Friday 2 March 2012

Some of us never grow up

The photos demonstrate that the title is intended only for me.
A young woman who home-stayed in Winnipeg many years ago got married about 14 years ago and came to Canada again with her baby daughter Momoko (peach-girl), husband, sister and father. The daughter is now 12 years old and we were warmly welcomed into their Tokushima home.
But I digress. Her father is a free spirit who is a retired engineering professor and truly retired unlike most Japanese professionals. He hops in his van and ferries himself to Hokkaido and drives around this island sleeping wherever, bathing in public baths and operating a video camera through his windshield and using it and two SLR cameras to photograph the beauty of this island.
As one of the photographs demonstrates he does not care about wearing a "housecoat" in public and we were told that he was the only person who ever showed up at the local Harley Davidson shop wearing the housecoat to buy a bike. In fact he owns two, one with a sidecar.
We went to see the bikes at his home. But of course his daughter persuades him to take me for a ride in his sidecar on a cold winter day. So away we went to have a cup of coffee at the HD shop and shoot the breeze with the owner. Of course two ladies followed us in the car.

3 comments:

  1. Again, great photos!
    Lester, you look really cute in the side-car (esp. from the back!). I see one problem -- you can't do much on your own!!
    Hardy

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  2. Wonderful story. I think I would like to meet this man - in fact, both of these un-grown-up men!
    Dan

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  3. I am rather dependent and in fact the sidecar is traditionally intended for a female companion, although it is a clumsy contrivance taking up to much of the road.
    We are meeting a number of Japanese males that are unafraid to try anything and everything, but in most cases I suspect, the wives are probably not too happy and one might say mistreated.

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