Taguchi encounters

I was dying for some basil, but there was none to be had, either fresh or dried. I decided that, despite its being the end of the summer, I would plant some.

At the first store I went to looking for seeds (they had dirt and planters out front), there were no seeds, but a friendly old obaasan (granny) who introduced me to her daughter, who was a modern artist with an upcoming exhibition in Nagoya. She showed me her work, and she told me how her daughter lived in London, so we were able to speak some English. Who woulda thunk that there was a house full of award-winning abstract art down the street from me? Basil was a bust, but at least I got a dose of culture.

I gave up on basil for the day, and went to meet my friend (and predecessor) Ben. When I met him, he was having a conversation with a very petite obaasan who was talking a mile a minute. I introduced myself, and she bantered on without the usual pauses to make sure that my foreign mind was absorbing it all. She went on about how it was really too expensive to bring presents all of her friends in nursing homes, or even to get to the ones in Hokkaido, but that now was the O-bon holiday, and all the dead relatives were going to come in to visit tonight anyway. Then, very abruptly, she started talking about how foreigners eat a lot of meat, but it makes them tall. "And, I watch those movies where the foreigners kiss, and it's so wonderful! The foreigners definitely have us Japanese beat in the kissing department!"

That is exactly what she said.


Back to the great basil hunt - yesterday morning, Ozzie neighbor Hamish and I walked through the entire downtown, but not even a suggestion of basil seeds. Finally we were walking past a florist near my work, and Hamish pointed to the plants lined up outside. "These are all basil! Why plant when you can get a fresh pot!" I walked into the unmanned, darkened store. The inside seemed to be some sort of stationary store. "Hello! Excuse me?"

Finally, a middle aged woman appeared from the back. I told her I wanted to buy one of her basil plants. She looked shocked, then laughed, "Oh, those aren't for sale. But I can give you one."

I tried to refuse, but she picked out a plant that had BOTH basil and the Japanese green, shiso. I was rather embarrassed, but now I have my own, very much alive and fresh, basil plant.