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Fireflies?
Jun. 19th, 2007 01:07 pmThat's an odd feeling.
After we moved to Japan four years ago, the next summer someone kindly offered to show us where the fireflies appear. So we drove a little ways into the country, up and over and down and parked at a bridge surrounded by rice paddies and hills. They turned their flashers on, and in a little while, we had small blue spots of light here and there. They seemed to respond to the flashers, and came flying over and crawling along. Somewhat smaller than my memories of American fireflies, and definitely blue where American ones are yellow. Also I think the American fireflies blink faster - a short burst and then out? While the Japanese ones seem to stay lit for some time.
Near the bridge, there's a nice spot to stop and look across a rice paddy to the black mass of bamboo and trees. And against that black background, there is a tapestry of light as the fireflies dance. Very nice.
Last year, we went back, and enjoyed it again.
Last night, we drove over once more. This time my wife had invited several of the graduate students to go with us, enough that we took two cars. And surprise! The three in my car, one post doc and two grad students, had never seen fireflies before. They chattered away on the way to the site, and then were surprisingly quiet on the way back except for exchanging "That was the first time I ever saw that" exclamations. I like to think they were hugging their memories of hotaru (fireflies).
But it feels strange to be the gaijin or foreigner and have done something so quintessentially Japanese, only to discover that many Japanese have never done it.
Perhaps we are all strangers in our own countries, needing to be reminded of what glories there are?
After we moved to Japan four years ago, the next summer someone kindly offered to show us where the fireflies appear. So we drove a little ways into the country, up and over and down and parked at a bridge surrounded by rice paddies and hills. They turned their flashers on, and in a little while, we had small blue spots of light here and there. They seemed to respond to the flashers, and came flying over and crawling along. Somewhat smaller than my memories of American fireflies, and definitely blue where American ones are yellow. Also I think the American fireflies blink faster - a short burst and then out? While the Japanese ones seem to stay lit for some time.
Near the bridge, there's a nice spot to stop and look across a rice paddy to the black mass of bamboo and trees. And against that black background, there is a tapestry of light as the fireflies dance. Very nice.
Last year, we went back, and enjoyed it again.
Last night, we drove over once more. This time my wife had invited several of the graduate students to go with us, enough that we took two cars. And surprise! The three in my car, one post doc and two grad students, had never seen fireflies before. They chattered away on the way to the site, and then were surprisingly quiet on the way back except for exchanging "That was the first time I ever saw that" exclamations. I like to think they were hugging their memories of hotaru (fireflies).
But it feels strange to be the gaijin or foreigner and have done something so quintessentially Japanese, only to discover that many Japanese have never done it.
Perhaps we are all strangers in our own countries, needing to be reminded of what glories there are?
