Japan and Me
JAPAN AND ME
Fabienne L'Hoost
Deputy Director general
Belgian Foreign Trade Agency
When I was a teenage girl, I used to read lots of books and cartoons. Incidentally, my favourite cartoon – a Belgian cartoon – was called Yoko Tsuno. Reading these cartoons and discovering this fascinating character, a Japanese young woman so elegant, so respectful of ancestry and tradition, gave me a taste, and an increasing curiosity, about this far away country that is Japan. Being from a small country town, Japan seemed to me like an inaccessible dream – a mystery that would forever remain. This was a time when most of my relatives or friends had barely travelled abroad. Having been to a European country was already a feat. A remote country like Japan could as well have been on another planet.
Photo with my husband
in traditional Japanese dressBJA –period: visit of TTIIHH Crown Prince Naruhito
and Crown Princess Masako to Brussels in 1999Then suddenly destiny called. I was in my last year at university in Mons, rehearsing a theatre play with fellow students, when out of the blue our Spanish teacher mentioned how regrettable it was, that our University had an exchange program with the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, of which no one took advantage. Something suddenly clicked in my mind: this was my chance, I had to grab it. From then on things moved fast. I graduated, passed some tests and was selected for the exchange program. This was 1988. Japan was well known for having high standards of living, and I knew I was to expect high costs. So I applied for an extra scholarship of the Belgium Honda Foundation, which I was fortunate enough to get. As the academic year starts in March/April in Japan, I spent some extra months preparing for this exciting adventure. I took some evening courses in Japanese and had some extra lessons from the Japanese student from Kyoto Gaidai who was then studying in Mons: Kenichi Nishida. He was the first Japanese I ever met, and we became very friendly.
I was now close to fulfilling my dream, but I had another dear wish: to do a homestay with a Japanese family. I wrote to the President of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, and enquired about the possibility. I was disappointed to receive a letter telling me that this was not customary and would not be possible. As departure was approaching, I was invited by the Rector of Mons University to meet a visiting professor from Kyoto Gaidai, Prof. Toshimasa Wada, Head of the French Department. Professor Wada will forever remain in my memory as a very distinguished person, a great scholar who speaks French with a beautiful pronunciation, a person with a warm and jovial personality. This was the beginning of a year-long acquaintance. After Prof. Wada returned to Kyoto, the miracle happened: they had found a homestay family for me. Prof. Yoshitsugu Misumi, who was teaching French at Kyoto Gaidai, would welcome me at his home. This was wonderful news and I will never thank Prof. Misumi enough for welcoming me. I could now embark on the real adventure.
My sons, Kenzo and Keanu in their young age
in Japanese outfitWith my husband’s family, the Fujii And an adventure it certainly was. From the very start, with the long flight on Cathay Pacific - 30 hours underway with an 8 hour long stop in Hong Kong, sitting on an airport chair while being very sick - it was a memorable experience. Still, I arrived in Kyoto and was welcomed by my host family: Professor Misumi, his wife Fumiko, their daughter Yoko (9 years old) and their son Tatsuhiro (“Tatsu”, 5 years old). I remember that although I had read about conventions and the fact that you were not supposed to kiss in public in Japan, Tatsu was so cute I ended up giving him a kiss. He stood like a statue and said: “another one”. We all laughed and that was how it was between us from then on: full of joy and easy contact. The Misumi family lives in Uji-shi (Rokujizo) and it was so lucky to be staying in such lovely surroundings. I arrived in March, and we visited Byodo-in temple, Heian Jingu, Kyomizudera, exceptionally beautiful in this marvelous spring season, with the sakura still blooming. I had been attracted to an imagined Japan, now I was falling for the charm of the real Japan. Sometimes confronting a dream to reality can be disappointing. Not so for me. I was going from one wonderful discovery to another, from the beautiful sceneries, the contrast between the ancient past and the modernity of the cities, the matsuri (festivals), the tea ceremony, the onsen spa (hot springs), to the delicious and so refined Japanese food. Everything enchanted me. But most of all I liked my Japanese family and I found everyone so kind, and considerate of others.
