Like Edna the XL-attitude diminutive fashion diva in The Incredibles, Masami and Hideaki only look forward; never back (“It distracts from the now.”). When they had to write a Christmas message about each year’s happenings, spontaneous remembrance sufficed. They just had to see sweet and bitter memories passing through their mind like a merry-go-round. Just as happened to the old-tale cobbler, after they hit the bed, dwarfs popped out of nowhere, and the next morning, voila, their year-end greetings were on the kitchen table, crisply printed out, ready to be sent out.This year, though, those kind busybodies didn’t ever seem to appear, leaving the hitherto carefree Hide-Sam high and dry. Push finally came to shove. They looked back.
When they looked back, the year 2004, it seemed, had already started in 2003, or even more before. In other words, this eventful year had been meant to be. The stream of events had already started in 2003. When they waved good-by and thanks to the well-rounded guy clad in red and white back in 2003, they had already packed up for a journey to the Grand Canyon --- over the turn of the year. They witnessed the towering Zion cliffs, snow-blanketed and mist-shrouded Bryce Canyon, freezing Monument Valley, and of course, the grandeur of the Grand Canyon: the end-of-year sunset, crisp view of the Milky Way the family together looked up to on their way back from supper, and 2004’s first daybreak on the edge of the chasm that could gulp oceans down. The stopover at Las Vegas on their way back enabled a reunion with the Nyreens also.
Traveling twice all the way to the United States in one year may sound like luxury. It really is, for a family that lives on a school teacher’s chickenfeed salary. Thanks, however, to Masami, who boasts her skill to make her hubby’s earnings double its worth, selling already unnecessary goods and buying rock-bottom price necessities on the Internet, they could afford the second trip, this time to the Yellow Stone National Park in summer. After seeing the Great Salt Lake and Mormon monuments during their stopover at Salt Lake City, they flew to South Dakota, starting their bus journey. On the way, they met four presidents in Rapid City and a now only half completed Crazy Horse Native American chieftain, carved in rock; circled the sky-scraping basaltic Devil’s Tower (encounters with the swell-headed aliens not included); and arrived at last in the Yellow Stone National Park. Old Faithful (the namesake of the hotel they stayed at) and Castle Geyser, Mammoth Hot Springs terraces, grazing American bison hordes, a long-horned moose, and fossil digging were just part of what they had.
The year sure has been a stream of fascinating events, but the one that Seika made occur dwarfed everything else.Television has been in the living room for long. It is always on, speaking, singing, dancing and acting. It is so close we even scarcely feel its existence; a mere extension of our workaday living. But everything changes when someone close, very close, gets exposed on it. Especially when Seika, the apple of our eye, appears on Japan’s nationwide public broadcaster’s Sunday afternoon variety show, all the family members, close and distant relatives, school mates and teachers, coworkers, neighbors and acquaintances --- get excited.
When it was announced that an NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) show would come around to Narita to shoot its Sunday, September 26, 2004 installment, and hold an audition for it on the preceding Saturday, Seika insisted he sign up. Masami, suddenly a stage Mom, took him to the audition, saw him pass it, then the next day, found herself waiting with him on the wing for his turn to come. There were five audition-selected entrants, and Seika was the fourth to go on stage. From among his large assortment of mnemonic feats, at the NHK director’s insistence after the audition, Seika recited all the names of Japan’s post-war prime ministers, plus their contemporary highlights. He won Grand Prix, along with a trophy, the emcees’ autographs, a Swatch watch, and a portable CD player (the one he now uses to practice a little bit of English). The feat again had already been destined to happen even before 2004, because Seika had always flabbergasted folks by reciting all the names of not only Japanese prime ministers, but also all the Japanese emperors and all the presidents and all the states and their capitals of the United States --- since years ago. Masami, a born challenge-seeker, had already in 2003 conceived an ambition of taking a test for a Housing Welfare Coordinator qualification. Studying day and night (even listening to lecture tapes driving to and from work), she passed the July exam and is now officially qualified. Her next ambition being to get a Second-Grade Architect qualification, she goes to specialist school on Sunday mornings and listens to make-up and review lectures on the Internet. This year for Hideaki, not like always, was a series of drab and disappointing experiences. In early summer, he took the TOEIC English proficiency test and tried to grab another perfect-score feat. He fell 10 points short and only scored a frustrating 980. In fall, he was driving Seika one evening to an ENT doctor in the twilight hour. Scarcely had his car rolled out into the main street out of an alley when a screeching noise was heard, and bong, a compact hit the right-side front fender of his car. The compact bounced and hit another waiting to turn into the same alley Hideaki had pulled out of. It took as long as nearly seven weeks to settle on the damage compensation. Luckily, no one involved was injured, including Seika and Hideaki, to the relief of the whole family.
In contrast to his son’s foul-ups, Yoshifumi, Hideaki’s father, seems as spry as ever, at least intellectually. Meiji Shrine, the mausoleum for Emperor Meiji, annually conducts a Japanese short-poem contest. Yoshi had faithfully devoted his tour de force every year and never heard any notice from the sanctuary. This year, however, by depicting his own blessings at a three-generation dinner table, he won a prize and was invited to the prize-awarding ceremony in Harajuku, Tokyo, allowing his wife Kiyoko to feel proud once again. Teruaki and Hideko, Masami’s parents, are fine as usual. They took two overseas trips to Europe. They stayed at Teru’s old German acquaintance’s in May, and visited Italy in November. While at home, they together enjoy practicing tai chi. Teru works part-time at night at a community center and Hideko sings as an amateur chorus group member. Yuko, Sam’s sister, and her hubby Masatoshi moved in spring from Yokohama to Kawasaki, both in the same Kanagawa Prefecture. Their son Shunsuke is in his second year in kindergarten. Teru and Hideko drove two hours to Kawasaki to see his field day. In September, the family went to Palau, in the Central Pacific, and made a one-week holiday. Masatoshi’s main purpose there was to sleep and rest, period. He wakes up early, works his tail off in the office until late and comes home and hits the hay in the wee hours most of the days. Keep your fingers crossed that he keeps in shape. Well, this has been part of what happened this year. We wish you a Merry Christmas and another brilliant New Year! Masami, Hideaki and Seika
