Today was a public holiday, so this morning Hunter and I got on our bikes and went for a ride along the river, just for fun. Initially, the surrounds were pretty industrial and rather unpleasant, but as we headed away from the city, it started to look semi-rural, with sports fields along the river bank, and pleasant cycle paths surrounded by greenery. Incidentally, we also saw what looked to be summer cross country ski practice - skis with wheels.
As we cycled along the river, we saw a couple of little paths leading in towards the river. We checked the first one out, but it was a dead end. We almost ignored the second one, but on a whim, I swung around last minute to have a look. It was also a dead end, this time overlooking the river, and had a carved stone map of the local river system in the centre of the lookout area. An elderly gentleman was sitting there soaking up the view. We said hi, and I asked him about the map, which, being all in Japanese, was a little hard for me to understand. He proceeded to explain about the large bodies of water on the map, and the rivers, and showed where we were. He told us that in the past, boats used to travel up the river to facilitate trade, and continued with lots more stuff that we didn't really understand, but were able to make a few educated guesses about.
So far, pretty safe, but conversation pretty quickly took some strange turns. He asked us if we were a couple, if we were married, and started discussing how we aranged money between us, how he and his wife managed it, and how the average Japanese couple did things (traditionally, the man goes to work, hands all the money to the wife, who manages it, and gives him a small allowance back). He proceeded to tell us about his daughter, who is not married, but is living with a boyfriend, and at some point, I think he might have said she was sleeping around a bit. At the time, I thought I must have mis-understood, but considering later conversation, it may well have been correct. At any rate, he said the word for body, and rubbed his hands in a way indicative of bodies moving.
He was incredibly frank. We found out about his college days in Nagoya, misspent chasing girls, playing Mah-jong, and playing pachinko (the Japanese equivalent of the pokies). While discussing Mount Fuji, he told us about his older brother, who died in an a avalanche at age 22. He brought up the war, and talked about the Emperor and McArthur, and said stuff about harikiri (suicide by disembowelment), hanging, and the electric chair; there seemed to be a connection there, but neither of us had any idea of what he was getting at.
He explained that he would be retiring soon, and planned to spend his time fishing, playing golf, and making love, and that he would find himself a new girlfriend. Did we understand that right? Yes we did, as he proceeded to demonstrate with his two hands, wtih one hand representing himself, and the other being his wife. He crossed one finger on each hand to show where he and his wife intersected, and waggled the other four fingers on each had and said "free". He inquired after us, and Hunter quickly indicated each finger on each hand overlapping.
All up, we probably spent about 45minutes talking, or rather listening to him talk,and occasionally seeking clarification or enquiring further about something. It was an incredibly bizare conversation, the sort of stuff one would definitely not expect to be shared with complete strangers, but he was incredibly bright and cheerful, with a great big friendly grin and the conversation was highly entertaining. We left feeling simultaneously incredibly energised and incredulous.
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