From RAKAN to JIZO to PAPARAZZI

Two sights to behold – or at least to contemplate in one’s mind’s eye: thirty-two perfectly sober adults, each attired in a big white bib, chopsticks in hand, busily consuming a divine steak dinner at a very refined Japanese restaurant; then, again, the next day after lunch, eighteen attractive women grouped on an elegant stairway while fifteen bedazzled men snap away with digital cameras amidst a frenzy of flashbulb flashes.

What has come over the Thirty-Two RAKAN in Japan?

And what’s the meaning behind the blog entry title above?

Here’s the explanation.

Our tour Welcome Dinner took place Tuesday evening, our first in Kyoto. As befits the occasion, we all dressed up (even the Bodes, whose luggage failed to arrive until the following evening, turned up appropriately attired).

Off we went to our appointed rendezvous, a scant hundred yards distant in an elegant traditional style building along the bank of the Kamogawa at the edge of the Hotel Fujita property.

Then came our first “cultural adjustment”: to enter, as is the custom, we had to remove our shoes, heels and polished loafers alike.

We padded along endless corridors, past illuminated garden masterpieces, to our banquet room where we encounter our second cultural surprise – we would be seated on the tatami-matted floor for the evening!

Fortunately for all, the floor in front of the long counter at which we were to be seated had been cut away so that we had someplace convenient in which to dangle our feet. It was a bit difficult, however, to maintain the appropriate dignity as we all scrambled down to floor level and maneuvered to sit correctly on the provided cushions.

The staff of chefs and kimono-clad waitresses on hand then went immediately into action, tying those huge bibs around everyone’s neck and shoulders, the better to protect our clothing from splattered sauces.

Then we noticed that, although forks and knives were available at each setting, we were really being expected to use chopsticks for the meal ahead, yet another “cultural adjustment”.

In reality, of course, none of this was much of a surprise. We’ve all eaten “Japanese style” before. But it did make for an amusing scene -- and reminded Lee of rows of small Buddhist statues often encountered along roadways in Japan.

These Jizo are there to protect children and travelers, keeping their defenseless souls safe from harm. Many wear bright red bibs; and, although ours were white, the scene – in Lee’s mind, anyway – transformed the Thirty Two RAKAN instantly into Thirty Two JIZO.

Wednesday after lunch, while waiting to board our tour bus, we gathered the women for a group portrait on a stairway bedecked with beautiful flower arrangements, only to have the women laughing in glee at the flashing cameras of the gentlemen below. Hadn’t anyone realized that a single digital image could be shared easily enough by email with everyone present? But the PAPARAZZI just wouldn’t go away – until the ladies turned the tables and began snapping their own pictures!

So there you have it – from RAKAN to JIZO to PAPARAZZI all in less than a day.

Are we having fun or what?