==JAPAN: KM== [Homestay]

"Hello, mom! This is Miki speaking,...yeah, I'm fine. I'm enjoying my stay in Australia. Ann, who is my homestay sister, is very kind to me....By the way, you know my passport and traveler's check numbers, don't you? Please let me know them!...Thanks, mom...No, nothing bad happened. Don't worry about me. I'm spending lovely days here. I'm fine, ...Good night!"
It was at Ann's parents' house in the evening that I noticed I had left my bag in which everything was (passport, traveler's checks, insurance policy, copies of them...you name it!)behind in the train. That day Ann's mother, who was an earnest Christian and a cheerful old lady, and I went to the Melbourne Zoo with our lunch. She had a rather big basket in which our lunch, woolens, and knitting needles were. In the train she was knitting wool into a sweater for Ann to kill time, while talking with me. On our way home, I was absorbed in helping her bring her basket and I completely forgot my own dear bag. Ann telephoned the Melbourne Station to ask whether my bag was sent there by someone. But that call was in vain.
Oh! How foolish you are! Stupid, Miki! Scatterbrain! You made a fatal mistake! What are you going to do, Miki?----I'd gotten confused and I found myself with tears in my eyes. Suddenly Ann's mother embraced me tenderly and said, "Dear Miki, don't shed tears. God will surely return it to you. Forget everything!" And Ann said, "Mom is right. Don't think of your bag! Tonight we have a dance party! Let's go to a dance to throw off your gloom!" Those words moved me and I made up my mind not to think about my lost bag.
On our way to the dance party Ann and I picked her friend Tom up by car. While he was getting ready to go out, we made conversation with his family at his house. Ann said to everyone, "Miki lost her bag in which she had everything." I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Ann's words. She herself surely said that it was good for me to forget my failure. Why did she bring up such a terrible topic which reminded me of my bag? "That's too bad. We hope you can get back your things you left behind, " said Tom's family in union.
The dance party was very interesting. Three dancers taught us the way to do a dance, while playing their instruments. Because they didn't play with a constant tempo, (the music got faster and faster) it was hard but enjoyable for us to dance to their music. We enjoyed not only dancing but also eating, drinking and talking with other participants. I was dead tired from dancing and dancing and I was able to sleep like a log that night.
Whenever Ann and I went out somewhere and met Ann's acquaintances, she took up the topic of my bag. Ann's mother and my English teacher Annet did the same thing. One day, I went all the way to the Melbourne Consulate with Ann's mother to have them reissue a ticket which would permit me to return to my homeland Japan. To my surprise, she told a stranger with whom we happened to ride on the same train about my failure! Annet also told all the high school students about my bag! How talkative Australians are! I don't want to spread my stupid story, if possible! I was ashamed of my folly---I cried out in my heart. But I was wrong. I gradually found that they weren't just chatterboxes. There are differences in temperament between Australians and Japanese. We Japanese, especially I, tend to hide our mistakes and things which are not good for us. Japanese wouldn't like to talk about their errors to strangers and younger people because they would like to keep their standing with dignity. This is clear in Japanese companies. Japan is a vertical society. Australians talk about unhappy subjects, unlike Japanese. They share sadness and encourage each other so that they have many chances to talk together. Then they are able to become real good friends because they don't have any secrets between themselves. We feel common feelings as human beings when we find out someone's mistakes, don't we? Australia is a horizontal society! Even though I made a stupid mistake, I was still able to spend enjoyable days without worrying about it because all of my friends and even strangers knew about my situation and cheered me up. I learned such a difference of two cultures through my mistake. It was a lucky hit.
Two weeks after I lost my bag, there was a call from the Tram Office. "Hello. We have been keeping your bag for two weeks. Please pick it up." Oh, God! You never let me down. Thank you, thank you. It was right to believe the words of Ann's mother. Thank God for your mercy. My first trip to a foreign country had a lucky ending!!

COMMENT
Recently, many people go abroad to study and stay, and learn many things by experience. I think she was lucky to have a good experience. Japan is a "shame" culture, so Japanese tend to hide our mistakes. But Australians talk together about everything and don't have any secret, so become real friends. This essay shows that difference of the two cultures through her mistake very well. I have never gone abroad to stay. Some day I would like to go abroad and have many experiences as she did.

Katsushige Hattori