| The wind from Mount Fuji | | | | my experience in Narita airport toilet as a haiku, it |
| I put it on the fan | | | | would sound like this: |
| Here, the souvenir from Edo. | | | | I sit down slowlyand see buttons on one side...a |
| Basho Matsuo | | | | shower in spring. |
| Haiku poet (1644-1694) | | | | Yes, the toilet-bidet combination with seat |
| Being Catholic, I didn't realize that Mount Fuji was | | | | warmers, called washlet, is very popular in Japan, |
| a sacred mountain for the Japanese who are | | | | even in public places. Next came the trains. There |
| mostly Buddhists. To them, Mount Fuji is the | | | | was something soothing in the soft, humming |
| home of the great kami-sama or gods. They | | | | sound of a modern train as it chugged along its |
| believe it is a mystical gateway between heaven | | | | path. Through the wide windows, I saw many |
| and earth. Pilgrims would climb Mount Fuji's 12,388 | | | | Japanese houses that looked the same, mostly |
| feet (3,776 meters) to reach the top and read | | | | painted white with brown colored tiled-roofs. |
| haikus while contemplating the scenery. In | | | | Next stop was Shinjuku station, where we made |
| literature, a haiku is a poem usually containing | | | | a train transfer. It was a blur of black stockings |
| three unrhymed lines, which have 5, 7 and 5 | | | | over mini skirts, leggings, boots, trench coats, |
| syllables respectively. A haiku presents a pair of | | | | pashminas, folded denims with stilleto heels, black |
| contrasting images, one suggestive of time and | | | | coat and ties, chic hairdos. Need I say more about |
| place, the other a vivid but fleeting observation. | | | | Tokyo fashion? Luckily for our stomachs, we |
| I can understand the sentiment of the Buddhists. | | | | bought a bento box meal from the Ekiben (station |
| Even for Catholics, a high mountain is the closest | | | | bento) and a hot green tea bottle from a vending |
| place on earth to pray to God in heaven, as | | | | machine. Yes, local fast food Japanese version. |
| exemplified by Jesus in the Mount of Olives. Since | | | | Just to say the wordhome, that one word |
| I wasn't able to "climb" Mount Fuji while in Japan, I | | | | aloneso pleasantly cool. |
| could only hope to glimpse its peak from the train | | | | Kobayashi Issa |
| station in Odawara, which is near the Hakone | | | | Haiku poet |
| National Park. On our sixth and last day in Japan, | | | | Have you ever tried sleeping on a mat on the |
| we were rewarded with a sunny, clear day and | | | | floor? How about eating on a low table with your |
| the perfect, snow-white cone appeared like a | | | | legs warmed underneath the floor, as in a |
| painting in the sky. What a beautiful souvenir from | | | | kotatsu? The part I liked most was wearing |
| Japan! My feelings at that moment could be | | | | Japanese pajamas called yukata, it's almost like a |
| expressed by this haiku: | | | | kimono but made of cotton. I was at home |
| The older we getthe more easily tears comeon a | | | | drinking green tea and sipping miso soup, eating |
| long day. | | | | dried tofu, pickled ginger, maki, sushi, dried local |
| Yoshi Mikami Issa | | | | fish and sticky rice. There was so much to learn |
| Haiku poet | | | | about Japan and its culture, and thanks to my |
| It is true that when we travel to a place for the | | | | "foster parents" in Japan, I was home away from |
| first time, we are seeing it thru the eyes of a | | | | home. |
| child, absorbing everything that we encounter. If | | | | How can the heart holdsomething to last a |
| my last day were sentimental, it's because my | | | | lifetime...long conversations. |
| first days were a wonder. If I were to describe | | | | |