A Bit of Japan in the Backyard

    I crashed a party on Saturday night and loved it and the hosts even invited me back.
    A fellow ex-American-in-Japan friend told me three weeks ago about this unique party. Some neighbors and friends of hers love to put on event-themed large parties once a year.  Last year it was an earthquake theme (the wife is a seismologist) in memory of our last big quake here in the SF area. 
    This year the focus was Japan, so I asked whether I could accompany my single friend. The backyard tea house and tea ceremony and meeting people interested in Japan lured me, not normally an avid party-goer.  Perhaps I'd meet poeple interested in my novel set in Japan.
    It was amazing.  From the entry way on, the hosts had transformed their place into the  best of Japan. a tansu and other Japanese furniture, silk screens, vases, an old-fashioned wooden apparatus for hulling rice, a large wooden dragon's head, and the gorgeous tea house. 
    I loved seeing people dressed in yukatas (cotton kimonos) haori and happi jackets and even some silk kimonos with gorgeous, elaborately tied obis.  The hosts had furnished these for people to don upon arrival.  In the backyard, the traditional dark blue designs on white of the yukatas and the gorgeous shades of the silk kimonos amidst the four red banners set high on poles made for a bright and beautiful atmosphere.
    I waited my turn to sit in the elegant yet simple tea room, like small cottage, with a small garden in front, set in the yard behind the Edwardian house.  At last our turn came.  The Americans around me were awed by the beauty of the Japanese style of building; light wood, rice paper in the windows, no nails but dowels, and a bamboo ceiling were just a few of the unique features.
    A eleven year old girl seated to my right felt intimidated by the new surroundings. I tried to ease her discomfort by explaining some of the goings-on and the meaning. The tea hostess, dressed in a fine kimono, kneels in the center of the room and spoons out a couple of scoops of bright green tea powder into a bowl, ladles hot water from the urn in the room and with a bamboo whisk stirs it into a strong, somewhat bitter, tea.  She then bows to a guest and presents it to them.
    Many thanks to my hosts, Catharine and Laurence, for enabling me to taste again some of the best of Japan without boarding a plane.