Kelly Azuma

I was really looking forward to Christmas. Usually we sit around twiddling our thumbs and looking at each other on Christmas day. Well since we made quite a few friends in the area we built our house, this year we got an invite to one of our new close friend’s house to have Christmas dinner with her family. We were meant to sleep over and all go out on Boxing day (next day) too.

Then yesterday Yasu dropped the bombshell that he was working both Christmas day and the next day. I was very upset, how could he do that to me? When my mum and sister found out he was working they just looked at me like something weird was going on. They think it’s rude because everyone wants the day off to spend with family. Everyone except Yasu.

The thing is, we had just gotten through talking about the Japanese house guest from hell (JHGFH), and what she had done wrong. Yasu had told me that she was in the wrong because she “had gone against our culture.”  Now he’s doing the same thing!!

I don’t know about other countries that celebrate Christmas day, but in Australia it’s unheard of to work if you don’t have to. And he doesn’t have to. He wants to get some work finished before the other workers get back from their holidays. Holidays! What’s that?

He can’t even see how embarrassing it is going to be for me to go to our friend’s house and have everyone wondering why he’s not there. The conversation will be something like this:

Person: “Hi! Merry Xmas! Where’s Yasu?”
Me: “He didn’t come”
Person: “Oh, why not?”
Me: “He’s working today”
Person: “What? He’s working today? Why?”
Me: “Because he wants to..”
Person: “Oh…”
Awkward silence. Person makes an excuse and crosses to the other side of the room so they don’t have to look at me.

Tonight i was wrapping presents, he didn’t offer any help. He hasn’t come Christmas shopping with me, i had to lug all the ingredients for tomorrow’s food home on the bus because he wouldn’t come pick me up.

It makes me feel so mad. Can’t he just go along with our culture? Just for two days. Christmas is a very important time for me. It’s not a time for feeling abandoned and alone. I should be spending tomorrow with him at my friends place but i’ll be alone at my friend’s place. Of course, i’m happy to be with my friends and they don’t mind, but the point is, i shouldn’t be celebrating without my other half. And why did he have to do it now we have a place to go? I just don’t want him to insult our friends like that by telling everyone at the last minute he’s working. It makes them feel like he’d rather work than go to their house.

Also, if he knew he was going to cancel Christmas on me, why didn’t he just tell me at the beginning of December instead of two days before? How come he celebrated all the Christmassy things when JHGFH was here but not with me. The mind boggles.

So tomorrow i will be doing my best to have a good day without him. Hopefully he’ll have gone to work before i get up so i don’t have to see his face. Otherwise i’ll just remember get mad again.

To all my readers, thank you for reading and i wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a great day wherever you are in the world.

Love,

Kelly

After lamenting the fact that a friend had received a Summons To Juror earlier this year, and that i had never, it was such a surprise to find one in my letterbox yesterday afternoon!

On January the 19th i’ve been summoned to attend the court to sit in on jury duty. On the documentation received it states that jurors usually sit for between 1 and 5 days, or longer depending on if the accused pleads guilty or not guilty.

For my time i get paid $30/day plus transportation costs to and from the court house. I had no idea they paid people. My interest is mainly about seeing how it works and if it’s as good as watching Criminal Intent on tv. Somehow i think it will be different in real life, especially as it’s real people’s lives that are on display.

Since Japan has only recently started to bring jury duty into effect in Japan, Yasu has never served as a juror so he is quite interested in it too. Sadly for him he won’t be able to serve as a juror unless he becomes an Australian citizen, which won’t happen because that would mean he would have to give up Japanese citizenship.

My mum thinks i’m nuts for getting excited about jury duty as every time she has been summoned she wrote in an excuse why she couldn’t serve because she hated the thought of doing it. I think most people are like that. I guess i’m just an oddball who watches too many crime shows on tv!

Whenever i meet new people and they find out my husband is Japanese, the first question they ask is “can you speak Japanese?”

As these people gradually become my friends, over time, i’m starting to get badgered about what i’m doing with my life. At least once a month a friend will turn to me and say something like “why don’t you make use of your Japanese language abilities? It’s such a waste.”

Others seem to think that if you don’t have a high paying job using your abilities then all that study has gone to waste. I’ve never felt that way.

I started studying Japanese in 2nd year of high school and continued until i left. I picked up Japanese very easily and found i had a natural ability for it. I got A’s all the way through school and finally became Dux of Japanese in 1994.

