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respect for the elderly day

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Today we through my visiting mother into the deep end. The daycare was hosting a "respect for the elderly day" celebration, and Mari had arranged for my mum to participate. I took her to the daycare in the morning, and when I last glimpsed her she was sitting in a space surrounded by kids but none of them was within a metre and half of her—they were all standing well back and simply staring.

But she spent the morning at the daycare, and watched the different classes do their performances. She then sang two nursery rhymes, "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Inky-Dinky Spider". She had a good time, though I gather it was a bit bewildering when trying to puzzle out what the locals are doing without the benefit of translation.

But then, nearly everything in Tokyo is bewildering for that reason.