A month has slipped by since my last email, when I told you all I was staying another year in Japan. The humidity of the rainy season and the summer heat are now upon us. Stepping outside most days last week was like stepping into the locker room of a warm pool – the air seemed to wrap around me like a wet towel. We escaped yesterday, on a rare sunny day, to go to the beach. I went with Pat Murphy, a tall, laid-back American guy who teaches at Amity children’s school, Pat’s girlfriend, Ayako, who works with him and Jun, a good-looking young guy who’s a friend of Pat’s and Seiji’s. Seiji had gone earlier with Kei – they just couldn’t wait. Martin and Yumi went rock-climbing first, and then joined us. Aki and Junko came too, so we had an impromptu beach party.

The Sea of Japan is still cool, and after the first shock of immersion, it was bliss to be in the water. The salt water is actually good for me, I think. With the heat and humidity, I usually have some skin problems at this time of year, but I always feel better after swimming. Ayako hadn’t brought a bathing suit, but Pat persuaded her to put on his shorts and came in. She looked awfully cute in his oversized pants, with the belt cinched as far in as it would go. We had a couple of Frisbees – I always try to bring mine on outings like this – and a game began on the beach and migrated into the water. Frisbee in the water is much, much harder than on land, but no one seemed to care much. Jun ran like a tireless, eager puppy after the Frisbee; just watching him made me tired! Everyone seemed a little lazy afterward, lolling on blankets in the sun or burying each other in sand. Kei loved the sand; he kept burying himself in it, or piling it on his belly. His wife, Yukiko, didn’t come – she’s having her baby in August (coincidentally due on my birthday) and is pretty tired in this heat. I’m trying to organize a baby shower for them, but baby showers aren’t very common here.

The last month, since I made my decision to stay, has been strange. I’m into my second year here, so I have a normal routine; everything is not as new anymore. I kind of miss the constant discovery of my first year. And things are changing, too. Everyone is busy now, and a lot of people I know who are Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in the schools through the JET program are leaving at the end of this month. None of my closest friends are going, but I’ll miss people like Cat, a blunt, earthy, funny Australian girl who was here for four years. She’s going home to finish her Masters. So there are a lot of parties, and events, this month as everyone says farewell to each other and to Matsue. Some are sad, now that the time has come, others are desperate to go, and a few are both at once. It’s like a prolonged end of summer camp, a time I always hated.

And the day I agreed to stay at AEON, Ryoko told me she was quitting. That was around the fifth of June, but I soon realized she had known for at least six months. That was when Miyuki became the new assistant manager; she’s been learning the skills she needed to replace Ryoko. I wondered why we had a manager and two assistant managers in this small branch, but I never dreamed it was because Ryoko was leaving. She says she wants to work days, because her father’s not well and her family wants her home at night. I was shocked, and felt a little betrayed, especially because she waited until I made my decision to tell me. I don’t think her departure would have changed my decision, but I would have liked to know all the facts. Miyuki is nervous at replacing Ryoko, and no wonder; Ryoko was a good manager, capable of making tough decisions, and the school did well under her. I’m nervous, too; I like Miyuki a lot, but she’s not as tough as Ryoko. And Machiko is also new and untried, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Seiji is working three jobs now. From Tuesday to Saturday he opens Kaya around 8 or 9 pm. Most nights Kaya is very quiet, and he practices guitar or uses his computer there. I usually stop by with Martin, Yumi or Cody on Wednesdays; sometimes we watch movies. I’ve seen many of the Studio Gibli animated films now, in Japanese with English subtitles. I recommend My Neighbour Totoro (I love, love, love this one), Spirited Away and Naussica of the Valley of the Wind. I saw some of them in Canada, but after living in Japan I get so much more out of them. Also, maybe the saddest movie I have ever seen is a Gibli film. Hotaru no Haka, or Grave for Fireflies, is the story of two orphaned children who survive the firebombing of Kobe, only to fall through the cracks of the fragmented postwar society in Japan. Driven off by a selfish aunt and choosing to fend for themselves, they set up a home in a bomb shelter by the river. I won’t tell you anymore, except to say I cried in the first five minutes of it. I watched it with Yumi and Martin, and we just couldn’t speak for many minutes after it ended.

