Mr and Mrs Reeve visit Japan

Mr and Mrs Reeve had just arrived in Narita Airport in Tokyo. They were waiting in the queue for the immigration check.
“Good morning, Mr and Mrs Leebu,” the officer was polite.
“It’s Reeve,” Mr Reeve corrected him.
“OK, Mr Leebu, how long will you stay in Tokyo?”
“My name is Reeve, not Leebu, and we are going to stay with our son and his family for a month.”
After several more questions, they were through to collect their luggage. Their son Paul was waiting for them in the arrival area.

Paul was working for an international company, and he had been assigned to Japan a year ago. His wife Kathryn and little daughter Millie went with him. They had a comfortable western-style house in the suburbs of Tokyo. Paul had invited his parents to visit Japan many times, but Mrs Reeve always declined.
“I don’t like to leave the garden unattended,” she said. In fact, the main reason was that neither she nor Mr Reeve could speak a single word of Japanese, but they missed their grand daughter very much, and when their neighbours agreed to look after the house and garden for them they plucked up enough courage to make the journey.

Mrs Reeve had bought a Japanese-English phrase book, but the Japanese words and pronunciations were just too difficult for them.
“You can see English everywhere in Tokyo, and most Japanese people can speak some English. They are also very helpful, so you won’t have any problem,” Paul had told them, so they were not too worried about the language.
“Perhaps that immigration officer did not study English very well,” Mr Reeve thought.
Millie was delighted to see them; she has been going to a Japanese nursery school, and had learned a lot of Japanese already. She volunteered to be their guide, which made Mrs Reeve feel assured.

The next morning when they were having coffee, the doorbell rang. Millie went to answer it.
“Ohio gozaimas, Tanaka San,” they heard Millie say in Japanese.
“Grandpa ando Grandma Leebu here?” a Japanese lady said.
“Hi,” Millie replied.
“Presento for Grandpa ando Grandma Leebu.”
“domo arigado gozaimas,” Millie said.
After a little while, Millie brought back a beautifully wrapped cake.
“Look! Grandpa, Grandma, Mr and Mrs Tanaka brought a present for you,” Millie said.
“The Tanakas are our next door neighbours, they are very kind, and have helped us a lot since we came” Paul said, “Millie loves it when they come to baby-sit her.”
“Japanese people are very polite, when they greet you or thank you they bow to show their respect,” Kathryn said.
“We could do with manners like that in England,” Mrs Reeve sighed.

“The Japanese council services must be excellent!” Mr Reeve was amazed.
“Well, it’s the peoples’ self respect really; Japanese people keep their environment very clean. Early in the morning every day, the housewives usually sweep all round their houses and the part of the street in front of their houses, sometimes even their next door’s too,” Kathryn explained.
“We could do with that kind of self respect in England,” Mrs Reeve sighed, “our village Rainford is clean, but so many of our towns are spoilt by litter”.

Some parents were waiting there already when they arrived. Many of them came over to say hello. Mr Reeve shook hands with them while Mrs Reeve bowed,
“Hello, Mr Leebu, nice to meet you.”
“Konnichiwa, Leebu San.”
“Good afternoon, Leebu San.”
Paul had told them that there was no equivalent sound to the English ‘r’, ‘v’ or ‘th’ in the Japanese language, and many English consonants were sounded as if they had an extra e, o or u added on behind; so their surname ‘Reeve’ became ‘Leebu’, and Kathryn was frequently called ‘Kasleen’, while Paul was known as ‘Paulu’.
“And ‘present’ becomes ‘presento’, Grandpa,” Millie said proudly. They were trying to get used to the strange sounds of the English words.

Paul took the whole family to a restaurant one evening. Mr and Mrs Reeve ordered a traditional Japanese meal,
“We must try the food to have the full experience of Japan,” Mr Reeve said.
When the food was served, they enjoyed the beautiful presentation and the fine china dishes.
“These natto beans look interesting,” Mr Reeve said, awkwardly picking up some soybeans with his chopsticks and putting them in his mouth, but the threads of the fermented soybeans proved to be quite difficult to manage.
“You look like a spider eating a fly! Grandpa,” Millie laughed, “Now you are caught on the web yourself.”

“I feel this piece of octopus is growing bigger and bigger the more I chew it.” Mrs Reeve didn’t quite know how to swallow it.
“Try this tuna sashimi, Mum, Dad, it’s delicious!”
“I think I’ll give it a miss, I don’t want a bad dream of being chased by a giant fish!” Mrs Reeve was reluctant, having just had trouble swallowing a big lump of octopus.
Mr Reeve quickly swallowed a piece of raw fish, remembering the fish and chips he liked back home, “That fried food Millie has on her plate looks rather nice.”
“It’s called tempura, Grandpa, and it’s yummy,” said Millie.
“This pretty Japanese food is for your eyes only!” Mr Reeve joked.

The following Friday, Paul’s Japanese friends gave them a ‘Welcome’ dinner in a Karaoke bar. Mr and Mrs Reeve have never done Karaoke before even though it was becoming popular in England. Paul’s friends started to sing and dance merrily after several servings of sake (Japanese wine), and even Paul was joining in with them and enjoying the noisy music. Mr Reeve were nervous at first, but he relaxed after some cups of sake and managed to sing a few songs with Paul, but Mrs Reeve didn’t want to look a fool in front of Paul’s Japanese friends, however she did enjoy the happy and totally relaxed atmosphere. This time they remembered to choose tempura food, so the evening was a thoroughly delightful experience for them.

Mr and Mrs Reeve took trains and buses to many places, stayed in Japanese-style hotels, and tasted the local hand-made dessert and noodles. They were amazed how efficient and clean the public transportation systems were in Japan. They visited Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, the beautiful Himeji Castle and many famous places in Tokyo, such as the Meiji Shrine, Asakusa-Kannon Temple and Ueno Park; they went to the Kabukiza Theatre in Ginza to see one of the unique Japanese kabuki plays. Mrs Reeve had a wonderful time shopping in Ginza; she was very impressed by the smiling, polite and helpful shop assistants.

“They make me feel so pampered and I just can’t walk out of the shop without buying a thing or two.” Mrs Reeve was particularly pleased with the elegant kimono, “I’ll be the envy of all my friends back home.” Mr Reeve couldn’t agree more since the kimono had made a big hole in their bank balance.
With so many new and exciting things to do, time passed too quickly and soon it was the end of the holiday for Mr and Mrs Reeve. Millie was upset when the time came for them to go, but they promised to visit again soon because they had had such an exciting time in Japan.