Clock dedication ceremony, North Park, Omiya

This photo was taken a year or two after I joined the Mutsumi-Kai. We were dedicating a clock, the money for which we had raised during our annual Charity Mochi-Tsuki (rice cake making). In the years since this photo was taken, we’ve raised money to install three more clocks. Rest assured that every little kid in Uetake knows what time it is.

I chose this photo because, for me, it’s a metaphor for my Japanese experience. To wit:

1. Ceremony – I suppose you haven’t really experienced Japan until you’ve stood under a blazing sun for an hour listening to a succession of local dignitaries wax effusive about the wonderful “whatever” that’s been erected/commissioned/repaired/removed.

2. Hierarchy – Not unique to Japan but certainly a key element in the experience. Front and center we have the chairman of the self-government society – the bespectacled gent wearing the Mutsumi-Kai hanten (袢纏). To his right is the former chairman of the self-government society, to his left the local politician. I have no idea who the other folks are, but they are “somebody”.

3. Sake – Look closely and you’ll see a cask of sake behind the chairman. Social lubricant, the great equalizer, joy juice. Another constant.

4. Purpose – After a quarter century of raising money for the neighborhood, we’d begun to run out of things to do with the moolah. So we surveyed the households – which is to say we talked to our wives – and discovered that the most pressing need was for kids to make it home in time for dinner. It wasn’t enough that the neighborhood chimes sounded daily at 4 and 5 PM. Nope. Little Taro had to be home before the public address crackled awake, but how could he possibly know without a clock?

5. Men – Japan’s public administrative face is male. The private household face is female. This is not an indictment, merely a statement of fact. Japanese women are smart enough not to be caught standing under a blazing midday sun listening to a buncha guys wax effusive about a clock.