Kaigen Friendlies

For me, the beach can be served up any style. It can be sunny side up; just a quick way to catch some rays. Over easy; just me, music and a book, cooking myself on both sides, but making sure not to get overdone. Or it can be scrambled, like today. 

In what started as a solo mission to the local beach to try and stave off some of this heavy-handed summer heat, I ended up attracting a fair amount of friendlies, which made for an unexpectedly eventful trip. 
For a Monday, the beach was rather crowded. There were several large groups of teenagers scattered across the sand. Some sat scrunched, lounging out on an inflatable raft, which turned into an enticing Gladiator match. Another group of three girls were splashing like children and laughing so hard. There were volleyball nets, wide flat sand, and the robust smell of smoked meats coming from the conveniently located BBQ pits at the edge of the sand. I envisioned buttery corn on the cob, suck-off-the-bone spare ribs, and bloody, delicious steak seasoned with the perfect amount of rock salt. 

I set up camp next to the shore, enjoyed my tunes and dozed for a few. I sat up and saw the three girls waist-deep in the water with their beach ball. They looked over at me and smiled curiously. Then the one in the middle with the polka dot suit said, "Hello". I waved at them and smiled. They must have talked it through and made a group decision to venture over to the American post. They squatted in front of me and I sat up and smiled. Their bathing suits dripped from the salt water and they all smiled at me. They asked me where I was from and I proudly said, "California." They looked at each other and made a reverberating sound that many Japanese make when expressing the sentiments of "wow!" 

I then used the little Japanese I knew to tell them my name, my age and what I do here. They still squatted in fascination at the gaijin on their kaigen (beach). They said, "kawai", which means "cute" followed by "goodbye" and went back to the water. They were fifteen and today was their first day of summer vacation. I felt a relief of acceptance that perhaps all those stares that looked either blank or demeaning may have actually been fascination, kind of like when you see a rainbow-colored car. 

The sweat had gotten to me and I needed a refresher, so I jumped into the ocean and licked the salty sea off my lips. I waded around on my back for a few minutes and then felt cooled enough to post up in the sun again. 
I watched from a distance a group of guys playing volleyball in a circle. There were about 10 of them and they seemed to be having such a great time, diving into the sand, letting the sun quell their stress with every ray that bronzed their shoulders.  

About twenty minutes later, my sunspot faded into a shadow and I looked up to see one of the volleyboys above me. He spoke to me in Japanese and I was able to tell him I couldn't speak the language. That didn't stop him from talking. He was "that guy" in the group that was sent by his friends to venture into the haunted house first, check out the fear factor and then they could all join in. They sat around me and we exchanged words in broken English and Japanese. They are baseball players and it was their first day of summer vacation from Kobe University. It was fun talking to them and I was flattered enough to be convinced into a game of volleyball. I strutted my stuff and they were extremely impressed that I had any athletic ability at all. 

One guy told me "I love you" every time he passed the ball to me. I laughed and enjoyed my new hour-long friendship. They said with promise that they come to this beach every Monday.  I'll look forward to future encounters as well as the revived notion that Japanese people are outgoing and friendly, especially to the rainbow-colored cars of the world.