Signs and Wonders

Japan is so English friendly that I might have done far better, but the closest I came to seeing an Internet café was my visit to Osaka castle. More on that in another post.

Now I am back teaching and doing sessions back in Tokyo, no castle moat in sight, and a fine Net connection right in my room. So I should be able to play catch-up with your blog questions, plus I’ll be able to share posts about my wild and wonderful and weally revealing experiences in Japan.

“R” is the only letter that Japanese speakers tend to mispronounce. Otherwise it is humbling, comparing the English language competence of the average man on the street with my own halting and so-far pathetic efforts to speak Japanese. “R” isn’t pronounced as “W,” of course, but Japanese speakers are quite likely to use “L” as a substitute for “R.” You won’t hear “Wascally Wabbit!“ but Reiki sounds like “Lakey.”

At my posh hotel in Osaka (where every sign and brochure seemed designed by an upscale ad agency) the room with the coin-op washers and dryers was labeled “Laundly Room.”

In Japan, I’ve become a sign collector. Watching The Shopping Channel on TV, I was transfixed by a 20-minute beauty cream extravaganza where the featured product was called “Pure Wrinkle Moisture.”

Bet you didn’t know what wonders you would receive by wringing out wrinkles and collecting those precious drops for beautification.

Days later I saw a similar infomercial for another beauty cream: Wrinkle Plus One.

Even this confirmed face reader isn’t eager to purchase a product that appears to add ‘em on!

But my favorite sign, so far this trip, was in front of a massage establishment. In this part of Tokyo, massage places are nearly as common as Starbucks are in Seattle. A sign in front of the shop will display photos of women so relaxed they appear soporific, followed by brief descriptions of the various treatments on offer. Many of these descriptions are in English. So Ms. I’ll-Read-Nearly-Anything-in-English Tourist has sampled plenty of massage treatments via these signs.

One signboard began: “Come in and relax.”

Then came the picture of the contented client and, beneath that, these simple and enticing words:

Shooting Massage.

Japanese clients for sessions are much like my American ones in one respect. Many begin a first session by saying, “Tell me the purpose of my life.” This huge question reflects the need so many of us feel, during these troubled times, to get at least that one, simple, easy, thing settled. Sure, figure out that big Cosmic purpose. Then the rest of the session can be spent on working out beauty problems, like which fine wrinkle cream would be best.

(If you’ve had a session with me, you know that I categorically refuse to tell you the purpose of your life. But I can help you live the life you have, and do it with less “stuff” in your aura and more joy.)

In the common search for signs and wonders, let’s not forget the gently healing signs–the ones right in front of the storefronts, the ones that make us laugh.