As you can see the "office" is actually a small table, a small chair and my PC (Acer Aspire R3700), which I bought for its portability, connected to one of HMiL's large digital televisions (Sharp Aquous LG-32dx1) [technical specs a concession to the geeks I know are in the readership....enjoy!]. The office itself is situated in what is normally HMiL's dressing room. An abundant space which also houses the family shrines.
There is something immensely comforting about the shrines. Perhaps I am placing a romantic touch on my feelings here or maybe I am just enjoying the difference of culture but for me, a relentless killer of gods, the process and the presence, the ritual and the familiarity within the domesticity of the home provides a connectivity to the family culture which I treasure.
Straight away the spiritually thrifty western cultural eye will see two altars but somehow try to contain them within one religion. Here though, we have an example of what I have talked about on these pages many times before, the ability of the Japanese to practise two very different religions simultaneously without any sense of contradiction. This underlying mythic multiplicity, I believe, needs to be fully understood before anyone can even start to grasp the difference between the Japanese psyche and that of our own western thinking.
Shinto and Buddhism are two very different religious beliefs, as a comparison rather like being a Christian and a worshipper of a nature cult. Now I realise that a whole Marks and Spencers full of middle aged, new age, crystal rubbing, chakra soothing, dream catcher swaying, angel spotting, fairy chasing women (and the usual collection of male eunuchs who follow them around) would claim they can believe in more than one "religion" but then you have to remember that these people are clinically insane.
No, for the average westerner crippled by the intellectually bankrupt beliefs of monotheism, even when you don't believe (which in pure essence is a rarity) the grasp of the Babylonian heresy espoused by Moses is relentless, unforgiving and never lets go of any psyche it has infected. There is only one god, and no matter which cult you belong to; Judaism, Christianity, Islam or any of their deviant branches, all other beliefs but your own are wrong and possibly the justification for murderous intent. The Japanese don't think like that, if they have murderous intent they don't blame it on the gods.
Yes, well, I thought it was urgently required. The flower I mean. As I said in my last article I have been struggling over recent months with all the pressures of living in boxes and the building work. The result has been that I haven't been able to really get the creative writing flowing and consequently am suffering from serious blockage. An unexpected rant about monotheism is the obvious consequence; notice how it seamlessly dropped into the Japanease blog and before you knew it you were being taken somewhere else. Time for a flower and getting back on track. (If you need any more of the type of content we have now successfully deviated from then go here.)
This is one of my favourite flowers and I have it in England as well as here in Japan. Can I tell you what it is called? Not a clue, any answers on a postcard please. I love the colour, I love the shape but most of all I love the way it grows in a little box and then "pops" open. Quite beautiful and I have this plant in one of the pots outside the front door.
The importance of the garden I have built here over the years cannot be underestimated. True, I enjoy creating it and working in it. I relish the challenge of only being able to attend to it twice a year. However, the real value of the garden is one of self preservation. You see if you are going to spend five or six weeks with your wife and your mother-in-law in closely confined spaces and where you have no meaningful contact with any other human being but them, then you need to be either a masochist or a gardener.
Like Chauncy Gardener I believe in the natural cycle of things. During our visit here there is a natural cycle.
First we have spring, when in the freshness of the meeting mother and daughter are full of joy and happiness. Then we have summer, when the air is full with the heavy scent of the ripe fruit of conversation. Next follows autumn during which everything turns somewhat sour and the emotional weather is uncertain. Ultimately we have winter were the cold penetrates everything and all around is covered with an unforgiving frost.
As with any gardening cycle there can be sudden squalls or unseasonal weather which can catch out the innocent or unprepared. From the outset I realised that being the only man in the house, a foreigner as well,held certain dangers because there was only likely to ever be one person who would be in the wrong in any and all circumstances; me. Therefore I installed a solar powered irrigation system.
Before the new water supply there were some pots but for HMiL the task of watering was really onerous. Now there are nearly eighty pots and they produce flowers and fruits all year round. This mixture of the visual and the edible was crucially important. You see when HMiL has her friends around they can all see the garden and in seeing it they see that she has a dutiful son-in-law who, despite being a foreigner, provides his ageing mother-in-law with flowers year round.
Additionally, she is occasionally able to share little fruits; strawberries, grapes, blueberries, with those friends and there is nothing nicer than being able to pick your own superbly fresh. Japanese people love food, it truly is a national obsession, and they love freshness. All this may seem important but the true importance is the status within the local female clique that the garden confers.
Not just Japanese women but probably women all over the world will concur on one absolute universal truth; men are useless. Beyond this is a subset which says; sons are particularly useless. In the world of older Japanese women, where every movement is monitored and reported across a red hot mobile phone network, status is everything. This status is achieved by being properly Japanese, well mannered and polite in all circumstances, and having all the trappings of status without ever being so brash as to parade them in other people's faces. A good family with dutiful children is an essential element and reports of a regular nature are expected across the network of any good deeds done by such progeny.
Equally, in the utmost confidence you understand, dreadful failures (the definition of dreadful failure being a variable quantity) always need to be widely known about even though one should never shame the unfortunate parent by either mentioning such shortcomings in public or actually speaking of them directly to the injured mother. No, the mobile phone is the correct medium for all discussions of a private and confidential nature.
I believe it is correct to say that the over eighties in Japan, particularly the women, are the most mobile phone and i-phone technically literate elder population in the world.Texting for them was an absolute boon when it first came in, camera phones are now seen as essential. In England our children avoid cctv, in Japan they avoid grandmothers with camera phones!
Consequently the installation of a fully automated pot garden with fruit and flowers was an action widely reported over the phone. No doubt other sons were berated about their lack of attention to their parent's gardens as a result. Equally, whilst the garden installed for HMiL is probably over stated in terms of Japanese taste (no-one wants to be accused of being ostentatious) this was easily accepted as being the work of a son who is a foreigner.
Perfectly reasonable therefore for HMiL to have such an abundant garden and not seen in any pretentious light at all. In fact, comment was passed that it all seemed very much like an English country garden. This was a high compliment as one of the elements of English culture much admired by the Japanese are our gardens.
The fact that the foreigner son also comes out twice a year and thoroughly refreshes and tends to the garden also meets with approval. The gardener himself rejoices in the fact that his efforts in the garden can take him away outside of the house when the emotional weather between mother and daughter shows any sign of storm clouds. Obviously, without the tasks of the garden the regular visits to HMiL, which my honourable wife desires, could leave me dangerously exposed. No-one wants to be a son-in-law sitting around doing nothing when surrounded by the social world of the Japanese female octogenarian. Better to chop off a foot to a bleeding stump and then jump in a shark tank.
As you can see, there is much work to do now the spring flowers have passed their peak. I will have to put a serious effort into the garden over the coming weeks and make sure I leave it blooming once more. Have to go, HMiL is calling me as she has just put a bowl of her fabulous home made soup on the table.
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