toban

::: living in japan has introduced us to a new set of housing vocabulary in kobe, japan...

...a few examples:

• an apartment is called a "mansion" (which, by the way, created oversized expectations in our minds when in the states we first heard about our living situation..."guess what mom and dad," i can still remember telling my parents, "we'll be living in a mansion!")

• a cluster of master-planned mansions is called a "town"...ours is "paru-town"

• a balcony is a "veranda"

• our mansion is a 3LDK, meaning "three rooms + living room + dining room + kitchen"

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...in addition to the new vocabulary, we are starting to trace more clearly the many threads of interdependence that connect one person to the other, neighbor to neighbor...there are monthly cleaning days...there are weekly "town" announcements -- fixed to a clipboard with a roll-call sheet for signatures -- that are swiftly handed off like a baton from one neighbor to another...there is, of course, the collective effort to recycle with strict scrutiny...

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...and, as we learned today from our next door neighbor, there is toban (said with an extended "o"), which, when translated, means "on duty"...

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...with the unassuming sign comes the assumption of various kinds of toban responsibilities...tomorrow we're on duty -- our first of three this year -- to water the trees and foliage in the common areas around our unit...this watering task is done every day during the summer by whoever has the sign among our collective Self...high five again to the concrete sense of interdependence and harmony exhibited among neighbors...

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...our neighbor said it will take us an hour...meaning...it'll take us at least two...

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