Chilin Senior Citizen Style. An unexpected sidequest part 3

Hangin with Auntie Emiko, and plans for a mini Christian pilgrimage.

Emiko Kitamura opened the door with a smile and a laugh. On my previous visit, she was so shocked that she talked to me through the door for a couple minutes trying to verify my identity and story, but this time she let me in immediately. Its been two and a half years since I visited, but you would have thought I was here last week. She invited me in, and not a moment too soon, because the day and night of travel was wreaking havoc on my strained ankle.

Emiko knows a bit off English, and I know a bit of Japanese, so we can actually converse in a meaningful fashion. I told her about the pilgrimage, and she asked about my upcoming marriage, and I asked about my pseudo cousin Ted Kitamura, and so on and so forth. She can rattle off the Heart Sutra in a blink, so she helped me to get that thing up to speed so I can rock the final 44 temples of the pilgrimage in style. She led me to her guestroom in her tiny, dusty, cluttered apartment.

Emiko Kitamura is a fascinating person, fascinating enough that she warrants her own blog entry. Which is the next blog entry! So allow me to describe her apartment. It is dusty, cozy, and cluttered. The small HD TV, which gets minimal use, is the newest thing in the apartment. Everything else looks like holdovers from the Showa Era. All the appliances, from the breadmaker to the washtub, are well worn and used, the way Star Wars is supposed to look. Two other things are truly noteworthy. One is the inside of the bathroom, which is plastered from floor to ceiling with quotes from Dosdoyevsky, Nietche, and other famous philosophers and authors. Emiko reviews these to stave off dementia. The other is the wall of the living room, which is covered in photographs of her son Ted Kitamura, and various members of the Tayag family. We keep talking about having a big family reunion, but everytime I write it seems to get pushed back another year. Live like you're gonna live forever, I guess.

That evening she led me to the local hot spring to heal up my injuries, and after watching some dumb game shows I passed the heck out at 9:30PM. Our breakfast was the usual from before, salad and toast with tasty black sesame topping. I studied the Heart Sutra all morning, and after lunch we marched around Imari to the train station, the post office (to mail a letter to my Uncle Ted in Las Vegas, with special guest author Mark Davis), and finally to the internet cafe where I am typing this very blog entry.

My ankle is feeling better already from a combination of hot springs, good care, and good company. In a day or two I want to visit Nagasaki, Japan`s most Catholic city, and Shimabara, the site of a famous Christian uprising, as well as the home of Japan`s most famous (only) Catholic martyr, Shiro Amakusa. Like Elvis, who wore an ankh, cross, and Star of David around the mansion, I don`t want to miss heaven on a technicality. More updates to come!