Kashiwara-shi Home Memory

Kashiwara was briefly our home for a year and a half. Between 2001 and 2002, my husband, me and our two cats rented a house literally a minute from a private language school (Eigo no Juku) I worked at. It was owned by the owners of my school like everything else in the neighbourhood. We paid $200 plus electricity another $100-$200, depending on a season. We would always pay more in winters because of the heater. There was never enough heat. And the humid would make it feel even worse than it really was. No snow, no below zero temperatures, still, without central heating it was challenging.

Can you imagine. We paid $400 a month for our two story house fully furnished, clean and with talking appliances! Can you find accommodation anywhere in Toronto for this price? I can give my right hand that you cannot! And Japan has a reputation for being expensive! I can tell you right now it is the best country to live and raise a family! Everything is affordable! 

I worked at a private school so my working day would start at 12:00-13:00 and finish at 8:00-9:00 in the evening. I was the only one working but it was sufficient since I made a very good living! I would come home in the evening. No commute, just a minute long walk across a parking lot and through a small space between buildings and I was home. We would sit down, watch sumo wrestling or the news and eat our very late dinners. The kotatsu was inviting and the chairs were comfy. After dinner I would just put the plate aside on the floor and start sketching.

This is a sketch of a sake vase that Bart had made in Tokushima with a famous potter in Otani, a flower vase I got from my student as a going away present, and an album of our cats growing up. These three were always on the kotatsu as a decoration. We kept incense in the vase Bart made. On one of the cold winter weekends I took out my paints and started a painting. I got the light and dark from the sketch and a colour from looking at the colours in real life.

 I painted this one in almost half darkness. The source light was only from the TV. I realise that it was a big strain on my eyes but it gave me the atmosphere and the ambient that I thought was needed. Later, the next morning, I would see the real colours, in day light. I don't think it turned out too bad! I am surprised I didn't draw cats more, since they were all over my life in Kashiwara-shi. I had two bossy felines at home and outside our door there lived a mother with 3 kittens that we helped to raise. Every time we would open our house door the two fronts would not mix but stay close to each other to have a closer look, like sea water in Naruto!