A couple of days ago I listened to a podcast from Tokyo Calling where Scott described his Japanese holiday called Bunka no Ni, or Culture Day. It reminded me of an earlier Bunka no Hi holiday when Nina and I were living in Japan. The Stake had arranged in 1997 for an overnight group trip to Mt. Fuji to tour some of the lava caves in that area. Since the holiday was on a Friday, this would make for a two-day trip. The trip was for the older members in the stake and some 40 people signed up, including Nina and me. While we didn’t know exactly what to expect, it sounded like a lot of fun, and it turned out to be completely different than what we had expected and a whole lot of fun!
We boarded the bus in Ushiku, a nearby city, to drive into northern Tokyo to pick up members from each of the ward buildings. By mid-morning the bus was full and we were ready to leave from the last pickup location. However, since it costs money to drive on the expressways in Japan, and the fee for busses was very expensive, we took normal roads through Tokyo and south towards Mt. Fuji, along with twenty million other Japanese drivers. Overall I’d expect we averaged about ten miles an hour for the entire drive that day, and that might be generous! We didn’t arrive at the hostel until well after dinner time.
Now, most Westerners would have been very frustrated with that traffic and we would have immediately taken up a collection to pay for the expressway…. Not the Japanese! No sooner had we started than the karaoke started. The bus, of course, came equipped with a karaoke machine and TV’s all along the bus aisles showed the subtitled words to the music. A couple of microphones were attached to cables along each side of the bus so that the mikes could be passed from person to person. Four huge books of songs available on the karaoke were passed up and down the bus. Everyone came with treats to share (Nina had made chocolate chip cookies that were very popular), and they began calling out song numbers to the bus attendant who entered them into the karaoke machine. For the next nine hours we participated in the number one all time favorite Japanese activity: singing karaoke.
Even though there are karaoke bars in the U.S., they are nothing at all like how karaoke is done in Japan. In fact, if I had asked anyone on the bus after the trip what the best part of the trip had been, they would have unanimously said, "Karaoke!" It is infectious as well. Long before we arrived at the hostel, we both had been hooked into singing something as well. I was also amazed at the quality of voices and singing on the bus! It was very much a nine-hour concert.
The hostel was a kind of a community sleeping hotel where dinner and breakfast were supplied, but you had to go get it from the kitchen and then do the dishes afterwards. The men all slept on the tatami mats and futons in a couple of rooms and the ladies all slept in other rooms — no other arrangements for married couples. I don’t sleep well in the floor, but it worked out OK.
The next morning we toured one of the huge lava caves at the foot of Mt. Fuji. These caves are remnants of the cooling lava flows where trapped air bubbles had formed huge cavities. That was followed by a trip to a huge garden (which was almost devoid of plant life in November) and the inveitable group picture. Then we boarded the bus for the ride back home.
The next day the traffic was much different. What had taken nine hours the day before took about four hours on Saturday. Traffic made that much difference. But, again as soon as the bus moved, karaoke started. It didn’t stop until we were at the last drop-off point. The trip was one that we’ll remember fondly and vividly for the rest of our lives. It certainly was a "Culture Day" for us!
This weekend our niece Ashlyn came down from BYU-Idaho to visit. We also attended the blessing of a great-niece. I’ve posted a few pictures on the web page. Click on "Pictures!" on the right.