For many decades this group has raised funds mainly through the proceeds of an annual Print Show. My role in the 2009 Print Show involved setting up a one-woman show for 96-year-old Shinoda-sensei. "My body may be getting older, but my work is always getting better," she told us while serving tea in her atelier. Museums around the world display her mural-sized shodo (Japanese calligraphy). "I love New York!" she told me, recounting how the Rockefellers sponsored her visit in the 1950s. "Great fish!"
The panel gathered at the Hachiko exit of Shibuya station one nippy weekend morning before the shops opened. (The dog Hachiko, now memorialized forever by Richard Gere, famously frequented this station long after his master's demise.) Only Dean & De Luca was open and serving. Perhaps their shop on 85th and Madison Avenue is a rip off, but here it's a familiar friend; even I proudly carry the canvas D & D "eco" bag. A 10 minute trudge uphill ended at a government building, which residents can arrange to use free of charge. Already the first candidate has arrived.
The first two candidates, both from Mongolia, spoke English better than me. "I am working on a Master's in International Relations and hope to study in the USA, " the first one shared. She spoke of her studies in St Petersburg and we exchanged pleasantries in Russian, which surprisingly emerged from some ancient chamber of my memory. Eventually, I led her into the lion's den. The second one was a neuroscientist. When the third candidate explained her field (comparative cultures, Korea and Japan), I secretly hoped that she had other irons in the fire. Next, an illustrator from the United Kingdom, followed by another scientist from Mongolia. Listening to the dreams of these determined young women, the morning vanished.
I feel guilty killing an hour with the Sunday Times crossword.
I love the continuation of Tomorrow In Tokyo.
ReplyDeleteArigatou, belatedly.
ReplyDelete