Family Farewells & Reunions - July 11

We woke up, of course, in Noboribetsu.  After a lavish breakfast, brought to our room, I decided to take a “real” bath at the public (women & men separated) on the first floor of the hotel.  One usually does this at night, but it had gotten too late last night and I wasn’t going to miss my opportunity, this being a hot springs town and all! It was lovely and I had the place entirely to myself!

Next on the agenda was something that has been on my mind to do for over six years, since my brother died suddenly of a heart attack in March of 2006.  My brother, Thomas Yoshiro Blosser, was born in 1951 in the fishing town of Muroran in Hokkaido, Japan.  Due to dire circumstances in his family, they allowed him to be adopted out to my family, something very unusual in Japan, especially at that time.  He was about six when he joined our family.  Initially he had two siblings, then I was born a year or two later.  When he died, I developed a need to see the town where he started his life and bid him a final farewell there.  I wasn’t quite sure where we were going to go or how this would all unfold, but I just asked Tom for help, plugged some random spot in the town into the GPS, and off we went.

Muroran, as it turns out, is a sizable town, for Hokkaido, and quite industrial in appearance.  But we were led to the far side of the town to the residential hills below a green, mountainous area before the GPS dumped us.  So we just followed our noses up the mountain side, going this way and that.  Sometimes Julia decided which way, sometimes I did.  And guess what?  We ended up at a scenic lookout point high above the town (on one side) and the ocean on the other.  It could not have possibly worked out better if I had planned it.  It was stunning, lush and private.  We enjoyed the views awhile, then Julia gathered a mini-bouquet of tiny wild flowers, we wandered down a secluded lane into the trees, above the sea and bade Tom farewell near the place where he was born.  It made me very, very happy to do this.  Something felt completed for me.

From there we made our way - with a few "refueling" stops - to a town just south of Sapporo. 

We were on our way to visit Sachiko-san.  I mentioned her in one of the early blog entries, but for those who might not have caught it, Sachiko worked for my family for a number of years during my early childhood and lived with us for a portion of that time as well.  She planted herself  firmly and lovingly into our lives and became much like a family member.  She became, essentially, a second mother to me.  We haven’t seen each other in about 35 years.  She is in her mid-70’s now.  She has a son, Tetsuya, is in his late 30’s but was a toddler the last time I saw him.  We found her living in a pleasant three-room apartment.  We had to stare at each other, laughing for a moment, to adjust to how different we both looked.  And then we picked up where we left off.  Wow!  She talked a mile a minute, reminiscing and filling me in on her life... her joys and sorrows, her ailments and delights.  She showered us with food and love and praise.  Just like old times!  Tetsuya joined us in the evening for awhile before going to work his night shift at a nearby printing factory.  Old pictures came out and with them, more laughter and memories.  It was very amusing for me to hear her perspectives on people from my past, particularly my parents.  She had people nailed, quirks and all.  It was also very evident to me how much she loved our family.  My parents were clearly surrogate parents to her.  I knew it felt important to me to see her again.  What I wasn’t prepared for was how much it seemed to mean to her as well.  It was just so very heart-warming.