Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Baring All and Our National Pastime

© David Greenfield


We were stark naked, lathered up, and clutching hand held shower heads, all while crouched on postage stamp sized foot stools. Awkward?… perhaps, but our condition was standard operating procedure in preparation for a healing soak in the ryokan’s (inn’s) hot mineral infused pool just outside. The other guys in the slippery line-up were Japanese; no surprise, we were in Japan. I sported the only Caucasian face. Aside from anatomical traits all men share, we had almost nothing in common, certainly not a common tongue. Well maybe not. With the pre-soak regimen completed and only our heads bobbing above steamy waters, a magical connection soon unfolded.

It started with a few back and forth darting glances …. then an audible from Otaro, the good friend I was about to make. Without minimizing his observational skills, it wasn’t a reach for Otaro to surmise I might be an Anglo. He broke the ice, figuratively, by offering up a greeting with his best but broken English. Since his ‘best’, while admirable, was on par with my meager Japanese, I promptly reciprocated with my ‘best’. And so a cross-cultural conversation was born. It quickly passed through infancy and adolescence reaching adulthood when I uttered the two words which in the year 2013 instantly transcended respective native languages and bound us together – RED SOX.

Boston’s nine was not only baseball’s reigning champs, but over the course of the past season the Sox accomplished nothing short of a miracle; they went from their league’s last place to first. But the boys weren’t done until completing another improbable feat, clinching a coveted World Series victory! And what was the Sox’ secret sauce …. UEHARA and TAZAWA, the two formidable Japanese pitchers on staff. Mere mention of their names, national heroes to my companions, and our hot tub crew seamlessly became family, and a tight knit one at that. But the best was yet to come.


It started with a mysterious knock at my door later that night when a veil of quiet and dimmed lights had already descended on the ryokan. Who could it be, and why was someone there in the shadows? ….. To find out, watch for my next post, Ryokan Revelry. Until then, why not use the sign up (upper right corner of this page) to automatically receive these periodic posts. Visit my web site anytime to view the Galleries, Photo-essays, and read previous blog posts. For now, sayonara.