Yoko-san and her husband moved to Hiroshima yesterday, compliments of the Japanese Navy. Saying farewell to a Japanese friend is just as heart-wrenching it turns out as waving my American friends off to new duty stations. And maybe more so since with the Americans there is always that slim chance our paths will cross again.
Yoko was the treasurer for the Japanese side of JAW. My sister and daughter met her last June at an Ikebana exhibit in Tokyo and she came to my house in August for a JAW planning meeting and luncheon. For a Japanese woman, she is remarkably tall. She is shyly vivacious or vivaciously shy, I have never been able to decide which, and has a wonderful sense of humor, meaning she usually laughs at my lame jokes.
Shinagawa-san hosted a farewell luncheon for Yoko last week. Weather Explorer and I were honored to attend as representatives of Yoko’s many American friends and admirers. We remembered our manners – give most of the credit for that, of course, to Weather Explorer - and took a farewell gift for Yoko and a hostess gift for Shinagawa and cheesecakes for dessert. But, as Weather Explorer is fond of reminding me, it is impossible to out-gift a Japanese person. This time we were hit with a double whammy: Yoko presented each of us with a thank you gift for attending her farewell luncheon and then Shinagawa gave each of us a gift for visiting her house. Yikes! How can we top that? We can't.
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| Yoko-san is seated at far left |
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