The second key word to understand American Culture: mixed

We were introduced to Yu's colleagues at the student center. They are all friendly professors of the engineering department. One of them is a Japanese professor who is teaching Japanese. We stood in a line to take several kinds of food together with the students. We talked about Japanese culture, haiku, and Japanese teaching over lunch. I could feel the American college student center atmosphere and then I thought I was in a film of the TV Beverly Hills story. After lunch Yu and Larry drove us to the Albany State Museum through a misty rain. It is huge. We saw the history of the American Indian and early American. The exhibits and models, everything was huge. One section may be equivalent to the whole building of our Prefectural Museum, which cost 16 billion yen.

The building was opposite the State Government Office. There was a huge shallow pool and a huge Egg between the two buildings. We walked beside the pool to a big modern building. It was a theater called the Egg. Under the pool and the Egg was a very large parking lot. We almost lost our way, because it is so bug. Even Larry could not find the exit.

The third key word: huge

The misty drizzle was going to stop in the late afternoon. We were taken to Hilary's place in the suburbs. Hilary is a music professor at Union College and she was once in Japan to practice shakuhachi, a bamboo flute, so she is quite interested in traditional Japanese culture. She is now influenced by Yu and very interested in haiku. They often enjoy taking a walk along the river and composing haiku. Her haiku posted to the Internet Shiki-list biweekly kukai often receives good points, and also she was the second prize winner of the 2nd Shiki Contest. She welcomed us with a big smile and her graceful collie dog, Anna. Her house is a country style log house in the large stretch of greensward. Neat and tidy. She said she could see squirrels and even deer in the garden. There are several big holes made by woodpeckers in the logs outside. The atmosphere was just like a scene of the book , " The little House in the Prairie”. Of course her house is bigger than Laura's. Just above her bed there is a small skylight. She can sleep under the starlight. A poet who lives in New York, Clark , who composes 5-7-5 syllable haiku and trains his students in a way of Zen Buddhism, joined us. We enjoyed wine and haiku talks. Yu had first posted a haiku to me and asked me to give him comment on his haiku, then he began to learn a lot about haiku through the Internet Shiki list. He was the winner of the 2nd Shiki Haiku Contest and now he is one of the leading Shiki members. I was asked some questions about traditional haiku regulations. I wished I could have practiced haiku more before. Since Yu is now leading biweekly kukai in the Shiki list with the cooperation of Hiromi, Yu and Hiromi were already good net friends and Yu was pleased to meet Hiromi and they looked like real brothers. Yu, Hilary and Clark are all sincere haiku lovers and they are eager to learn real traditional haiku spirit.

Yu invited us to a country farm breakfast. It was a lovely fine day.
We had a brunch at a terrace in a country house in the suburbs. Some bees were leisurely flying over the dishes and big dogs were gently looking at the guests beside the terrace. The food was nice and the salad and fruit juice were good. Apart from the good meal we were grateful to Yu for his friendly welcome. We felt very familiar to American people. He took us to the Airport again and was with us until we were really on board. I also felt we had known each other for a long time. Three months later, on Christmas Day I received a splendid Christmas gift from him. Beautiful roses and white gypsophs!!

On the way to the airport, the roads were fringed by abundant natural beauty, and we couldn’t help thinking of how the state government could administrate to maintain the nature as it was.

At the check-in counter, there was a problem with the tickets for Sumi and Hiromi. They were double booked and the computer could not find seats for them. It must have been the travel agent or DELTA's fault. After some negotiation they managed to get the tickets to Boston. Finally we said good by to Yu and we were all on board a propeller-driven plane.


We had a fine view of the east coast through floating clusters of soft white clouds all the way to Boston. Sometimes the plane flew into a big cloud, when the plane bobbed and the pretty flight attendant fell on her backside. Some people by the window saw the Statue of Liberty far away very small.

