Sayonara.... Again!!?

July 15, 2001. A date I’ll never forget. Among other things, it was the date of my next-to-last sayonara party in Japan. There’s always a good-bye party, and since I’ve been there six times, I’ve had six sayonara parties. Yes, even when I was only there for a week on vacation, the last night there was a sayonara party.

And so July 15, 2001 was one such evening. It was a lot of fun, with friends and students packing The Rink. Or at least filling a goodly portion of it! Nearly all my friends were there, plus I’d had a very special afternoon beforehand, with one friend in particular. Nothing but good memories about that day, and unlike other “nothing but good” days, for some reason this one was truly unforgettable. And it makes me a little sad. It was so spectacular, and nothing has come along since then that has been so overwhelmingly good as that was.

Then there was the last party, on December 21, 2007. My friends know me well… we decided to call it an “itterashai” party ~ a “see you later” party. That evening, a man named Daisuke, who I hadn’t seen for years, came into The Rink by chance. Daisuke had been one of my students, 1996-1998, in a company class. He’d been at the previous two sayonara parties (1998, 2001), and when he came into The Rink last December, I called to him and waved him over to our crowded table.

“Daisuke! I can’t believe you’re here,” I said. We hugged and laughed and commented on whether and how the other had changed. Then I told him, “it’s my sayonara party.”

He said, “Again?”

Ah! The brat. My jaw dropped but he just laughed. That is his way, but still, it struck a nerve. I wasn’t sure what to think of that, but on the other hand, truth is truth. So, what the heck? I just shrugged and laughed along. No point in arguing the obvious!