One of our neighbors died last night.  It’s a bummer but he was well past 90 and went from good health to the great beyond in the blink of an eye.  I think that is a very good thing. We’ve been in this house for about five months and I often saw the neighbor that died but I never was able to converse with him.  He was the grandfather of the family who help us rent the house we live in.  Almost everyday I would see the grandfather making the trek form the front door, around the corner of the house and to a chair strategically placed in the shade.  It was there that he waited for the van to the day center to pick him up.  On quite a few occasions I said “good morning” but didn’t get a reply.  At first, I thought that possibly he was ignoring me.  It happens sometimes.  If that was the case I wasn’t going to take it personally.  Turns out I was flat out wrong.  Eventually, I realized that he was hard of hearing and that the walk to his chair was a struggle and that every time he made the journey he had one of the days milestones checked off the list. The focus and determination he put into his walk became a little more evident every day that I met him on his walk.  Watching him taught me a few lessons, I believe.  I’ll miss him as my silent teacher. Otsukaresamadeshita (Japanese for “thank you for your hard work”).

Tonight is the wake and tomorrow is the funeral.  Two of the neighborhood elders knocked on out door this morning to let us know about his passing and asking us to attend the ceremonies.  I don’t (didn’t)  own a black tie so I headed off to by one this morning.  Solid black ties are a necessity here in Japan and my wardrobe was incomplete with out one.  In the US we have the dollar store.  I don’t know if they sell black ties there but the do at the Japanese 100 yen store.  I bought a “black funeral tie” (it says so in English!) for just over a buck.  What a bargain!  Or, is it bad form to skimp on a tie for a funeral?

While I was looking for the tie I stumbled upon a few fun items.

How about some “Taping Tape.”  Is there another kind?  As an added bonus, it is the “fixing” type.  I suppose that’s in relation to the “breaking” type.  Or, maybe the “it doesn’t help but it shows that I am  injured ( so please have sympathy for me)tape.”

And, how about these panties!  They are disposable…and for men!

I’ll leave you to let you use your imagination as to how the English on the package is supposed to motivate us men to buy these “panties”.

-The Green Tea Dreamer