A surprise from Japan

Photo of Osaka at night.



The mystery package 

An unexpected parcel arrived at my house  yesterday.  Very exciting as it was marked Japan post and was festooned with labels for the  customs and postal services. I spotted that the sender's name was Aiko and the city of origin was Osaka . Aiko was a student of mine when she lived in Wales and I taught her English. This was some 5 years ago. I used to travel to her home on the eastern edge of Cardiff most weeks and give her an English lesson. We have kept in touch since she returned to Osaka and last year she met my second Japanese student , Mari in Tokyo. The two had not met before.

A few of the towels 


The parcel contained five. small face cloth size towels. Each is about 8 inches square.  They are beautifully hand made with  illustrations of animals in lovely pastel colours - pink , lemon, green, dark green and orange, lilac , photo above, and cream. The maker's  name is embroidered on each one. 

Aiko explained in a card  accompanying the gift that they are to be used when visiting toilets when out in the city to dry one's  hands. It seems hand dryers are not in use in Japan because of covid  19.  It is likely that  driers could be a means of spreading infection.  They  are still in use here  in the U.K but it will certainly be preferable to have my on own little hand  towel when out and about .  Aiko said she wants me to have a healthy summer. It is very pleasant to know I am being thought of.

The towels came in a white  drawstring  bag  illustrated with pink flowers and shells and  bearing the words WATASHI NO HEYA. From what I can determine on google this means ' My room ' There is a website with the same name in Japan  where a wide selection of pretty and practical products are sold. 


Osaka is 6, 000 miles away from Barry where I live. How many people and  what different means of transport were involved in bringing that small package to me ?
  On the south coast of Honshu, Japan's main island, Osaka  is 250 miles from Tokyo. 
The climate is humid and subtropical. In the centre of the photo above you see the outer fortifications and reconstructed 16th century castle with high rise buildings behind

One day I plan to visit Osaka and meet Aiko again. I  also want to travel to Tokyo and meet up with my other Japanese student , Mari.  When will this be? Well  it all depends when Covid 19 is vanquished or we find a vaccine to counteract it. Next year I hope but nothing is certain.

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