Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story (22 page)

‘I’ll do my best. Have a good time in Kyoto.’

‘Yuriko?’

‘Yes, Haruka?’

‘We’re going to discuss wedding plans with Jun’s family.’

‘Good luck with that,’ Yuriko replied, smiling fondly at her best friend.

They said their goodbyes and Haruka went back to her house next door to finish her packing, proudly holding her bag of new clothes. She was full of excitement about her trip to Kyoto.

Evil gotten goods never prove well

They boarded the ten fifty-three Hikari Super Express Bullet Train from platform four at Shin-Yokohama station the following morning. Haruka and her parents, as well as Mrs Makimoto, Yuriko’s mother, all settled into the comfortable brown velour seats for the two and a half hour trip to Kyoto. Haruka’s father was restless for most of the journey. He ordered several snacks from the trolley lady and he made four or five trips to the smoking carriage, where he could sit and enjoy a cigarette. Haruka tried to call Takashi four times on the way, but his mobile was still turned off. The train travelled at about 270 kilometres per hour. They stopped at Odawara, Nagoya, Gifu-Hashima and Maibara before they finally pulled into Kyoto station.

Once they’d exited the station at Kyoto, a taxi escorted them to the Okura Hotel. They checked in at the grand reception and made their way to their rooms on the seventh floor. Haruka’s parents had kindly paid for her to have a room of her own.

Opening the door to a spacious suite, Haruka was so happy to be in Kyoto. Her room was beautifully decorated and the bed looked so comfortable and enticing with its fluffy pillows cradling two elegant paper cranes, sitting above smooth and fresh-looking sateen sheets. She was almost tempted to take a quick nap, but Haruka thought she’d better call the English conversation school and ask about the accommodation which they were organising for her.

Haruka dialled their number and asked to be put through to Mrs Aoki. After about thirty seconds she came to the phone and seemed very keen to speak to her.

‘Hello Haruka,’ she said. ‘I’m really glad you called. I’ve just spoken to your manager in Harajuku and she told me you’re in Kyoto. I have some news for you. Ordinarily, I’d ask you to come in and see me, but today I’m particularly busy, so I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to tell you this over the phone.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Haruka said to her. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘I’m afraid there is,’ she said. ‘The woman whose job you were replacing is no longer joining her boyfriend in the US and has decided to retain her management position here in Kyoto.’

‘I see,’ Haruka said. ‘So the position is no longer available?’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ said Mrs Aoki. ‘You were very well-qualified, and I’m sure you’ll have no problem acquiring another management position elsewhere.’

‘Thank you,’ said Haruka, lost for words.

‘I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience we may have caused you, Haruka,’ were Mrs Aoki’s final words.

Haruka put down the phone, sat on the end of the bed and hugged her knees into her chest. She’d really been looking forward to starting this new management position, and in just a few minutes, it had all been taken away from her. She’d done quite a bit of preparation for her new role, and she’d never expected this disappointment. Haruka had also been thinking about how she could get to know Jun’s family a bit better before the wedding if she lived near them in Kyoto, but now she realised she wouldn’t have that opportunity.

The telephone in the room rang and pulled Haruka out of her reverie. She picked up the receiver only to be told by her mother to join her and her father in their room down the hall. She changed into a skirt and went to join her parents.

If Haruka thought her room was lovely, theirs was a sight to behold. Two huge floor-to-ceiling windows afforded a marvellous view over the town of Kyoto, and in the distance one could see a postcard-like image of the Higashiyama mountain range.

Haruka’s father had already helped himself to the mini-bar and was sitting on a love seat that was expensively draped in a soft floral mint fabric. He was enjoying a glass of 10-year-old Suntory Pure Malt Whisky.

‘It’s a little early for a drink, isn’t it, Father?’ Haruka teased him light-heartedly.

‘Don’t you start, Haruka,’ he replied gruffly.

‘I have some news to tell you,’ she said to her parents. ‘I’ve just spoken to the manager at the English conversation school here in Kyoto and I won’t be working there because the position is no longer available.’

‘Not to worry,’ said her mother, who looked perfectly fine with that arrangement. ‘Once you marry Jun, you won’t be working anyway – you’ll be too busy at home.’

‘Maybe you’re right,’ Haruka replied.

‘You can’t sit around drinking all day,’ her mother pointed out to her father as she padded around the room in the hotel slippers, trying to unpack a few clothes. ‘We have to meet Mrs Makimoto in the lobby in fifteen minutes. Now, I can’t find a handkerchief anywhere. I’m sure that I packed two or three. Don’t tell me I left them on the bedside table before we left.’

‘I have a spare one in my suitcase,’ Haruka offered.

‘Thank you, Haruka. Could you fetch it for me and meet us down in the lobby?’ her mother asked her. She twirled around and looked at her husband. ‘Please don’t have another drink. We don’t have time,’ she said to him.

Haruka could hear her father pouring himself a second glass as she left the room.

Haruka was waiting with Mrs Makimoto for about ten minutes before her mother and father joined them in the lobby. She discreetly passed her mother a Céline handkerchief that she slipped into her handbag.

‘Will you meet up with us at six p.m. for dinner?’ her mother asked Mrs Makimoto, who was about to go and see her sick friend.

‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘Are you going to the Temple of the Golden Pavilion this afternoon?’

‘Yes. And will Mrs Kurokawa and her son Jun be joining us tomorrow when we visit the Ry
an-ji Temple?’ asked Haruka’s mother sharing a smile with her daughter.

