8.1.22
Today I bring to you an appreciation post for all the powerhouse women I’ve met over these last months. Last week, I was given a student survey with three questions:
1. What’s your favorite elementary school lunch?
2. What’s your favorite candy?
3. Who’s your hero?
The first two took some time for me to answer (I had to really rack my brain because, well, food) but the first was immediate: my mom. And thinking about my mom had me start thinking about all the freakin’ cool women I’ve met so far in Yakage. From Manki who wears the best blue hair and rolls her sleeves up for any given task to Ma-chan who knows every grandma recipe in the house to Kyoko-san who was legit called the “motorcycle mom” in her day, get ready to be star-studded by these women who have become my Yakage female heroes.
Manki: Where do I even start? Manki has been the ALT at Yakage Middle School for the last 3 years and you can tell she’s built a tight relationship with Yakage. She’s been there for me from the start and I can’t really begin to list all that she and James have done for me. Something I truly admire about her is the way she so naturally cares and gives–throughout this half year, I’ve been able to learn from Manki what it means to give with joy. And I’ve also been able to learn how it’s important–not selfish–to care for myself. This may sound silly, but it’s something I’ve realized I struggle with…and Manki’s honesty with her own experiences, plus her willingness to listen, ask questions, then offer me wisdom has helped me grow in this way little by little. I can go on and on about Manki but I’ll just leave you with three more reasons why she’s a powerhouse: 1. she’s not afraid to laugh–she doesn’t hold back when she encounters something that brings her joy, which means everyone around her starts laughing too 2. She sports sunglasses, dyed hair, soccer joggers, and a backwards cap like it’s no one’s business 3. She knows how to make some of the best pickled side dishes and THE BEST RICE PORRIDGE IN THIS WORLD.
just look at the suave, the cool, the manki
best bbq manager in yakage
manki and james happy with her rice porridge!
Ma-chan: She’s my Yakage grandma. And she’s Yakage’s coolest grandma in town–everyone knows her as the “Tempeh Obachan.” She was originally a second-hand furniture dealer from the town over and came to Yakage for her married life. However, 25 years ago, she decided Yakage was too quiet and old, so at the typical go-to-Florida-and-retire age, she started something a little more interesting than golf--she took up cooking something as obscure as tempeh and opened a tempeh restaurant in her home so more people would want to come to Yakage for the tempeh experience. And low and behold, she’s been featured in multiple food magazines, TV programs, and has even had her tempeh in the prefecture’s official kyushoku menu. She’s probably close to 80 years old, yet she is one of the most genki–meaning joyfully energetic–people I know, and this genki-ness always has me leaving her place feeling 500x better. Though she’s passed on about a hundred or so various wise pieces of advice (as well as all kinds of cooking tips and recipes and general food knowledge) the one I carry most dearly is what she once said in a car ride to get eggs: life is difficult, but if you end each day making someone smile, you’ve done something right. She says this is why she is totally ready to wake up at 5 every morning to run her 363 days of the year business: it’s a new day to share her yummy tempeh–that she worked for years to make it fit the Japanese palate–with new people and old friends. How lovely is that?
ma-chan peacing after we set up a plan for koh/dad's visit
her board of inspirational reminders right above her kitchen sink.
Kyoko-san: A 68 year old bad-ass lady who used a motorcycle to drop her two kids (strapped to her with the baby carrier) off at hoikuen back in the day. She was known as the Motorcycle Mom. And she’s even more of a bad-ass today because she’s the only female town representative in Yakage; the representative picture is of old Asian men with grim faces and Kyoko-san wearing her hot pink blazer, smiling warmly, but with power ready to take on the PATRIARCHY. I guess that’s dramatic, but seriously, she’s the only person wearing any color and showing any personality. It’s even more neat because she decided to run after hearing her then town rep was going to allow a company to buy some residents’ rice fields to build a new factory…she and her neighbors didn’t want that to happen so she did something about it, like run for office. And low and behold, the factory idea has been shut down. Just another amazing anecdote of Kyoko-san…we went to a small sea town together and she really wanted me to try their famous ginger candy. The hotel doors were fully closed, but since they were the automatic ones and Kyoko-san saw a worker inside, she literally pied the doors open, slipped in, and asked to buy the candy. It took a bit, but she got it, and did everything with such grace as the cashier was smiling by the end of their unexpected meeting.
Shoko-san: Shoko-san is just downright incredible. She started her own bakery–the one, the only Bear’s Oven–over a year ago and it’s already known as one of the top bakeries in Okayama prefecture. And it’s pretty amazing because everything, from the bakery space itself, is from scratch. She remodeled an old mountain home into the bakery space (and is currently working on the rest of the building to make it her next home) and she bakes about 200-300 breads in a day. PLUS her breads are super unique in that she has new combinations of flavors, patterns, and types of bread based on the ingredients she has/what she’s feeling that day…she’s the expert of hard European breads and has even learned to become expert in the making of English pasties and sausage rolls, which are truly VERY unique to find in Japan. From 6am to whenever she sells out, Shoko carries an air of confidence and enjoyment in her craft–she’s someone who shows me that work doesn’t have to be under someone, but it can be planted, grown, and rooted in yourself. I hope that makes sense! Lastly, she’s wonderful because despite being this amazing bread superwoman (truly makes the best bread I’ve have) she’s one of the most funny, sweet, simple, humble and chill souls I’ve met. I guess it makes sense then, that she as a person perfectly embodies the comfort and warmth found in fresh bread. She’s also the best cat mom–she has three cats with her husband Nick named George, Alby and Taj. I love them dearly. And now I am also desperately aching for a cat.
shoko-san's lovely bread!
shoko-san sporting the watermelon smile well
Tomoko-san: Tomoko san is someone who not only has big ideas, but really makes them happen. Five years ago, she went to Senegal for a two year fellowship and came to know a community of fabric makers who introduced her to the bright Senegalese fabrics. With this, Tomoko decided to share their craft with Yakage and brought their woven goods and started selling it at the store she worked at…low and behold she now runs her own business in partnership with the Senegalese weavers, and goes around Okayama to sell her goods at various craft festivals, marches, markets, etc. Here is yet another example of a woman who had an idea and is living to make it truly bloom.
There are so many other people that I want and probably will add to this list…it’s just if I keep going now, I’ll be writing for the next 7 hours. Though it’s difficult seeing how gender discrimation and inequity is still very present in both my countries, as well as seeing the whole blow that comes from the recent Roe v. Wade decision, it’s these kinds of women that give me hope and motivation to fully own my being a woman.
In addition, I’m utterly grateful that I have female superheroes to look up to all over the world, from my jikoni moms and Mama-Cho in Tanzania, my former undergrad mentors Min and Laura at Bryn Mawr, my childhood Indian mom Sudja-auntie in CA, my “help USA’s public health world and everyone else while I’m at it” superhero/Boston mom Karla and “run the whole MFA library” boss lady Hee Jeung in MA, and countless other women that have shaped who I have become and want to become in these 23 years.
So, I wrap this up with a huge thank you to all the women heroes I know and I GIVE THEM A HUGE SHOUTOUT AND ASK YOU TO ACCOMPANY ME IN A HUUUGGEEE ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THEM WHEREVER YOU ARE RIGHT NOW。
