It has been only a month since we got back home, but I feel as if our trip in the U.K is still continuing to this day. The trip was truly a precious memory. We visited a lot of historical places. We could enjoy all of the scenic beauties of England and Scotland from the height of the wide windows on the big coach which Mrs Browning chartered for us. We thanked her very much for chartering such a big, clean comfortable coach for us. We met so many interesting people and they were all so kind and friendly to us. I do not know what I can do for them in return.

hostfamily's house

　　We stayed with our host family in Suffolk. Now I am thinking of them and all those wonderful experiences we enjoyed together. I shall never forget their beautiful garden with the magnificent weeping willow, various kinds of pretty flowers, plants, perfectly-mown lawn, the big house, carefully and beautifully decorated rooms, delicious dishes, the beautiful sound of piano which was resonating in the spacious house, and even the mischievous rabbits around their house, oh! and even the best dead rabbit. Our host father said that the best rabbit was the dead one with his good sense of humour. Now I think that we cannot call other small garden "a garden"any more because our garden is one-thirtieth as big as their garden. Our house is one-twentieth as big as theirs. A foreigh scholar (or an economist) called a Japanese house "a rabbit-hutch". This time, I realized that it is true. But we are not as naughty as the rabbits around their house! We were also happy to see our host family's friends. They were all kind to us. I really want to see and talk to them again. They seemed to have a wide circle of friends and the ties of the community seemed to be strong. We shall never forget their wonderful hospitality. I really hope that they will visit Japan and stay with us.

footpath

Mikio and I drew some pictures in scenic places in the U.K. We really enjoyed it. Whilst I was drawing, I could really appreciate the beauty of nature in England. It is not so important for us whether our paintings were good or not. All of the scenes were imprinted vividly and impressively in our minds.

The most impressive thing about our trip this time is how much British people enjoy nature. I saw many British people of all ages and both sexes enjoying walking along the foot paths. The ground was flat and it was much cooler than Japan. It was not humid at all. Whereas Japan is very hot and HUMID, which was the very first thing I had realized just after I arrived at Narita Airport. If we did the same thing in Japan, we would have a lot of difficulties, such as sweating due to humidity and a lot of hills, slopes and bugs including mosquitoes. Another problem would be the lack of space for walking becaus of the concrete everywhere.

Lake District

Rain would not be a problem. Actually British people enjoy walking in rain. They do not care at all. On a rainy morning in the Lake District, I noticed that we could appreciate small pretty flowers and plants smiling along the path. Budlias, rose bay willow herbs, fox gloves, blue bells, and thistles were singing with subtle voices. It was rainy, all the more reason we can notice their beauty. So rainy days are essential for walking-lovers.

When we were in the Lake District, somehow I could relate to the British poet Wordsworth chanting his poem in my mind. Recently I have enjoyed Manyo-shu, which was an anthology of Japanese short poems written by ancient Japanese commoners. They enjoyed nature in their lives and appreciate it with their sensitive feelings for aesthetic beauty. In the Lake District, I wondered what poem I would write if I were a Manyo-poet.

Lake District

On our trip this time, I realized that Japanese today are losing something important in our hectic daily lives and I am no exception. Precious and scenic Japanese landscapes are vanishing. ‘We have to do something.’ I thought to myself walking along the foot path under the obscure and mellow British sun.

The sun in the northern area might be more fragile and sensitive than the one in Japan. I wonder what seasonal changes she might enjoy in the short autumn there.

London

   On the24^th August, after visiting Canterbury or London, we enjoyed a musical theatre show “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” written by the team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. They are also famous for their masterpiece “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Phantom of the Opera”.  

     Based on the ‘Coat of many colors’ story of Joseph from the Bible, this light-hearted show was first presented as a fifteen-minute pop cantata at a school in London in 1968. So it has forty years of history. There might have been something new and fun added to make it as sophisticated as it is. It’s family-friendly story line, universal themes, and catchy music had made it one of the most dependably profitable musicals. It has been very popular in the U.K. According to the brochure, more than 500.000 performers played at more than 15.000 schools and local theatres. More than 8 million people of all ages have enjoyed the musical. It must have been very difficult to get more than twenty tickets for the same date for us. We have to thank Mrs Browning very much for it.

Joseph

     According to Nicholas de Jongh, theatre critic of London’s Evening Standard, the show’s “book” is “a light sending-up of the Bible story on which it relies”. Actually they didn’t mention God or religious matters. The tone is playful and light. It was like a big amusement park with various kinds of music, such as Tango, Elvis Presley music, country, classical, rock, oratorio, and disco music, etc.

   The story is based on the Biblical story of Joseph found in the book of Genesis. It is set in a frame in which a narrator is telling a story to children, encouraging them to dream. She then tells the story of Joseph, another dreamer. He has dream interpretation skills. Actually the ability to interpret dreams was a highly desirable attribute in Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China etc. It seems that there had been a lot of dream interpretation before Freud.

    All of our members seemed to be impressed with the performance, because most of them gave a standing ovation. One of the Japanese high school students told me that other Japanese high school students had not tried to give a standing ovation for a standing ovation at first even though they had been moved very much. Japanese people, might need courage, even young men, to give a standing ovation or express their emotion in public. Although I have enjoyed musicals and plays more than 25 times in Japan, I have never seen a Japanese audience giving a standing ovation. Maybe our members couldn’t help doing that because it was wonderful or because they were assimilated with a British audience.

     Now I vividly remember the resounding voices of the performers, shrill voices of teenagers, exultation, excitement, music, dances, spotlight, clapping sounds, even the darkness after the scenes, etc all of them resonating in my mind.