36 Views of Mount Fuji by Cathy N. Davidson

Author:Cathy N. Davidson [Davidson, Cathy N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 2006-10-04T04:00:00+00:00

9 GOING HOME

It’s a land of blue-eyed giants. Men more than six feet tall stride by, arms swinging, voices booming. Kowai, I think (Frightening). “Gaijin!” I want to call out bravely, the way little children in the countryside used to exclaim when we passed by. A huge man leans against a column. I gaze at the diamonds of flesh flashing between the buttons of his shirt, the white curve of hara (belly) above his belt, luminous and round as bread dough. With his great ashikoshi (legs and hips), he has the perfect body of a sumo wrestler. Sugoi! (Impressive!).

The airport in Vancouver, Canada, is filled with surprises. It is noisy with announcements, airplanes landing and taking off, people talking loudly in public about private things, as if no one else were near. Hazukashii, I think, hearing others and knowing they hear me. Ted’s family is waiting just outside customs. Although his parents are divorced, both are here today, waiting for us, along with Ted’s brother, Ken, and his sister, Karen. It is the missing brother we feel keenly as we come out to meet the rest of the family. We’ve had a month to adjust to the news of the accident, but now that we’re in Canada the accident feels as if it happened yesterday. Ted’s family is experiencing something of the same thing. How sad to have a reunion without Park and Sheena, someone is saying. It feels awkward to be voicing our most personal pain above the din of the airport.

Ted’s dad thanks us again for arranging to finish up early in Japan. Ted nods some sort of reply, but I notice that he, too, has set his face like a mask.

“Are you okay?” his brother, Ken, asks.

“Probably jet lag,” his sister, Karen, answers for him.

“We’re so glad you’re home,” Ted’s mother says, slipping between the two of us, an arm around my waist, Ted’s.

What became clear to us within moments after arriving in Canada was that we were experiencing the double shock of returning home after a family tragedy and of returning to our own culture again. The weeks were consumed by long talks as well as visits to lawyers, accountants, insurance adjusters, bankers, doctors. Both physically and psychologically, all three of the children were doing far better than anyone could have hoped. Our youngest nephew was recovered from his injuries, while our niece was actually working part-time, despite a jaw wired shut and elaborate bandages on one knee. Our oldest nephew was in the worst shape, with multiple arm and leg fractures that required microsurgery and for which the prognosis was still uncertain. We helped Bruce get settled into a room on the first floor of the house and then helped set up a room for Ted’s father, who would be looking after the boys once our niece went back to college and we went home to Michigan. It was a busy time, filled with sadness, and we tried to be as useful as we could be while fumbling to learn our culture again.

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