As I was biking home after dark tonight, I saw a child no more than 10 years old on the river path stopped next to his bike, trying to fix the seat. It still amazes me the independence and trust that children have from their parents in Japan. I went by him and then looked back. He was still there, still trying to fix the seat. I turned around and came up to him slowly. "Daijoubu deska?" I asked. "Ehhh??" he asked. Yes, I know it was a formal greeting you're likely not used to hearing as a child, and you're probably also not used to people interfering with you while you're trying to fix something, and it was in my American accent, so I'll say it again: "Daijoubu deska?" Are you alright? "Hai," he said and went about his business. My American overprotective mother in me felt I had done all I could do and returned my bike to its previously planned trajectory. After two weeks back in Japan, I finally feel settled enough that I want to start practicing my Japanese seriously again. I was waiting for the bug to hit me. Regardless, a little can go a long way.
In other news, we had a visitor today from Ehibe television. I don't really understand a lot of things that go on here, but I understand the general concept of needing to promote to audiences, sometimes in strange ways. So our friend here conducted us playing the end of the third movement of Brahms 4 (it's such an unusually jovial part of the symphony, there's not really another part of that piece that says, "For a happy time, come to our concert!" I'm a little concerned that it was false advertising, but one can only be concerned about so many things.)
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| "Mr.Vivit" or "Bibito" and the energetic cameraman who captured the action |
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