JAPAN-TO THE FINISH LINE

(May 28 Wakkanai. Yuu-Yuu Farm)
The name of the cafe was "School of the Wind" (Kazeno gakkou/風の学校). Youko smiled as we entered and offered us a cup of coffee. Mrs Ito wanted to discuss the details of my fund-raising event that was to be held on Friday. She was in charge of the Farm kitchen and was to take care also of the Friday`s menu.

"So what exactly is Estonian food?" asked Youko.
"Black bread made of rye flour, soup for the first course, potatoes with some vegetables and meat for the second, followed by desert. We will serve cottage cheese cake done by an Estonian recipe. Something very simple." I said

"Hopefully we can find sour cream in Asahikawa, there is none in Wakkanai. I do not know about black bread", said mrs. Ito.
Youko promised to design the menu in Estonian and Japanese languages and asked me to write the titles:

I wrote:
MUST LEIB (Black bread)
SEENESUPP (Mushroom soup)
KEEDUKARTUL (Boiled potatoes)
TOMATI-KURGI SALAT (Tomato-cucumber salad)
KOHUPIIMAKOOK (Cottage cheese cake)

Mrs Ito loved baking bread, so I hoped if we found some rye flour, she could bake the missing key element.
On one of the bookshelves I saw a "Slow Life" magazine with a beautiful picture of bread on the cover.
"Like that!" I said, and brought the magazine to our table.


As I was going through the articles, or rather the images to the stories (written Japanese is still beyond my reach), I saw a picture of a beautiful blue-eyed lady. She had blond curly hair to her shoulders and a friendly smile. Her name was Kate, she was practicing pottery as I guessed from the pictures and had a cafeteria somewhere in Japan. Bennu`s Gallery&Cafe - I read and wondered where it could be. I looked again at the magazine cover. It was a Hokkaido magazine, thus no doubt it would be on this island, I thought. My research efforts were not in vain - I soon saw the address and the phone number of the place on one page and carefully rewrote them on a piece of paper. I could not read the kanji characters I had written, but later looking at a Japanese language map, found the same ones on a parallel road to Sapporo.

I do not know why I did that. For some reason I really wanted to meet Kate.

I left the Farm on June 10, travelled East along the Sea Okhotsk, then South to the very tip of Erimo Peninsula, then West in the direction of Tomakomai and then North to Yuni, to Bennu`s Gallery & Cafe where Kate lived.

"Why do you go to Yuni?" asked the drivers.
"To visit a friend," I said. So what if I had never met Kate before.

Kate was from England. She had travelled for many years before she found her place in Hokkaido, had practiced ceramics as a hobby, became an apprentice, and then a master. Kate's husband Stefan also known as The Great Ballini - a man of many talents, was celebrating his 60th birthday. Their home was a work of art in itself - from the Bathroom to the kitchenware...
"It is like an elf's house" said Veronique later.
I agreed.

Stefan had built a stove in the yard and was baking delicious bread. Oliver from France was cooking pizza. There were also guests from Australia, Veronique from Belgium, a lady from Thailand and of course many people from Hokkaido, Japan. Everybody was a story. There was a Japanese girl who had travelled around the world for six years, there was a man from America who wanted to build a straw-bale house and wished Stefan to help him, another guy who could preform unbelievable magic tricks, a couple who had travelled Alaska for many times, a girl who used old clothes to create new designs, and many other wonderful people.

"Good timing" said everybody to me.
Somehow it always is!

Next day I hitchhiked to Muroran, took a boat from there to Aomori. My initial idea was to go to Hakodate from where the cheapest ferries left, but the road went otherwise. In a parking area close to Muroran I met a guy named Kazunori - an ex traveller, now a Thai shop keeper and mr Kawabata a politician with posters all around Muroran. They said they would show me the town and pay a part of my ticket so that I would not have to travel to Hakodate for a cheaper price. A beautiful day and a safe dry night in the boat! Another present of the road.

I continued going with tremendous speed traveling South. Hitchhiking I met a mother and a daughter who had a small shop of Japanese sweets in Aomori, I traveled with young electicians who had been helping to build the new Shinkansen line to Aomori, one lady - a music therapist, an elderly couple who had travelled over 40 countries and also been in Estonia, a mother with three children and many other people.

I called Veronique ( a lovely Belgian lady I had met at Kate's) in the evening to tell her I was near, spent the night underneath a roof of a toilet on one highway parking area, and in the morning arrived to her place.

Sometimes I wake up in a tent by the sea. I have nothing. I feel rich.
Today I woke up in the tent under the roof of a toilet on one highway parking area. Felt poor.
It does not matter though. On the road everything is changing all the time.
Everything is temporary, everything is once in a lifetime experience...

From a letter to my Brother June 23, 2008

Veronique is a potter, just as Kate. She used to travel (also by hitchhiking) in many countries for years. Having lived in Japan for 17 years, she is about to leave to build a home for her and her son back home in Belgium.

Veronique is a friend. Her place is warm and welcoming, her 4 year old son Nicola is very sweet. My days are full of cultural content, good food and delightful conversations. The day I came (June 23), her friend Joelle, an artist, also a potter from Belgium arrived by plane. I have not spoken English for a very long time. I am still in Japan, but it already feels like a state of transition before going to another world. I am saying good bye to Japan. My flight to L.A. is scheduled for tomorrow.

Narita is not far from here, but a bit off the main road. I thought it would be safest to leave today, see what the Road has to offer, hitchhike my last rides.

On the other hand it is so great and relaxing to be here, also my clothes are still not dry from the laundry. Joelle and Veronique said they would give me the train ticket as a present. Thank you!

There is a certain sadness about leaving Japan
It feels like I am parting with my friend
I take a look inside
I see myself as a traveller
I continue my Journey