octogenarian

Prairie Post (Today from Kyoto)

by

Prairie Post

May 25, 2014

(Today from Kyoto)

It has warmed up a bit this last week, here in this city of tradition and splendor. The sun is beginning to dominate during the day, and everybody is aware that the rainy season is expected to take over soon. Humidity has set in, and all signs suggest that there will be an important shift in the weather pattern.

The older generation knows that it is time to work in their fields and gardens. Rice shoots are showing their green leaves and are flooded by artificial lakes of water. Tractors are driving through the muddy, water-covered fields to bring some order to the fields. Men and women wearing their conical rice hats tend the grounds to inspect the season’s crop and thin out the plants. Rice means life and livelihood in Japan.

Women in the city carry their summer parasols as shields from the sun’s damaging rays. Kimono wearers are choosing light fabric with beautiful summer flower designs. And the more modern inclined generation chooses high heels over comfortable sandals. They wobble one step at a time, they hold on to railings when walking up stairs, but they feel proud to master the art of high-heel quavering. This city is full of contrasts: Business people in their dark suits sit next to students in jeans and t-shirts. Women in kimonos walk next to tourists in shorts and sleeveless tops.  Every fashion is spotted here in the city.

The younger generation does not mind breaking some of the conventional rules. Oh no, there is a young man eating a sandwich in the subway. He sheepishly tries to hide the food in his bag, but we all saw this! Oh no, there is a young women who did not cover her shoulders. Perhaps she is just returning from the Western world. Did she think we would not notice? Oh no, there is a young man who receives a phone call in the subway. He jumps up from his seat and runs toward the corner. Too late, young man!  We heard the ring loud and clear.

Kyoto – the city of temples and castles, and shrines, and gates – Nijo castle shows all its splendor on this late spring afternoon. The gold-platen gate promises a grand place inside. The Togugawa Shoguns built this wonderful palace containing paintings of tigers and leopards crouching under protective pine trees, of hawks and egrets, searching their next meal. The tatami rooms open to the most beautiful garden of trees, lakes, and magnificent boulders.  How generous the space, covering more than 275,000 square meters.

And then we find the path leading to the Fushimi Inari gates; more than 30,000 torii gates, they say, lead to the top of the mountain, stairs up, stairs up, and more stairs up. We can only image what the guardian foxes would say. Inari is the God of Rice, so they plant a holy rice field here to honor the higher being. And then there are stairs, stairs up, up, and more stairs up. They walk through red-orange painted gates. It’s been said that the bright color scares evil away. As the path leads to the top of the mountain – oh, did we mention, stairs up, up, and more stairs up – hikers seem to become younger and younger the farther one follows the path – perhaps these steps lead to the path of youth? People at any age would be easily convinced to turn around after having passed through perhaps the first 18,000 gates. But they keep walking, and walking, and walking, stairs up, stairs up, and more stairs up, until they reach the shrine on top of the mountain. People come to pray, press their palms, clap twice, bow, and pray. People come to face the city and play the recorder, a contemplative melody that transcends through the woods. People come here to pronounce a life that is well lived, they blow a conch-shell horn as if they had an important announcement for the rest of the world. This is a special place, a path up a challenging mountain. After a brief rest, visitors slowly descent to the base, down the stairs, and more stairs, and more stairs down.

The longevity researchers who had come from all over the world have now left town after discussing their secrets. There was much debate about FOXO-3, about the importance of social support, about life satisfaction, and gender differences; there was discussion about frailty, the importance of leisure activity, and loneliness, the importance of dental care, quality of life and personality, and debate about culture, about eating regular full meals, particularly those containing leucine. A historian shared his unique finding: a proclamation of how the people of Nara were to treat centenarians around 900 anno domini.  At that time, centenarians were entitled to receive a whole year’s worth of rice on their birthday and they were authorized to be cared for by four caregivers (three if you were an octogenarian). What an incentive for long life, here, in this classic city where people still like to wear kimonos, where there are torii gates everywhere, and where young people like to bend the rules, if only from time to time.

