With a little help from my friends

This term in Japan, now in it's fourth year has been marked by new experiences and a distinct pushing of the envelope of what I was comfortable with. 

On Saturday morning I woke up with the most painful stiff neck in recent memory.  If I turned to face left I felt an electric like shock through the muscles of my neck and shoulder.  If I raised my head to look upward I was likely to have a similar reaction.  So, I applied all of the home remedies I had at hand, hot shower, ibuprofen, arthritis cream, ice, sometimes on their own, sometimes in combination, throughout the day,which included a bus to Soya for an English Class which lasted two hours and the bus trip back.  I switched to heat after that and though I slept well enough if I stayed on my left side I woke on Sunday with increased stiffness if no more electric shocks.  I canceled out of the IVIS bus tour to Kamakura. 

At church I mentioned my malady to a couple friends and by Monday morning my friend network was planning my strategy.  They came to an agreement on the clinic I should go to and one of them called ahead to tell them my situation and that I don't speak Japanese. I paid a visit to the doctor and was treated with several chiropractic techniques which were familiar to me from my days long ago in America when I suffered from lower back pain.  The doctor and I had some interesting exchanges in Japanese English and English Japanese and were both able to laugh at out own mistakes.  Today I'm better and have discovered that the chiropractor is the brother of the dentist that lives across the street from me.

May In Ichikawa

Recent weather has made me feel right at home.  The temperatures have turned distinctly warmer and a bright warm day can turn quickly in to a thundery rain storm and just as quickly back to sunshine. Recently there was a strong tornado in Tsukuba that appeared suddenly, some buildings were wrecked and there was one death.  For the next week or two everyone was on edge if there was any forecast of rain.  The weather services scrambled to find a way to warn people if the possibility of a tornado was present. This resulted in even more anxiety. For Japanese people the forces of nature are cruel, unpredictable and ruled by gods who don't necessarily care about what happens to people.

Trees are coming out in leaves of "fresh green" and the roses are starting to bloom. The hydrangea have buds. Natsumikan are the fruit of the season.  The name means summer tangerine.  They have thick skins, though and apparently are used for juice that can be made into drinks high in vitamin C.  I was given two by a friend and ate them by peeling them, then removing the thick membrane from each section and eating the insides. Having lived in Florida, I was not overly impressed by this fruit, but vitamin C is a good thing.

The sun is shining again, and the afternoon rain is dried up. Today's round of the May Sumo Tournament is on the television. It's great to have an afternoon off.