Two Brave Souls

Stella Maris

In Japan, school years start in April and end in March (one month of mid-school-year break in August) vs. September through June in the West. My two sisters and I (one year older and two years older, more on them later) went to our local public Japanese elementary school until we were mid-4th, 5th and 6th graders. When we were old enough for the commute, we were transferred to an American school. We lived in Osaka and the Roman Catholic Franciscan Missionary all girls K~12th Stella Maris International School was in Kobe. At the time, it took us almost 2 hours each way to commute… 20 min walk to the subway, 20 min subway ride, 40 min train ride, 20 min bus ride, and another 10 min walk to the school. We would leave the house before 7AM to be in class by 8:45AM, all tired and sleepy.

For three years prior to our transfer, we had inter-changing private English tutors at home. Sadly and with much embarrassment, we were playful and did not show any returns on our parents’ investment. Here we were in an all English school and all we knew was ‘yes’ , ‘no’, ‘thank you’, ‘I am sorry’… you get the picture. To our peers, we were poor in the language/communication, but when it came to math, geography and physical education, we were head-and-shoulder… maybe the entire torso, above our classmates.

Language being the issue, we soon gravitated toward classmates who were able to communicate with us in Japanese. These students were literally putting their well-being in danger with the Nuns. We feared those Nuns. Thank God corporal punishment was against Japanese law. Nuns had rules about EVERYTHING! One rule was ‘no’ Japanese speaking was allowed in the school. We were humiliated publicly and at times, fined monetarily. For some reason, Nuns were never bothered by the European kids speaking their European languages among themselves. Hmmm?

Two such brave souls were my newly-found, Chinese classmate friends. Both were born and raised in Japan, and both had intriguing family stories. One was from Taiwan, daughter of a successful pearl merchant (mother’s business), Shumi, my BFF for decades now (more on Shumi later), and the other from mainland China, who changed her name to Maria, to please the Nuns. Maria, an only-child, had lost her father to illness when she was a toddler. Maria’s mother, a well-educated woman from a high-class wealthy family, before the Cultural Revolution, was a business woman who provided for the family (international Catholic schools were not cheap). Both girls were from homes with great female role-models.

Maria, Maria’s Mom, Ken 4mo & Shumi at ‘the’ restaurant (just to be clear, Shumi is sitting down!)

Over a decade passed… During one of my visits to Japan, Shumi took me to visit Maria. Maria’s Mom had opened a new Chinese restaurant featuring some of Maria’s Mom’s old family recipes. We were the VIPs of the restaurant. The restaurant chef brought us samplers from their menu. Remember, I grew up with these girls. I thought I had seen each-and-every Chinese dish there was (not that I can eat every variety of the cuisine), but these were special and one-of-a-kind, each and every one. Paper wrapped and deep fried entrées, seafood that melts in your mouth, dishes with rare vegetables, fruits, nuts… mmmmmm. There was also a lettuce wrap dish. There were choices of fillings which were brought to us already wrapped. Since then, I have eaten all kinds of lettuce cups and wraps in restaurants, but never quite as tasty as Maria’s Mom’s recipes.

You may like the recipe for:

Chicken in Lettuce Cups

Check out Fae’s > Recipe Index