So the other day I was waiting for the bus back from Miyahara (hill) to head home after work. I was staring at some steps down an embankment from me that wrapped up to where I stood. They were normal steps that were most likely built in the 50's or 60's (the area I was in is old) and had a a feature that just made me ponder about who made them, or more precisely who modified them. On each step to the right hand side (against the wall it was following up) there was a skinny paver like cinderblock cemented on the actual step. This obviously was built for kids or the elderly, someone who has trouble making it up the normal steps and needs the extra help of having the distance they need to raise their leg each time halved. I was banking on the elderly. This was easy to concive, the part that really had my mind occupied really didn't matter at all. I was wondering who modified them and when. I was pretty sure it was for some geriatric, but did he/she modify the steps themself? If so when? Did they have help, did they do it when they found they were having a problem or did they have to foresight to do it long before they would actually need the assistance, or were they there fromsomeone before them? Either way it was probably only a few afternoons work and maybe sixty bucks tops for all the materials. Right in the middle of my mind racing after this reletively pointless series of questions someone begain to come up the stairs. It was an old man in his late eighties or mid nineties, smartly dressed, carrying some large rolled papers under one arm with a small box in the same hand, and using his other arm to brace against the wall while using the modified steps. He had a slight limp with his left leg. He worked his way to the top and marched his way over to the bulletin board by the bus stop.
I casually glanced at him now that he was facing me and noticed he was missing a part of his lower left jaw... maybe cancer? He begain posting some of his large flyers on the board, but the wind was blowing them around and away and you could tell he was struggling with that and actually pushing in the tacs in to hold them up. I felt compeled to help him, I am a sucker I always try to help anyone even if it makes me late. I walked over and gestured to help while picking up one of the signs that had blown away, he declined yet I insisted so he let me help. We quietly stood there and fastened the remainder of his posters. Afterwards he was a little winded and we sat down on the bus stop bench together. He gave his thanks and asked about whom I was and what I was doing in Kure. Yes, it is obvious you don't belong somewhere when you are a giant white monster hiding in a land of tiny people. I said I was an English teacher at some of the areas schools and working through the sister city relationship program. He looked at me and and said "What sister city?" This is all in Japanese by the way. I said Kure was a sister city to several cities around the globe, but one in the United States named Bremerton shared with it a special bond from WWII of being ship producing and mantaining giants. He then mentioned something about remembering the war. I looked at him puzzled. He went on to say he served as soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army for some time and that it rewarded him with a lame left leg and "missing face"; presumably from shrapnel because he mentioned somethign about big projectiles that I couldn't quite figure out, but the hand jestures made it pretty obvious. He said he wasn't sorry for his time spent and he looked on the USA as a worthy opponent. WOW! He was a nice man, very nice, and had huge frikken hands for a Japanese person. My bus arrived and we said sayonara.
I just thought that was a cool run in, me thinking about something so trivial and then a piece of history walks right up and I get to chat with him with my bad Japanese.
In other news:
Hiroe came up for the weekend with Yuichi and Misaki. We had lots of fun going to Hiroshima and playing tag in several parks. The Sasaki clan came along too so Seina and Saika got to play as well. I am a bit worn out though... lot of playing tag with tiny kids full of energy.
I got smaked in the "jewels" real hard the other day by some kid at Tenno ES. They play that koncho game where they poke you in the butt, but now its escalated to speedbag boxing. I hope that does not happen again.
Fell asleep on the trian the other day and almost missed my stop. Everyone in Japan sleeps on the trians, but they all have like some super human ability to snap awake and fly out the door at there stop.
Japanese food still rocks!
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