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Show rs. Marilyn Thorpe Harris Gives I Ivid Picture of Life in Japan ad?-Editor's note The Spring-ng Spring-ng ,lle Herald was more than happy to ge the following in- teresting letter from Mrs.! Marilyn T. Harris, daughter of! Mr. and Mrs. Blaine Thorpe, now in Ames, Iowa, where Blaine is attending school. Marilyn Mari-lyn joined her husband, who is stationed in the armed forces for-ces in Japan, in June and from her letter, both of them are making the most of their opportunity op-portunity to live in a foreign land. We invite other young people located far away from home to tell us of their experiences. ex-periences. Everyone enjoys reading them. We are living in a rural on their issues of the Spring-ville Spring-ville Herald and we surely do enjoy it as it is our only main contact with Springville now. We'd like to wish you a late but sincere Happy New Year and bid you farewell until next August. Sayonara, Robert and Marilyn Thorpe Harris. part of Japan, north of Tokyo. It is delightful as we see the people plant and harvest their crops, dry their vegetables for winter, and build their homes. They have planted and harvested har-vested three crops since I arrived ar-rived in June, so you can understand un-derstand why the country is so beautiful and always green. From high in the air, their fields look as colorful as one of Grandmother's old patchwork quilts. I was very fortunate in that I was able to witness a Shinto marriage. This privilege comes to few people, I am told, so I cherish the experience. In this marriage, the people who had brought the young couple together were given honor over the parents. Three priests officiated of-ficiated dressed in silks of blue and gold. They began by beating on the large temple drum to drive away the evil spirits and then chanted prayers pray-ers to their gods. The bridal i couple and the party were then given saki (rice wine) from the same container, and carrying carry-ing a small branch of olive leaves to an altar, they make their prayers for the happiness and success of their marriage. The ceremony ended by more chanting and beating of the drum. The bride was the center cen-ter of "attraction, dressed ir the traditional kimono of hap py birds on a white back ground, a large white head dress, and massive hairdo. Also, since we just finisher celebrating the New Year, I'd" like to tell you some of Japan'' customs concerning that. New Year is their biggest celebra tion. At this time, they pound rice with huge mallets to mak small rice cakes for their Nev Year's meal. The people wlr are able, buy new kimonos an on this day you see no West ern clothing. The women a' wear their hair in the ancien' hairdo or else use a wig. ThiF day, religion is of supreme im-' portance and so the shrines are thronged with people. In Tokyo, the Emperer's palace is open to the public and he gives a New Year's message to the people. Each home displays a decoration of palm, food, and writing which signifies the hopes for the coming year and in most homes you will find flower arrangements from their symbolical pine and bamboo. Our home is in the center of a Japanese town, Oizumi and we have Nipponese neighbors on three of our four sides. We observe their every move and they observe our every move which often proves both em-harassing em-harassing and amusing. Also, this year we were voted the most popular Americans by the neighborhood canine population. popula-tion. It seems we are the most generous with excess bones and fat. It is a choice experience to be here and we enjoy each day to the fullest but when the time comes, the old U.S. will look pretty darn good. Seeing how the majority of these people have to live and earn their meager living surely adds to our appreciation of HOME. Our folks have been sending |