The fourth key word: friendly

Far from Japan in Boston we saw ancient Japanese paintings and ukiyoe. We also looked at many famous western paintings which had been influenced by the old Japanese artists. We bought museum goods at the museum shop. We had lunch at the museum restaurant and again I faced the key word, "huge". The sandwich was huge. It was a good idea for Hiroko and I to share a sandwich. Sumi looked really exhausted. He had not been sleeping well so far. Hiromi sneezed loudly and it made Sumi wake up. Only Sumi decided to go back to the hostel to sleep again. He has a beard and moustache and is heavy built, so he looks a strong and happy-go-lucky person, but apparently he is sensitive and delicate. While Hiroko and I were out in the town, he slept alone in our bedroom. Hiroko and I took the subway to the center of the city. There were so many tall buildings along the city streets , but they are well designed and go with the streets. The city is full of people and cars. Sea gulls fly near the subway station. We can walk around the city, so it is more human- oriented and vigorous than Los Angeles. Besides the city has a longer history than Los Angeles? The city reminded me of London. We invited Mr. Paul Mena to dinner at a good bar restaurant. He is a successful computer engineer and one of the leading Shiki-list members. He is an Spanish American and very handsome. He recommended the restaurant. It was a very nice modern American club with jazz. The customers were likely to be sophisticated business people. It was also another aspect of modern fashionable American society. The food was very good and the beer had a fragrant smell. We talked about the Shiki-list and haiku and many cultural things. I really had a good time, good food, beer and talks in a good place.

She drove us to the hotel and warned us that we must not go out at night because the hotel was next to a dangerous zone. She also said that she was going to invite us to dinner at a famous prestigious country club that evening. The hotel was incredibly cheap, but not so bad as we expected. We learned about the real American way of living there. We had two more hours for check-in. The toilet rooms on the lobby, the elevators and the hotel front desk, everything for many people were locked and we needed our own card key to enter them. Safety and water is just like air provided for us in Japan, but here in the States, we have to protect ourselves. I could hear shot sounds outside the hotel at midnight for the two nights.

The fifth key word: self-defense

When we were killing time until the check-in time, Andrea turned up all the way from Pittsburgh. Andrea was the first Shiki Internet Haiku Contest winner. The prize was tickets to Matsuyama. The Shiki team invited her in July 1996 on the star festival day and had an interesting event with the help of some volunteer groups. We served several kinds of special Matsuyama dishes which Masaoka Shiki used to eat as his favorite foods, which were mentioned in his essay, "Gyoga Manroku". Andrea stayed with our friend, Mrs. Mukai in Matsuyama. She enjoyed Matsuyama and Japan fully. This time in return for our invitation, she offered her time to us as a volunteer guide in Washington. She is now taking Ph.D. course at the University of Pittsburgh. She has become an even more charming and attractive woman than before. She must have something good in her recent life. She began to organize a student haiku group in the college. After we had checked in to the hotel room, we were guided to the periphery of the White House by Andrea. Again, spacious. Even the grand White House looked small in the spacious green park. The early autumn sky was clear, crisp and very blue. The flags of the Stars and Stripes were fluttering against the blue sky. Grand buildings stands along the streets, and some tourists with different ethnic backgrounds were walking slowly, some business people were walking fast and some homeless men were strolling and shouting. Spacious and diverse. We walked to the Washington Tower Monument and walked back to the hotel. Even if we walked only a few blocks, we felt as if we had walked through the whole town. Worn out.