Haruka knew that she was clearly using this trip to bring Jun and her closer together as well as their two families.

‘Oh yes,’ Mrs Makimoto replied with confidence. ‘They’ll meet us after breakfast tomorrow at ten thirty a.m.’

Haruka’s mother looked at her daughter again with a hugely satisfied smirk pasted across her face.

On the way to the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Haruka and her parents were in a fine mood. They chatted all the way in high spirits, looking forward to the temple and really enjoying each other’s company. Haruka had visited the Golden Temple with her junior high school, but its sheer brilliance still stunned her again that afternoon. The gold leaf that encompassed the temple and its reflection in the surrounding Kyôko-chi pond provided a serenity and splendour that created a real Zen sense of peacefulness.

Haruka’s father took a photo of his wife and daughter with the Golden Temple in the background.

‘The temple’s exquisite, isn’t it, Mother?’ Haruka said.

‘Yes, but it’s the gardens that I like the most. Each branch and each rock are so beautifully sculptured. This is art for me, Haruka – the epitome of Japanese art,’ her mother replied.

On the way back to the hotel, Haruka thought about her relationship with her mother. When she was growing up, they’d always been close, but she somehow felt that their trip to Kyoto and the visit to The Golden Temple had brought them even closer. Haruka was so grateful that her parents had decided to take this trip to Kyoto, even though they had money problems. It would all be worth it when they met up with Jun and his family and the wedding plans were arranged. Haruka thought that her mother obviously had her best interests at heart and if everything worked out with Jun, then she was looking forward to the harmony between their two families.

That night, Mrs Makimoto, Haruka and her family enjoyed a delicious dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. Haruka returned to her room about ten p.m. and slept well, looking forward to the following day.

On Friday morning, she dressed with a little more care than usual, as she had the double pleasure of looking forward to seeing Jun again and more sightseeing and she wanted to look her best. Haruka remembered to wear the Tiffany & Co. heart pendant and the Hermés scarf that Jun had so generously given to her in August. She even took her Louis Vuitton bag with her that she only brought out for special occasions. When she’d finished dressing, Haruka went to her parents’ room to find her father enjoying a delicious Japanese breakfast. It had obviously been brought to the room moments earlier. Her father looked up and suggested that Haruka order something herself while there was still time.

Haruka looked at the room service menu and also at the array of food in front of her father. He was holding his chopsticks over an appetiser, grilled fish, miso soup, and dried seaweed, vegetables simmering in sweet soy sauce, as well as egg, pickles, rice and fruit. Haruka didn’t think she could stomach that much so early because she usually didn’t eat breakfast. She ordered a grapefruit juice and a croissant, as well as a Danish pastry for her mother, and the food arrived shortly after.

Just after ten thirty a.m., they walked out of the elevator and into the spacious lobby to find Jun Kurokawa sitting with his mother. Mrs Kurokawa always made Haruka a bit nervous. A single band of grey hair running from the part at her hairline over her blackened perm made her look striking but quite intimidating.

Haruka was surprised to see Jun looking completely stupefied when he saw her and her parents. He stood up and offered them a crooked smile, visibly shaken by their appearance in the lobby.

‘I didn’t know that you were coming with my auntie to Kyoto,’ were his first words.

‘Didn’t I mention it to you, Jun?’ said his mother, waving to Mrs Makimoto as she walked across the lobby to join them.

‘No, you didn’t,’ replied Jun.

‘Hello Mr and Mrs Yoshino, how nice to see you both again. If there’s anything I can do for you while you’re in Kyoto, please let me know,’ said Mrs Kurokawa to Haruka’s parents.

Haruka had forgotten that Jun’s mother had a superior and haughty voice. As she spoke to them, she looked upon Haruka and her parents with suspicion. Haruka’s mother, who was usually very perceptive, seemed to be completely unaware of her tone and manner. Haruka thought that it was a little embarrassing to watch her mother trying to ingratiate herself with Mrs Kurokawa.

As they left the hotel, Jun’s mother turned to Haruka, looking her up and down from head to toe.

‘Really, young lady, your Hermés scarf and your Louis Vuitton handbag are lovely, but that’s not an appropriate colour to be wearing at this time of the year. Who wears a long cream coat in this weather? Anyone can see that they’re only going to get filthy. Maybe you and your mother could shop for something nicer now you’re in Kyoto,’ Mrs Kurokawa said to her imperiously.

Haruka looked down at her soft brown suede leather boots, co-ordinated with her beige jeans and the new Junko Shimada long cream belted coat that Yuriko had given her. Mrs Kurokawa was dressed entirely in black silk, angora and cashmere, and Haruka wanted to tell her that she looked like she was about to attend a funeral. Instead, she forced out the sweetest smile that she could manage. She wondered why she was receiving this treatment from her future mother-in-law.

‘Shall we go to the Ry
an-ji Temple now? I’d have driven you myself, but the Mercedes is being serviced,’ Mrs Kurokawa announced.

The pretentious tone in her voice did concern Haruka a little, but she told herself that when we they all got to know each other a little better, she would see a warmer and kinder side to her personality.

The stop for the bus to the Ry
an-ji Temple was opposite the Okura Hotel, and it wasn’t long before their bus arrived. Jun stood beside Haruka on the way to the temple, but in the bus he said very little. Haruka was surprised by his lack of affection.