When i left high school i didn’t have any clear ideas about what i wanted to do with my life so i enrolled in a 1 year diploma of Japanese at Tafe (a government college). After completing the diploma i started applying for university and was accepted at Murdoch university where i completed a 3 year Bachelor of Asian Studies, majoring in Japanese.

As i grew up in a poor family, it was not the done thing to do something just because i liked it. I had to have a reason. I convinced myself i wanted to be a Japanese translator. Whenever someone found out what i was studying at university and they asked me what i wanted to do, that was the answer i gave them.

By the end of my degree i had met Yasu and we had started living together. We got married, and my language abilities became useful for communication with my in-laws as none of them speak English.

Some people find it hard to believe that Yasu and i don’t speak Japanese. Yasu just doesn’t want to speak Japanese to me. But that’s not really a problem for me, i don’t really mind. I think he feels that he would rather speak English as we are in Australia, not Japan.

I speak Japanese with Yasu’s family and my own Japanese friends. I also write letters to my friends and Yasu’s family in Japan, in fact his mum and i are just like pen-friends, we write to each other every week.

It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where i think it’s ok to say, the reason i studied Japanese for so long was for fun. I enjoyed it, and i still do.

I study on my own still, with a textbook, online, and with some Kanji programs on Nintendo DS. I like to practice, but not because i’ll forget. I’ve never had trouble remembering Japanese, it always stays in my head, even if i don’t study.

So all those years ago, if i had come out and said i was going to university because it was fun, i wouldn’t have made a burden for myself. I wouldn’t have friends and family expecting me to do great things with my ability.

Simply communicating with my in-laws and friends is enough for me. I also like being able to read the labels on Japanese food products. I like to be able to read the kanji of signs when i’m in Japan, and any documents that i have to fill out. I like to be able to go on Yahoo Japan and buy things online or read the daily news. I like to use my Softbank mobile phone and send messages to friends in Japanese. I love watching Japanese tv and understanding everything they’re talking about.

For me it’s not a waste.

There has been a cat meowing around our house for about 2 weeks. At first i thought it was a tom cat looking for a mate, but when i had an up-close look it’s very skinny and it’s bones are sticking out. My mum and sister had told me to befriend it and give it some food but i thought i shouldn’t as Yasu is very much against getting a pet.

This morning it was raining and thundering and i heard it meowing in the backyard. The humanitarian part of me just couldn’t ignore the poor thing any longer. I got a small saucer and put some milk in and crept out the back to the side of the house. It wouldn’t come near me, and skitters away at any move near it, which leads me to believe it may have been abused.

I crept as near as possible and put the saucer of milk down and went away. It furiously lapped all the milk up, but wouldn’t respond to my “here puss puss”, so i got some more milk for it, but it started to rain so i went inside. When the rain stopped i went back out and the milk was all gone, but so was the cat.

I didn’t think anymore of it, but while i was typing i saw the cat creep past the window, it came to  the side door and sat there meowing.

I went and scrounged around in in the pantry but the only tuna i had was some lemon and cracked pepper flavour. I put a spoonful in a saucer and moved it towards the cat, and lo and behold it came up and devoured it. It was licking the bowl like it wanted more so i put the rest of the can in the saucer and watched while it ate it all. It kept licking the saucer (this is more like a Japanese sauce bowl, so not a big saucer), so i found the other can of tuna with lemon in the pantry and emptied it into the bowl. I left the cat to eat it alone, and just now when i checked, the saucer only has a little bit left and the cat is sitting very satisfied under the patio table.

I’ve put a box out there, laid on its side with a folded up towel inside, just incase the cat wants to get in. I’m not sure if it will, but i want to let it know that it’s safe here.

Yasu will be none too pleased when he finds out, but my concious won’t let me be if i ignore the cat any longer.

I would say i’m not a “cat person”. I’ve always been surrounded by dogs, and have had my own pet dog who passed away 2 years ago. I wanted to get another dog but Yasu wouldn’t hear of it. Somehow this stray has come into my life…

I will keep you posted on what happens with the cat. It will be a slow process if this cat really has been abused. I don’t think it will ever trust humans again. The only thing i can really do is give it food and love but keep my distance.

I’ll have to get Yasu to take me up the shop tonight so i can get some proper cat food and biscuits.

Have you ever taken in a stray cat or dog? Do you have any advice or comments?