js16 A tale of two Daiei's

Our principal supermarket during our time in Japan was the local Flowertown Daiei. We got to know where everything was, ran into students and Nihongo Salon teachers there, in short, became comfortable with the setup. There was a Minato bank ATM (one of only two in the whole of Sanda!), a food court with an oishii Indian kiosk, a variety store upstairs and later on, a Holly's Cafe, with cheap but good coffee. We went to Christmas concerts, dropped in on local radio station Honey FM and frequented the 100 yen shop.

Of course, the Daiei corporation ran into serious financial trouble a few years ago and underwent a massive restructure, which included the closure of many so-called uneconomic stores, many of which were in Kansai. Flowertown, fortunately, survived.

In restructuring, some bright spark thought a logo change would help with the repositioning of the brand (whatever that means) so the part-eaten orange(my interpretation) became a flower or petal. I guess it worked because I noticed the change, though I preferred the old symbol really. I include two shots which highlight this groundbreaking innovation

js15 Mori san and Tom

During the time we lived and worked in Japan, our strongest support and often best friendships came from the Yes School secretaries. They grounded us in things Japanese, gave us a working knowledge of the fundamentals of life in Japan and opened up their homes and lives to us. I think we would have been much the poorer from not knowing these wonderful women.

Naoko Mori was our last secretary, before the school sold, and the picture shows her with the baby Tom in our front garden. She had taken Tom outside to give us a break as we were flat our cleaning and packing. It was a very stressful time for Nadia and I and her gesture typifies the kindness and thoughtfulness that we so often encountered. Naoko was not only a good secretary, but a great person and friend. And much missed.

js14 Snowy upstreet scene.

I think I mentioned that we had had a fair dump of snow post-Christmas 2006, particularly in the first week of the new year. I had taken a few shots from our upstairs bedroom window, though this is certainly the wintriest. You can see just how close the Takarasuka-Sanda Hospital is - just at the top of the street. A great landmark for anyone searching for our place.

Also the next door neighbour's fairly unkempt (by Japanese standards) garden and environs. We became very quickly tired of their yapping dog, who strangely disappeared in between our tours of duty only to reincarnate into two yapping dogs on our final stay. They seemed like nice people but they did keep to themselves.

And to the extreme left is the house of a kindly neighbour who made a point of trying to communicate with us (his English was much better than my Japanese) and was an avid gardener. With the exception of the hostile man, who was our lower side neighbour, it was pleasant street to live in. We really thought of it as home.

js12 Honmachidori

Our introduction to Sanda (and Japan) was great good luck. Nadia and I were members of a choir that was invited to sing at Sanda's Sister City Celebration Concert in 1998. We had a fantastic week in Sanda in which we were spoilt rotten by our Japanese hosts. Of course, we were also taken on sight seeing tours in and around Sanda.

On one such occasion our hosts took us to 'the oldest street in Sanda' and, of course, we had high expectations of ancient wooden structures mingled with shrines and temples. Needless to say, Honmachidori didn't live up to what we had expected and I think quite a lot of the choir were disappointed.

Since that time I have walked up or crossed this street dozens of times and I always find it appealing. It does have its own charm even if most of the buildings post date WW2. During festivals times it is lined with stalls of all kinds, lanterns are hoisted and crowds jostle. Not today though!

js11 Towards Miwa jinja

Sanda is a small, modern city. For the most part it is planned. meaning suburbs or towns have been created with a specific urban design in mind, rather than in the chaotic fashion often seen in Sydney. The 'new' towns that run up to Woodytown are serviced by a spur railway and good roads. There are parks and gardens and bicycle ways.

Old Sanda is located down by the river and little remains of what the original village must have looked like. Occasionally one gets a hint of this, as in this photo. Only a minutes walk from busy JR Sanda Station, this quaint street heads up to a thronging arterial road (176) and just beyond, the Miwa jinja. Our friend Miwa lived near this shrine in the suburb of Miwa with her family, though I don't think she ever cottoned on to the coincidence until we told her. Then again, we once caught her with a stick in her mouth which she claimed helped her to develop an unconscious smiling capability. This was apparently so that customers at her workplace thought she was eternally contented. No, I'm not joking.

js10 Aeon Comes To Town

Westerners visiting Japan for the first time are often surprised at how similar japanese supermarkets are to the variety back home. Ditto for the new shopping malls that are popping up everywhere Our regular shopping centre for much of our time in Japan was Daie in Flowertown, which was close and cheap. But in 2006 a huge Aeon complex opened in North Kobe, on the very boundary of Sanda.

Now I have my doubts about the wisdom of super malls, particularly when they are sited away from traditional town centres and public transport. The Aeon centre ticks both of these boxes. On the upside, from our point of view, was greater access to western foods such as breakfast cereals, and a much better environment for taking children.

Actually, I found a pretty quick shortcut from Mukogaoka to Aeon which took little more than half an hour on foot (Japanese friends thought I was crazy....'You walked?!') but I enjoyed the challenge of navigating railway lines and green belts. On the occasion of this photo, we had driven the Mitsubishi. Nadia is seen with the infant Tom in the stroller.

js9 Pumpkin Bakery

If I might be a little self-indulgent (that is, beyond that indulgence which comes with posting blogs in the first place), I would like to offer praise to a wonderful bakery in Sanda. Pumpkin. On our first working stay in Japan in 2001, we were introduced to this little gem by some fellow teachers and we never looked back.

Baking bread and cakes in what the Japanese call the French tradition is now fairly widespread and Sanda had perhaps a dozen big and small bakeries when we finally left last year. But Pumpkin was always the closest to our hearts and as the crow flies, the closest to home too. It was also one of the most over-staffed establishments. At the counter, someone would wrap your purchases, then someone else would take your money. Meanwhile, another assistant was re-stocking the shelves, while in the kitchen several bakers laboured by benches and ovens.

I miss the little tray and the tongs, the crisp warm breads and rolls, the croissants and interesting Japanese takes on French pastries. And that curious little round roll with the potato jammed in the top. Oh Pumpkin!

js8 Nadia and the JR Rapid

In our third year in Japan, it became very difficult to do some of the things we had become accustomed to doing on weekends. Gone were the flying visits to Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto. It was just too too difficult with a new baby, logistically.

So we had to take it in turns to (very occasionally) venture out alone, which was much less fun. I missed Nadia's company and all the chatter and mutual reinforcement that comes with going places together. I felt far more 'foreign' on those occasions, something which I can't really explain, except that maybe that it's synonymous with plain old self-consciousness. So I really could identify with the gaijin who looked so lost and alone, the ones we had sighted on previous trips into big cities. And its little wonder that they gathered in such numbers at Starbucks or the many faux UK-themed pubs that dot the likes of Kobe and Osaka. Its hard to blame them really.

So here is a snap of Nadia on one of her out~alone adventures (I think to Kyoto), taken from our Mitsubishi at Sanda Station.