Prior to leaving Japan last week, we had a bedroom full of stuff we wanted to take back and only four suitcases to do it with. I had doubts about volume, weight and fragility. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull it off. But due to my expert packing skills an enormous stroke of luck, everything arrived stateside in perfect condition.
The three bottles of liquor from my previous post weren't the only delicate items in the luggage. I also had ceramics:
Extremely Fragile Thing #1:
A kappa fishing on the back of a catfish
This is Mrs. T's favorite of the lot. Not only does she think it's cute, it's also very old. The trickiest part here was getting his fishing pole back without snapping.
Extremely Fragile Thing #2
I love this guy, but Mrs. T finds him creepy. Nonetheless, she was kind enough to let me bring him into our home.
Extremely Fragile Thing #3
a very drunk tanuki
This is the piece I worried about most. The ceramic hat sits on his ceramic head and is connected by old twine tied around his neck. The problem is, the twine is so old, if you try to untie the knot, the twine would untwine. So I couldn't remove the hat and pack it sepereratly. But as you can see, he made it home safely.
Speaking of tanukis, this is probably the best time for me to share the Tanuki song my elementary school students taught me back in the day:
Tan-tan-tanuki no kintama wa
kaze mo nai no ni
bu-ra bura!
Translation:
Rac-Rac-Racoon Dog's testicles,
even with no wind,
S-way Sway!
For those of you who missed it, Johnny the Horse posted this tanuki video on his site last year... just click on the picture.
By now you've probably figured out what tanukis are known for. If you haven't noticed yet on my statue, everything between his two little feet is all "him."
I think there is a little something in that song for all of us.
Posted by: JtH | December 03, 2006 at 02:52 PM