to hospital. Yamakagashi anti-venom is only available from the Japan snake centre, but you will have more time to have that delivered."
If I start having dreams about cabbage and snakes and nice old ladies, it means it's time for another trip to Tokyo.
