Pianissimo Pêche

• One pack Pianissimo pêche (peach menthol cigarettes)
• One 500mL bottle of C.C. Lemon (70 lemons’ worth of Vitamin C in every bottle!)
• Three packages of tragically stale sesame mochi with red anko (Tesla’s favourite)
• One blissfully fresh large mochi ball with anko (devoured immediately)
• One packet of green tea
• One packet of strange yet delicious almond toast/cookie/brittle substance
• One juice-box filled with sake
• One miniature can of Kirin, the Japanese beer
• Two packages of what might have once been mochi but arrived at my door as slightly moldy slush.
• One beautiful photo of Tesla taken in a photo booth

These are the contents of the world’s most thoughtful, lovely and timely care package. On September 4^th, Tesla (who is teaching English in Japan) mailed me a care package the likes of which had never been seen before. While the typical parcel takes about 2-3 weeks to arrive, I had honestly given up hope for this gift from Koriyama. I had visions of lazy postal workers in Delhi delving into my mochi with ravenous delight, smoking the peach menthols and philosophizing on why India had not embraced vending machine culture. What I completely underestimated was inter-Asian prejudice; from my limited experience, I find Indians wary of the Japanese, whom they believe are heathenistic raw-meat eaters. Perhaps no one in the Delhi postal service would dare try Japanese rice and bean paste for fear of sashimi. I also forgot that the Japanese overpackage everything to the point where you cannot actually discern the contents of an item from its external appearance. A moment in which I am grateful for the inherent and quirky differences between cultures!

The real climax to this elusive Japanese care package story comes on the morning of Saturday, October 6, 2007. Ari, himself eager to retrieve a parcel from home, rose early to beat the “rush” at the nearly-local post office. As he was rummaging through the backroom of forgotten packages for his box of personal affects, he found Tesla’s shipment just sitting there!! Eureka! A discovery akin to those of Copernicus or Newton (needless to say, Ari has accumulated an endless supply of brownie points and a juice box filled with convenience store sake). He also earns “I told you so” rights for his prediction that the package would only arrive after I had given up all hope and on a day when I was not thinking about it. Nicely Done.

So many, many thanks (and a few tears of awe – reminiscent of those shed on the Shink) to Tesla for her wonderful present. The C.C. Lemon, as always, was the perfect hangover cure. The one ball of fresh mochi was all I hoped it would be. And the peach menthols will certainly be a welcomed break from my dangerous flirtation with a beedies addiction.