Prairie Post (this time from Hong Kong)

by

Prairie Post

5-10-11

(this time from Hong Kong)

It is hot in this town, very hot and very sticky.  The mountains calmly compete with skyscrapers for height and splendor. Thick clouds move steadily between these man-made and nature-made giants.  Nobody here seems to mind the oppressing weather, people are surrounded by the South Asian Sea; salt water must flow in their veins.  They don’t need rain; they have enough humidity filling the space around them.

Space is always on their mind, here is this city of seven million, space is essential.  Here, they tear down 20-story skyscrapers so that they can replace them with 40-story skyscrapers.  The only way to create real estate is to move vertically. People live in small compartments, people work in small compartments, people move in small compartments.  Space is the most precious commodity here.

Space is also important to Philippine workers who have a day off and find their gathering place on the sidewalks.  They meet with family and friends and orchestrate the largest picnic festival in the city. No matter the weather, it is time to gather for this hard-working ethnic group.

Living space consists of a double bed and a small two-foot space from bed to window.  Two people cannot move in this space at the same time, unless they also move vertically over bed and over chairs and over suitcases.  Space is the issue here in this metropolis. The sea of skyscrapers make up an amazing community of illuminated buildings, most arranged in feng shui fashion, some violating this oriental form of architecture. This ancient belief in aesthetics negotiating between heaven and earth is visible everywhere, balance between wind and water, all to improve life in positive ways.

Feng Shui did not matter to a those older people who used to live in wire cages. No other place to live, until the Helping Hand came to the rescue and built decent housing.  Now they cheer on visitors, they are eager to show off their volunteer activities.  They live four to five people to a room, they have few of their own belongings, but they happily play mahjong, four people to a table, with shuffled tiles, with strategy and a little bit of luck.

Siddhārtha Gautama did not believe in luck, he considered belief in luck to be low arts.  His image overlooks the mountains here in the backyard of the big city.  His smile comforts, projects harmony and good will. A small hike from the cable car station, following chants in the background of the monastery and stairs that seem to lead to the sky in which the master appears to dominate.

A small fishing village is situated just down the road. Metal sheds built on stilts, seemingly floating in the bay area.  All streets here point to the market, open spaces filled with the scent of fish, some dried, some alive in water, all ready to be sold. Older people work in these shacks, live in small quarters behind. Their lives are connected with other family members and the community.

Older people also run the Ginkgo restaurant, a small venue on the main island. Septuagenarians cook the meals, octogenarians serve food with a sly smile on their face; they take care of any of the costumers’ needs. They quietly protest mandatory retirement in many other jobs, show their reliable service. The older generation wants to preserve the ways of the past.

The younger generation has different ideas about their future.  They don’t plan to have children because it is too expensive – who can afford the education of children when you can’t afford to pay your own rent. Chinese women from the mainland, however, visit here to bear their children – seven days are allotted for these unforeign foreigners.  If Chinese children from the mainland see the first light in Hong Kong, they will become residents.  Other Chinese residents need to invest millions of dollars into real estate to become residents. Because so many persons from mainland China became rich so quickly, the Hong Kong government needed to raise the investment limit by several million of Hong Kong dollars.

Shopping remains an adventure in this part of the world.  How about a discount?  They are willing to lower the price, perhaps, and they smile, smile, and smile until the price offered is too low for comfort… no, no, no, 210 Hong Kong dollars is simply not enough. But what if the tourists leave, what if they don’t return, it is time to finish the deal at 220 dollars. It’s the first sale of the night, so they will allow a special discount, or so they say.

This major city on the south end of China is a city of delightful dishes. Dim Sum, the traditional, especially prepared, the vegetarian home-cooked meals eaten in the temple, the tea time at the Peninsula, the goose in Soho, the noodles, the rice, and the fish, and finally the longevity buns and the mango pudding.  This is a city of oriental taste and breathtaking smells. Pick up the sticks and come on in!

People move up the escalator, still the escalator, and still the same escalator.  It’s the only way to climb these steep hills.  They move down to the underground, a most efficient underground, they move to the ferry and off the ferry.  Transportation is vital, transportation is efficient. Hong Kong, a lively place, here, where the people keep moving, where space is cherished and where everybody spends time at the harbor to capture the magnificent skyline of this vivacious city.