Community

graduation ceremony of a local elementary school

This entry came in delay but hey, better late than nothing.  On the second day of my arrival to Kagoshima, i followed my host father in a small truck to sell tofu products around the village. A list of usual customers was logged in advance and we drove by their houses one by one, which scattered around the village, and knocked at their door to see if they would like to purchase anything. At one of the houses lives alone an old lady of age probably over 65. When we slide-opened the door, I saw that 140 yen was already sitting at the door and she was clearly expecting us. I passed over a block of 木綿 tofu as my host father exchanged a few greetings and introduced me. She nodded  at me sweetly, said some encouraging words and we receded. My host father later said many of the aged residents in the village barely leave the house since many of them have difficulty walking and driving is out of question as well. With limited interaction with outside, the brief exchange seemed to be something they look for in a day. We continued circling around the village, and my host father would say something about the weather, and occasionally asked about the sons/daughters of the households if he knew about them. Their children are usually working in some cities far away from the village that I was at. They only come back during the holidays in 年末 and お盆.

After dinner on the following day, while I was chatting with the host parents over tea, an announcement of a male voice broke out from nowhere. Alerted, I looked around the house, and my host mother pointed to a corner in the kitchen space. There was a small broadcasting device. The announcer was saying that a villager has passed away tonight. "1 person less...the town has exactly 8900 people now" I thought to myself. My host father later told me that the announcement system was a good way to keep everyone informed of the up-and-about of the village since it is a small community.  Sad news or good news, everyone shares the sadness and the joy that comes around.

Everything in this town was of novelty to me but it all felt so right. I never knew my neighbors growing up nor had I lived in a small town my entire life. To me, "community" has always been a distanced concept that I could not relate to. When people said they wanted to give back and contribute to the community that they grew up with, I always dumbfounded. But the two-week in Kagoshima has substantiated the meaning of a community for me - though it might be late, I think I have retrieved a part of me that has till then never been there.