Grass for my Feet: The Yorozu Family

The Yorozus have been my hosts in Hokkaido & Nakashibetsu during my four visits over the past 12 years. I came to know them through Miho, who was my student in Alabama in the early 1990s.

Miho is pictured with her parents in the above photo. Mr. & Mrs. Yorozu owned a fashionable and obviously prosperous clothing store in Nakashibetsu and are now in retirement. The store is now run by their son Kazuo and his wife Emiko. More about them later.

Mr. Yorozu is 84 years now and in very good health. He was the President of the local Chamber of Commerce and is known and respected in Nakashibetsu. He has a healthy appetite, is an avid gardener and a mini-golf player and loves to drive; any excuse for an errand will get him out of the house.

As a young man, he had been drafted to the army during the last year of World War II and sent to the Korean front. He says the war was over when he got there and managed to return to Japan under severe hardship after the Japanese army surrendered.

The Yorozu home

According to Miho, Mrs. Yorozu was the mainstay of the family, managing the shop and running the family. Mrs. Yorozu would travel to Tokyo, Kobe, and Osaka in the old days to buy merchandise for the store. There were no flights to Nakashibetsu and the tunnel linking Hokkaido to the southern islands in Japan had not been built. Wearing the traditional kimono and hiding cash in her obi (the kimono sash), Mrs. Yorozu would travel changing from train to bus to ferry 12 times on each buying trip. Now she spends her time making simple ceramics and tending to her garden, although a bad back has slowed her down somewhat.

Mr. Yorozu in the garden, planting Chinese cabbage

Tomato plants in the greenhouse

Corn

The kitchen garden, as in many Japanese homes, supplies vegetables to the household and also for distribution to friends and relatives. On this visit, I saw zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, corn and other vegetables growing healthily. These vegetables are grown organically.

Miho with her dad at Cape Kiriteppu

Kazuo is Miho's brother. (Her older sister Yuko lives in Sapporo.) A big man who loves his food and drink and the father of four children, Kazuo is a town councillor. The local election campaign was in full swing during my visit, and I photographed him at his "election headquarters" at the back of their shop. The labels on the wall behind him indicate the names of people who have donated sake to his campaign. (I am told that cash donations are illegal.) The sake is exchanged for beer at a friendly bar for the consumption of campaign workers. I have a feeling that this is more a party than an election campaign.

This is Kazuo's fifth election campaign. The posters in the photo are from his successive campaigns. His son Kazu had come from Tokyo to help with the campaign. During the Summer Festival, he was seen everywhere in town, making use of the opportunity. He has already won four times and we heard yesterday (August 26) that he had won again, coming ninth out of 22 candidates for the 18 seats available. He's a senior member of the Town Council. I am told he's paid well and already assured a nice pension, having served three terms. If he serves six terms (each term is four years), he's in for a more generous pension!

This is Kazuo's wife Emiko. The photo is taken in front of their shop after Emiko had taken part in the Summer Festival Parade. Emiko and Kazuo met at university and she moved to Nakashibetsu after her marriage. She runs the store, which, unfortunately, is not doing well because of the competition from larger department stores. She has brought up four lovely children: Shingo, now working in Tokyo; Kazu, attending university in Tokyo; Saiko, a nurse in Nakashibetsu; and Shoko, in medical school in Sapporo.