9 Oita

The next day my best friend, Rei and her family drove all the way to Aso from Oita to pick us up. Rei is a very close friend of mine, we met at the university, she was a guest lecturer at the textile department teaching bingata (Okinawan Dyeing). We connected very well from the first moment. She is bursting with energy, very creative, brave and very open too. Most of the time when i try to make Japanese friends, there is a wall that i can't break through but it was different with her. She asked my advice on her important decisions and she took me seriously but we had great laughs together too,  we can talk about everything. I couldn't wait to see her home and spend time with her again. She decided to leave Okinawa about a year ago and went back to her grandma's village to start her own textile dyeing studio in the old family house that hasn't been used for years after grandma had passed away. I was excited to see how this amazing idea and hard task was going. The Chitose Textile Dying Studio is a hub of creativity in the rural Japanese environment. It was entertaining to see the locals coming and peeping in every day, wondering what on earth was this girl doing in the village, She just smiles, shows everyone her new ideas and works and inspires people without even knowing it. I guess even her curious visitors themselves don't know but they keep coming back and bring her fresh vegetables, beer or other small presents. Her world brings color and fantasy to that little village.

Rei-chan, Lili (her niece) and us on the way to Ooita

We were sleeping at her studio, and were busy everyday. We kept asking her if there was anything we could help with, so finally Hunor renovated an old drum that Rei has to paint on, and carved a sign for the studio on granny's old cutting board. I did some English translations for her and worked on a photo-papercut that I had in mind after a sunset shot Hunor took of Rei and I the first night. We are both jumping, so I thought it would look good if i cut wings for us on the photo - to turn us into local angels. 

"Local Angels"

the drum Hunor is working on under the curious supervision of the girls from next door
one four year old asked me: "Is it your man?" "Yes" "You chose a good man!" she assured me and i thanked her.

Hunor carving the sign on granny's old cutting board

We were also busy with preparing to an event she organized for us. Sunday 25 August we were planning to do a screening of Under the Same Sun with a Hungarian and Okinawan mini concert. She and her family prepared everything, invited musicians, and arranged the place: the local Buddhist temple. When we first met the priest he seemed very cooperative but not very hopeful. He said people in this village are hard to get going so we should not expect more than around 30 people at most. I saw Rei was not very happy with the answer. She said she was hoping for a 100. Well, I told her, people who ask for miracles and work towards them, get miracles. She smiled and worked and worked, arranging meetings with the musicians, handing out flyers, brainstorming about decorations. Sunday, when we went to the temple, the place was all prepared, the priest cut bamboo sticks for a special light up and arranged the room for us. While we were preparing the food stall outside together with the priest Hunor had some time to ask a few practical questions from his "colleague" about church government and the everyday life of a buddhist temple. After all, a protestant pastor and a buddhist priest do not meet often so they need to use the opportunity for an inter-religious conference, right? The event started at 7, but people already started coming from 6 and soon the room was full, there were not enough seats for everyone. The sanshin  players started the event with three Okinawan songs, then it was my turn to sing Hungarian folk songs with a local guitarist and drummer. Then Hunor showed his skills on the jaw harp. When i was watching Hunor playing traditional Hungarian melodies on a jaw harp, jamming with a local blues-rock guitarist and a cajon drummer in a buddhist temple, followed by the curious eyes and ears of local farmers, I  was amazed how Rei's web of imagination could wrap all these people and bring them together in this funny capsule of time and space. As I looked at the full house I knew I was looking at a miracle, one that was asked for and worked for by Rei and it gave me goose bums. Her radiating creative energy inspires me so much! The priest told us after the event that there must have been around a 100 people and he has never had so many people at his temple before! Thanks Rei, for showing us a miracle.

Rei made time for sightseeing too, we went to a lotus field, which was the first time for me to see this intricately elegant yet simply funny flower. They look like shower heads, but then they have these beautiful light pink blossoms and perfect petals and what's more, water-repellent leaves. I mean this all just sounds impossible and contradictory, but when you look at it, it makes sense. No wonder it is traditionally a holy flower, the flower of Buddha. 

After that we visited Beppu, a city famous for hot springs and we went to an interesting restaurant. The name is Hell Steam Restaurant (very inviting). All kinds of food are steamed in wells built on top of a sulphuric hot spring. It is said to be very healthy and it is delicious even without any extra spice, since the salt and the aroma of the hot spring penetrates the vegetables and meat. We also visited a hot spring, and took a mud bath. It was a great time but we smelled like pigs for about a week after. Especially because we did a small competition with Hunor: who can cover his/her full body more elaborately. 

Rei is so playful and active, and she also has a nine year old niece who is a small artist, so creativity is all around the place. We spent the nights drawing and painting together on big pieces of paper, being immersed in colors, lines and circles. She and her sister, her niece, her mom and her stepdad had a great impact on me. A loving and caring family of artists, living together, sharing their life, their food their love and their ideas. I was totally inspired by the week we spent together.