We can finally say goodbye and good riddance to the rainy season. Either I’m getting acclimatized to the rain or this year wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen before. I haven’t heard anyone yet declare that it was a “kara tsuyu” (empty rainy season), so it must have at least been on the mild side of average. Even the typhoons have mercifully left us alone. A handful has risen out of the ocean north of the Philippines, but they have turned off to the east before striking Kagoshima.
Now we need only wait for the cicadas to pop out of the ground and begin their incessant whirring and chirping for summer to have arrived in everyone’s mind. Then we can wake up to 80 degree mornings, molten afternoons, and enough humidity to seed an English fog. Still, as I’ve mentioned before, I am fond of Kagoshima’s summers if only for the fact that I first arrived here in the summer. Having come from a hot climate myself, the heat isn’t entirely unbearable. The greenery and other summer life are wonderful too. But I would like to completely do away with the mosquitoes. I believe they are the one creature that Earth can happily do without. Evil little bloodsuckers! I hate them.
Not only does summer bring my anniversary for coming to Kagoshima, it also marks another year of marriage for my wife and me. And just two days before that blessed event took place, my wife has her birthday. Every year we make intricate plans which inevitably fall to pieces for one reason or another. I was determined that this year would be different. I even made it my New Year’s resolution. Well, one of them anyway.
Happy Birthday
The first thing I wanted to give my wife is something that every good mother deserves, some peace and quiet. That means that I had to take myself and our son out of the house for the day. Our daughter is quite mellow, so it wasn’t necessary to take her along. Giving her that time also fit into my plan. There were things that I needed to pick up and we needed to go downtown to get them. We traveled downtown by bus. It was my son’s first time riding a bus so he was already having fun. I only had a rough idea about the gifts I wanted to give her. I spent the ride considering different things and answering my son’s questions about everything we passed by on the way.
Our first stop once we disembarked was a trendy house wares shop in AMU plaza. They sell all the usual household items, but with a slightly cutesy feminine twist. I like to buy gifts which are not only desirable but useful. Things which can continue to bring comfort or convenience to a person’s life, for years to come, are ideal. We went round and round, up and down looking over every little girly gadget and fluffy pillow they had. I finally decided that she needed something to help her relax. I picked out a few things she could use before, during, or after a hot bath. As of now, her favorite is the scented gel mask (hard to describe). It can be heated or frozen and then it is placed on the face and seemingly provides maximum AHHHH.
The next stop was the music store. I like to buy music CD’s for my wife. She records them onto the hard disk in the car stereo and gets hours of her favorite tunes. Now, this second gift was meant to be from our son. I wanted to let him browse and pick one he thought she’d like, but I feared he’d choose something with a cartoon character or god knows what. To help him along though I showed him the R&B section where all of mommy’s favorites come from. He settled on one which also met with my approval. But as we neared the register he noticed the top ten charts. He asked me where the one we had selected ranked. I told him that it didn’t rank at all. It wasn’t in the top ten. Without a second thought he cast the luckless CD aside and grabbed the CD ranked number one, which thankfully was in the same genre.
After lunch, we went to the department across the way to get a gift which would be from our daughter and then to buy some special things for dinner and dessert.
For her third gift (to be from our daughter), I chose something which might make no sense to people in the West. You see, Japanese women favor white, white, white skin. This is in obvious contrast with women in the West who devotedly broil their skin until it is at least golden brown. In order to maintain absolute whiteness in their skin, Japanese women go to as many or more extremes as their western counterparts who seek the opposite result. Almost every woman in Japan carries a “higasa” on sunny days. This is a “sun umbrella” or more simply a parasol. I had bought one for my wife last year, so this was out. When driving, they employ specially designed sunscreens which fit into the windows and block all sunlight from touching their skin. I thought that buying this would appear at least boring, at most retarded. They also use innumerable beauty products that are supposed to “whiten the skin while they moisturize”. I went to some different cosmetics shops and tried to sort through it all. But I understand cosmetics as well as I understand Greek opera. It was hopeless. But there was one thing I could sort out and it was something she didn’t have and would probably want. They are called “ude cabaa” or “arm covers”. They are like long, thin gloves which frequently are fingerless. They extend from the knuckles to around the elbow. There are all sorts and so they can be quite fashionable or just useful. Hey, fashionable and utilitarian. I was sold. We ended up in the arm cover department facing the problem every male has when selecting an article of clothing for a woman, deciding which one she would like. We can buy ourselves a year’s worth of clothing at a single store in almost no time, but when buying for the woman we love it can take forever. In the end there was my reliable wingman to help me out. I held up a few choices and let my son decide.
With the gift shopping done we went downstairs to the supermarket to pick up something special for dinner. It was easy knowing what she’d want to eat. Whenever I ask her, nine times out of ten she chooses sushi. I bought a good assortment of large sushi platters and packed them in ice. We then went to the produce department to get her annual summer treat, one of the prized Yamakawa Tokou suika (It’s basically just a watermelon. But it also might be the best in the world).
Once we finished our stop at the cake shop we were all prepped to make our way home. It was difficult maneuvering all the bags, boxes, and a three year old to the bus and then on home. But we made it with everything in one piece. She was looking quite relaxed when we returned. First we surprised her with the sushi, the watermelon, and the cake. Then one by one, my son brought in the gifts. She hopped right in the bath to make use of the gel mask. She came out steaming and even more relaxed. I put on the new CD as we sat down for an early dinner. Of course this was followed by cake. Our daughter had to wait until the next day for mommy to use the gift from her.
She seemed very happy with her whole birthday. She deserved every bit. Now, what am I going to do for our anniversary?