The sixth and seventh word: spacious and diverse

In the morning we took a walk and had a nice buffet style breakfast at a restaurant near the hotel. The price was reasonably low and the food was just what we wanted. After breakfast we went to Kristen's father in-law's home. It was a typical Georgian style house. He used to be a consul in Okinawa and he was very interested in collecting Japanese antiques. All the rooms were neat and well decorated by these collections. It was like a small exhibition hall. The second floor was a special guest room with a balcony which was designed after a Japanese garden. We could hear cicadas singing. Ellen Compton had waited for us. She is a writer and a keen haiku poet. She was also a member of HSA delegate of the Japan -U.S. haiku conference at Tokyo and at the reception party I sat next to her and we talked with each other. She came to Matsuyama ,too.Å@We were both excited and pleased to meet again. Kristin and Ellen were our volunteer guides that morning. We went to the Lincoln Memorial. It is built of grand marble stones. The statue of Lincoln was again splendid and magnificent . I was very impressed to see his big smile and fingers which shows a sign language. In memory of our encounter and reunion we took a picture of the Shiki team and American haiku poets in front of the statue of Lincoln. Far opposite in the distance stands the majestic Washington Memorial Tower. The two great men were really giants. Between the two giants' monuments lies the reflecting pool into which Forrest Gump jumped. A Refreshing late summer breeze was gently rubbing the surface of the pool and made peaceful ripples. On the side of the pool some geese were standing in a line and others were swimming over the fine ripples leisurely. They were enjoying a short time of peace. Looking at some little squirrels sometimes hopping and running on the green bank beside the promenade, we took a walk along the pool under the shade of the trees, talking about haiku concept and how to appreciate Japanese traditional art and its aesthetic space. The walk was a kind of ginko, a haiku walk.

The discussion about haiku literature was very informative and inspiring at lunch. Both Kristen and Ellen are great. They are very active busy women, but they were very kind to take time to meet us. Thanks to them our trip became very fruitful. Andrea was our afternoon guide. Although we were very tired, we could not miss American culture. We went to the Space Science Museum. We saw models of space shuttles and some other space ships. Andrea gave me a souvenir of space ice cream. The museum is full of information on space and we can share the astronauts experience through some exhibits and models, but my curiosity gave in to my feet's pain. I really understood why American people worked hard to invent roller skates shoes and cars.

September 12 Departure from Washington D.C.

Now we were on our way back to Japan. We got up at 3:00 a.m. and left the hotel at 4:00 a.m. Since our flight was very early from Kennedy Airport which was far from the hotel, our taxi dove along the high way at full speed in the dark. The plane flew over the vast continent which has extensive plain fields, deserts, rugged mountains, and lakes. It was flying across over diverse lands further and further. Under my eyes the land was never ending. Our plane landed on Cincinnati, Seattle and Portland, where Sumi and Hiromi had arrived earlier. At Portland Airport we were informed that Sumi's and Hiromi's tickets were overbooked and they would not have seats. They would not be able to return with us!! It must have been the DELTA Airline’s fault. But the women-clerks at DELTA counter were busy announcing to ask volunteers to stay in Portland, which would be paid for by DELTA. If the same thing were to happen in Japan, the airline people would be desperately busy apologizing and explaining to take responsibility, but the DELTA ladies never apologized and looked very firm so that passengers would not be able to complain or protest. They are used to having such problems. Sumi was supposed to have an important class on 16, so he had to go back home as soon as possible, but Hiromi seemed to be happy to stay alone. As usual some seats were canceled, so finally after an hour all double booked seats were open and all members could go back to Japan together as scheduled.

The tenth key word: no apology

Across the Pacific Ocean again, we at last got back to Narita. The trip was great. We were welcomed by many kind people. The intelligent cultural discussion inspired us a lot. Seeing a different culture deepened my life. I was almost overwhelmed by the energy of the huge country, and all I wanted to do at Narita Airport was to lie down on futon and sleep at full length. Plain, mixed, huge, friendly, self-defense,spacious, diverse, giants, generosity and no apology were the key words for me to understand the U.S. on my own. We are very grateful to all the friends we met in the US for taking time with us. We are pleased to know haiku is spreading into the States and we can share the moment to appreciate natural beauty with each other. We put the questionnaire on our web page, too. Up to now we have received over 100 replies from all over the world. Haiku is really a symbol of international peace and understanding. I hope that my personal impressions are observations of life in the U.S. for only a week are interesting to you even if you feel that they are not always completely accurate.