girl’s day

it’s snowing outside. it's the 3rd of march – freezing girl’s day. or i may call it 雛祭り hina matsuri (doll’s festival) or simply お雛様 o-hina sama (the imperial dolls). more officially, it’s called 桃の節句momo no sekku (peach blossom’s festival) – there are several ways to call this special day. whatever you call this seasonal event, all the japanese females are entitled to be sexist today and it is strictly a girls-only occasion. boys must behave themselves if they feel like being invited.

i’ve displayed my daughter’s 雛人形 hina ningyo (ceremonial dolls of an ancient emperor and an empress) that my parents bought her when she was celebrated her first ever girl’s day as is any baby-girl's custom even in modern japan. although my daughter is not here, it’s girl’s day, i was going to have a little celebration with my mother at her home, which has become our custom since i started living near my mother’s. this time we can’t. my mother is in hospital.

on friday, i accompanied my mother to a hospital and we had a doctor’s order that she must be given 24-hour-medical care immediately. the doctor diagnosed her illness as hepatitis. she looked fine, but the result on her blood test signalled a grave danger. i returned her home to pick up stuff like her pyjamas and hair brush, while she was given a drip lying down on her hospital bed.

the tears rolled down my cheeks when i phoned my brother. on my way back to the hospital, i couldn’t help thinking and regretting that i had not cared enough about the sign of my mother’s illness. the trouble is, i bathed in tears. when it comes to any bad news of my family members, i can be way too easily reduced to tears. i am normally very strong, though. that was embarrassing. i dried my tears completely and wore a smile before approaching her ward.

what a sad girl’s day today… the dolls, too, look sad. i am visiting my mother in her hospital this afternoon, hoping that she’d be better than yesterday. i just never want to see her ailing. i need her to stay again as healthy as she had been, you know. there are a lot more things, like this girl’s day, for us to have fun together! i am now rebuilding a bit better mother-and-daughter relationship than before. i bet she’ll get well even if it takes a little while.

the good news, meanwhile, is, sample copies of my translated book “母から娘に伝えたい女性の美学 (things i wish my mother had told me – written by the british journalist, lucia van der post)” have been up. my publisher sent them to me last week. it’s coming out on march 18th. i am looking forward to it.