Spotlight shadow shenaningans in Tama

Parthenon Tama visit

Stella becoming an angel in Parthernon Tama
Stella becoming an angel in Parthernon Tama

Today I visited the Parthenon. Not the one in Athens as you might think I’m off topic and country, but the one in Tama city, Japan. Right on top of the redbrick pedestrian lane one can see a building resembling the ancient Greek monument. For this reason the people of Tama agreed on this name thirty years ago when their culture centre was first built.

Our group was guided around the main hall where opera, ballet, music and theatrical performances are held. We also had the chance of taking a look at the backstage areas, which honestly looked like a daedalus to me… The “irony” of more Greek words…

Off to our happy free hour where we wandered around before we went to the pot luck lunch party organized by the local international partners.

And the feast eventually begins! We got a chance to mingle with Japanese people who joined the event and cooked delicacies for us.

I had an excellent discussion about World War 2, Lefkadio Hern (aka Koizomi Yakumo in Japanese) and permaculture in Japan and Greece with elder people who sometimes spoke good English and sometimes used all possible language combos and gimmicks. And it was fun seeing their wide open eyes while I was eating octopus as normally as any Greek person would… I got a few pats on my back for that, which made me feel like home and think how stereotypes about Japanese manners have nothing to do with honesty and the light heart of people.

We played traditional Japanese games together, tried calligraphy, astonished them with weird fun facts from our home countries and enjoyed their honest responses.

All in all, yeap, delicious food and good company are all you need to have a nice day. And this does not only apply for the Greeks as proven today…

Stella Tsolakidou, Greece

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