Just when I thought I had seen and done it all in Japan, I went to a restaurant with some of my friends and was treated to my first “ikizukuri”. What is this? It’s when you eat a fish or a squid raw while it’s still moving. To be quite honest, I was scared. I had never eaten anything that was moving while I was chowing down on it. The highlight of the evening of course wasn’t my wiggly-squid friend who seemed content to vanish little by little. It was the good company of my friends and former students who treated me to a kind ear and stories of their recent travels.
Ikizukuri. To be eaten alive. Is that what it means to turn 30? To live but to know that you are slowly diminishing. Or perhaps we should read it more literally: “iki” to live; “sukuri” to make.
We live and we make at the same time—or the process of living and being made.
We carry ourselves forward, and though we may return to the places we once were, they are no longer the same. We can not step into the same river twice. We can only try to live and make the new. Thus far, my latest adventure in Nagasaki has had a lot of the familiar–a second chance at hikes I did when I was 25 and 26, trips to places I remembered as being special to me in Nagasaki, but it has also had a lot that is new. New friends, new sites. I had the fabulous opportunity to go to Busan and while I was there I got to see the new cinema-plex, go to an aquarium, meet the Kim family, and see the many sites and sounds of the city–the highlight being the Christmas Tree Festival.
What it all comes down to is this: I am a better person because I have had the benefit of knowing each and everyone of you who are reading this blog post right now. Somewhere along the line, you picked me up while I was down. You showed me something unique and special in the world. You graced me with your words and your smile. You’re not here with me right now–and yet you are with me right now.
When we meet again, I’ll serve up a small part of myself to you while I am still alive, and you will do the same. We will both live and be made at the same time. Our feast will be bits and pieces of our living self.
Posted on December 7, 2011
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