1. (1) Email from Santa Barbara (Sep.16, 2002)

2. (2) The wedding of Taichiro

3. (3) Email from San Pedro Sula (Oct.2, 2002)

(1) Email from Santa Barbara (Sep.16, 2002)

The wife of the owner is the same age as I. She likes talking about sex. At first I was a little embarrassed by her conversation, however, I have got accustomed to it and I now enjoy it. I feel good with the women in Latin America as they are really open in mind. I don't understand the words of the wife well either, but I can understand by her straight sign language. Recently she came to serve me coffee and bread for breakfast as soon as I opened the windows in the morning. She has also given me lunch for the last few days. The other day I went to a barbershop to have my hair cut. I saw a beautiful woman of around thirty with long dark hair among the customers. Her face showed a trace of Asian blood and she was a really good-looking woman. I was with the 17-year-old teacher then, and I couldn't talk to her much. This is a small town, but I haven't seen her again later. I would have talked to her more without the teacher. Thinking so, I regret and I drink every night again. Anyway, this town is good. It is not only safe, but also has lots of beautiful women. I remember there were also beautiful women in Andalucia, Spain, however, the women here are more friendly. This might be one of the best places to live on my pension later. The pension of Japan is not enough anymore, but here one can still live a life of luxury on the pension.

(2) The wedding of Taichiro

Taichiro came to Honduras with his mother three years ago when he was 21 years old. He came to know Rosa, although I didn't asked him how, and two years later he took her to Japan, where he bought an engagement ring for her paying US$200. As I have never been engaged, I don't know how much the Japanese usually pay for an engagement ring, however, it cost him an average monthly salary of Honduras. Having Rosa who is evidently ingenuous and sweet-tempered, Taichiro who is always quiet and cool-headed must have unusually got exited then. It must have been easy to buy the ring, but it was, he told me, hard for him to get through the process of his marriage after coming back to Honduras. This, however, doesn't mean the procedures required in Japan such as asking someone to be a go-between or exchanging engagement gifts. The problem was the paperwork of the government of this country. You submit an application to a government office for the next application. Because of the delay of the paperwork, the validity of the first application is expired before you get the approval of the next application. So, you have to do it again from the beginning. This repeats many times. As a result, Taichiro had to repeat a round trip to Tegucigalpa, the capital. I met him then in Tegucigalpa. Taichiro finally finished the work after an year, and two days later he had a wedding in "Sakura", the Japanese restaurant that his mother opened here in Santa Barbara. It was around the day of the first anniversary of the restaurant. Taichiro invited me to the wedding, probably because I was one of a few Japanese in this town or I was a good customer visiting the restaurant for Japanese food every night. The wedding was supposed to begin at six in the evening. However, they have "Latin time" here. I asked Taichiro in advance about what time I should be there. He told me the people of this country are usually late by an hour. I didn't know what to do. Mr. and Mrs. Don Mario, the owner of the apartment where I stayed, were also invited. I decided to leave the apartment with them. On the day of the wedding I visited them at five-thirty. They told me they were busy and wouldn't be able to attend the wedding, giving me their wedding gift to Taichiro and his bride. The dark clouds began to cover the sky then. As I was afraid of usual heavy shower coming soon, I left the apartment, ignoring the "Latin time".

I arrived at six on the dot and was surprised to find a couple already waiting. The man looked like a Japanese. His name was Mr. Ueno and he was sent from Japan for the construction of a bridge in Santa Barbara. The beautiful woman sitting next to him was his wife. They had a girl of around four between them. I was talking to him and waiting for everyone to come. But no one came. An hour passed. The guests came by ones and twos as Taichiro said. It was about a half past seven when all the guests of around twenty finally came together. On arriving, we were served with food and beer one by one. So we didn't know when the wedding started. Unlike in Japan, I was not annoyed with a series of boring long speech in the presence of food and beer. Naturally everyone was in everyday clothes. If someone had come into the restaurant for supper and if there had not been a wedding cake on the corner of the room, he or she wouldn't have noticed that we were having a wedding. Disco music had been welcoming the guests since I arrived there at six. Some people who had finished the meal began to dance to the music. As there were only a few dancers in the beginning, I joined them, expecting "even a deadwood could add abundance to a mountain". When everyone finished the dinner, a circle of dancers became large. As Taichiro's parents are now back in Japan, the people who took part in the wedding were all the friends or neighbors of Taichiro and Rosa, except Rosa's younger sisters and brother. The weddings in Japan don't seem to be for a bridal couple, but for their houses. However, the wedding of Taichiro was for him and Rosa. I had an abhorrence of the too luxurious wedding receptions in Japan. In addition, the bosses of each office of the couple and their school teachers or university professors are unfortunately invited and make a meaningless long speech. I always felt this kind of formalism very ugly. And, in correspondence with the wedding becoming more luxurious year by year, the sum of money that the guests should give to celebrate the wedding has recently become very large. If the invitation is limited among close friends, it is not so often and the expense for this is not a serious problem. However, a Japanese office is a sort of a family. If it is a large office, marriage is frequent. Moreover, additional expenditure is required out of a small salary for funerals and newly born babies. To make the matters worse, we have a strange system that we are expected to give back some presents for the celebratory money. As a result, half of the money goes to a department store. Everyone thinks this is absurd, but no one doesn't dare to change the system. Facing this circumstance, I got out of this system of the office when I was over thirty. Everyone was envious of me.

So, I participated in a wedding after a long time. This wedding reception was without doubt the most economical of the weddings I had ever took part in. But it was the best. I would be willing to go to the wedding like this. Taichiro was, however, very busy during the wedding. Unlike in the Japanese wedding, he was never busy changing clothes many times, but busy cooking food and serve it to the guests all through his wedding. Taichiro now wears a ring on his ring finger. It is his wedding ring, a silver ring made to order. He paid about US$1.5 for it in Santa Barbara. Rosa still wears the same engagement ring bought in Japan on the finger of the left hand. The engagement ring now becomes a wedding ring. They are very different from those Japanese couples who tend to think "the more expensive, the better", and I find this couple much more beautiful. The wedding was held on Saturday. The following day was Sunday when the restaurant would be closed. I said to myself, "Where shall I eat tomorrow?". Taichiro told me he would close for a week. I didn't notice that they would be on their honeymoon. Taichiro told me they would go to a small town facing the Caribbean Sea. But, I heard from Taichiro later that he had caught a cold and had been staying in bed at home. His fate didn't allow him to spend money either. If I should get married, I want to have a simple and unformalistic wedding like the one of Taichiro, although I don't want to serve food, but definitely want to go on honeymoon.

(3) Email from San Pedro Sula (Oct.2, 2002)

I left Santa Barbara, where I stayed for 51 days, on the 30th of September and came back to the hottest San Pedro Sula so as to get an extension permission in Honduras and to get the gearbox of the bike repaired.

At the immigration office I couldn't get three-month permission I expected, but got for only a month. The stay in Honduras can be extended every month up to another three months, however, I will have to visit the office once a month. The extension permit for the bike was not issued in the department of vehicles in San Pedro Sula. I will have to go to the capital, Tegucigalpa. This also has to be renewed every month, however, fortunately I don't have to show the bike, but only the documents.