A Japanese Day

We have a New York friend who grew up in Japan and now in her retired years, after working as a translator, she enjoys all things Japanese.  She took us around an exhibit today at the Japan Society where she volunteers as a translator, and then showed us a Japanese grocery store she likes, and then a Japanese home goods store, and then the best of all, a Japanese book and stationary store!  Wonder of wonders, one of my favorite things in Japan.  All the beautiful stationary, the excellent writing utensils, and cute ways to organize parts of your life you didn't realize were a mess.

Afterwards she treated us to a very nice Japanese restaurant, where she spoke with the waiters on our behalf, and where we were greeted and bid farewell by the people cooking behind the counter.  The food was delicious and truly authentic, which is something hard to find even in New York.  Japanese food is far more than the sum of its parts.  It is about the presentation, the portion size, the number of different dishes, the service, and the delicate balance of flavors.  It's amazing how often places serve Japanese food without it being Japanese.  Quality really matters, and it was refreshing to be back in that sort of space.

Reading through the Japanese language books at the store, and even in the past few days prior to this visit, I've once again become interested in learning the language.  In Japan, I never felt that I really achieved mastery of the language and yet I always enjoyed studying it.  I think I studied it partially because I wanted to interact with Japanese people, but also I think it was just a fun thing to do, something that was productive for my life but also very interesting and beautiful.  New ways of writing, new ways of thinking about ideas.  For me, when I think about it outside the context of the need that I felt to study the language at the time, I realize that I really just enjoyed learning it for itself.

It's possible to think of the three years of non-fluency that I spent there as a failure, but I actually achieved a lot in terms of comprehension and literacy and the curiosity in it lives on.  And that it lives on means it didn't fail.  So along with learning to play the piano a little better, improvising, organizing my teaching studio, and preparing for my black belt test in September, I think I will have another hobby, one that is completely unnecessary or goal oriented, that has no need attached to it at all.  To study Japanese again.  Just for the fun of it.