This is not to say that all was rosy from the first. In spite of the courses I had taken, I could barely say a few sentences in Japanese. For my first train ride to the university, Prof. Misumi accompanied me and showed me on which platform to go, how many minutes in one train, changing to the next, and so on for a 1h45 min ride and walk. I can’t tell you how scary it was as of the next day to have to do it all on my own while not being able to speak the language. How lucky that trains are on time in Japan (in Belgium you couldn’t have hoped “timing” your transfer that way). I managed but sometimes still wonder how…
With my husband’s family, the Fujii
in Japanese outfitMy sons At Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, before the first official academic day, we had a few days of preparation, learning the 48 hiragana one day and the katakana the next day, before starting on the kanjis (Chinese characters). As I was in a class with only Chinese students, I had a comparative disadvantage for the mastery of kanjis…After three weeks I found myself crying, wondering why I had imposed such a challenge on myself. But there is an excellent Japanese word to convey what I had to do: “gambaru”. Bite through and keep up the effort. Anyway, the need to communicate and manage was the biggest incentive ever. After three weeks, I made real progress. Also, these courses in Japanese language, Japanese history, Japanese literature and others were all one could dream of. Of course, it took me many more months to discover that the difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Being able to use the right form of address, respecting politeness and formality is essential in Japan.
Although I studied long hours, I had also enrolled with the karate club at Kyoto Gaidai and was training hard. 3 hours a day, six days a week was a little too intensive though, so I asked to be exempted of a few hours, which was fortunately accepted. Still it was extensive training, and I remember jogging in our dogi through Kyoto city in summer for an hour or so, in a heat I was not really accustomed to. Or going on a day out for a baseball game and getting completely sunburnt. I had no experience of baseball and felt very awkward. Still, to me this was how you came to really understand a country and its people, living like them. So we shared the training and the kompas – a whole new universe.
Visiting one of my favourite temple with Kenzo and Keanu In Japanese dress I discovered so much about the real Japan, not the one imagined from my books. I went through all seasons and In spite of being not such a good speaker at first, I felt such an affinity for Japan, such a feeling of being close to Japanese people that it almost felt as if I had lived in Japan in a previous life. It is just unexplainable to fit in so well in a society so different from your own.
I ended my year at Kyoto Gaidai – and in the meantime I had made an encounter that would change my life (this part is a “private part of Japan and me…). I decided to try to stay for one more year, and the Consul General of Belgium in Osaka, Count Michael Goblet d’Alviella, gave me an opportunity to work as his assistant at the Consulate General. New doors opened, allowing me to discover the world of “working Japan”, the business environment, and how hard salarymen have to work. This is a new chapter I could write much more on.
My homestay family: Professor Misumi, Yokyo, Fumiko and Tastuhiro
on a Ukai trip (ancient cormorant fishing) on Uji riverI would like to end by saying that “Japan and Me” is a story that continues today and will continue. I have been married to a Japanese man, Kenji FUJII, for 25 years and my children are half Japanese. We go to Japan regularly and my husband’s family visit as well. I am still in contact with the Misumis. To this day I consider them as my second family. They are my Japanese father, mother and siblings.
My career has also long been centred on Japan. After returning from Japan, I was Executive Director of the Belgium Japan Association & Chamber of Commerce for 12 years, a function that I occupied with great commitment. Since joining the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency in 2003, I have had the great privilege to be involved in the organization of two trade missions led by our then Crown Prince Philippe to Japan – in 2005 and 2012. The apotheosis was undoubtedly the State Visit of Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians to Japan in 2016. It was such an honour to be in charge of the logistics of this visit, and knowing the language and the culture was undoubtedly a great help in preparing the visit. It was extremely emotional for me to be back in Japan, so many years later, in a totally different context, and to find out that the passage of time has not changed in any way my special feeling for Japan. When I arrive, I just feel back home.