Anyway, Seiji works at Kaya, and he’s teaching a beginner’s TOEIC course at the university. And last month he started his third job, working about 25 hours a week for a real estate company. His job is to maintain the website and to take pictures of the apartments that the company rents out. He seems to enjoy it, although until the end of the month (when the TOEIC class ends), he’ll be tired most of the time. He’s still talking about giving up Kaya, but he hasn’t made any final decisions yet. He bought Kaya from the previous owner, but he can’t sell it; in the depressed economy in Matsue, no one’s going to buy a hole-in-the-wall little bar like Kaya. It’s too bad. I have a lot of affection for this charming, quiet little place.

Cleve is closing ARGO in September. It’s too expensive to maintain the shop, and the bar doesn’t make enough money to balance it. His English school is doing well, though, so he’s going to rent a place where he can teach. But even he is talking about leaving Matsue sometime. It’s hard for a foreigner to make long-term plans in Japan.

Yumi and Martin finally had it out. I’ve spent a year not really knowing the status of their relationship. I knew Yumi really liked him, I knew he felt differently, but they spend so much time together. I have to admit, I was curious – especially considering Seiji and I went through something similar. Well, Yumi finally told me; she was stressed and unhappy and called me over to her place and, over a bottle or two of wine, I got much of the story. Yumi loves Martin, and they had an intimate but amorphous relationship which never amounted to dating. But Martin has an ex-girlfriend in Japan, too, Michie, who he often visited on holidays and who visited him here, to Yumi’s sour chagrin (I knew about Michie, and even had coffee with her, Martin and Yumi on a slightly awkward morning last fall). But now Martin has started dating a new girl, Miho, in Matsue and he tried inviting her to go rock-climbing with the gang. And Yumi put her foot down. No way was she hanging out with Martin’s new squeeze. So they had THE TALK, and she told me he was ‘much more emotionally immature’ than she had thought, but willing to talk and listen. They have salvaged a friendship, and on the outside it looks the same, but Yumi’s feeling better, although a little heartsore. Martin had a hideous week, though. The day he and Yumi talked, and he told her he was actually dating Miho, his ex-girlfriend paid a surprise visit, all the way from Fukushima or thereabouts. When I saw him, in the middle of all this drama, he was looking drawn and ragged. My opinion? He’s lucky he’s a nice guy, who attracts nice women, or he’d be shredded in pieces all over the city right now. For such a smart guy, he’s remarkably stupid about girls and their feelings.

And me? Oh, heck. I’m enjoying my work, for the most part. I’ve almost completed my counselling, until the next round in November. My students make me happy. I like almost all of them, although I’m not really close to any of them. It’s a busy time. I have a lot of classes, many of them private lessons, and since many of my students signed up for self-study courses, I have a lot of check-tests, like ‘mini-lessons’ with them, to practice and talk. I enjoy them, but they eat away at my preparation time. I’m feeling lazy outside of work – my jogging has dropped down to about once a week, and that was before I had the damp tropical heat as an excuse. I’ve upped my Japanese study, because I’m thinking of taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December, but I feel my progress is slow and I forget things as soon as I learn them.

I guess with everybody wrapped up in doing their own things, I don’t feel really close to many people here. Seiji and I get along, but since the break-up and aftermath there’s a wall of caution between us. I feel it’s difficult for me to get close to people; I’m friendly, but reserved. I’ve never been one to ask for help, or to volunteer information about myself. So I want to get beyond that, and get closer to the people I value here. 

I think I went through something like this last year, when the weather was grey and wet for so long. The breathless weather seems to affect everybody. People are hot and bothered and listless, because the dampness squeezes the oxygen out of the air. I can hardly wait for the storms that signal the impending end of the rainy season.

Yours truly, though hot and sweaty,

Sarah