Lawnmower Girl
Lawnmower Girl
The constitution of the Japanese farm wife is to be looked upon with awe and respect.
Having lived one’s adult life in rural Japan, there has been plenty of opportunity to interact with these hard working citizens of Japan.
In particular, one has a relationship with the farming family who own the land next to one’s country abode.
Unquestionably, this farming family has a significant amount of political power in our community.
The head of the household saw a vast opportunity to participate in the Japanese bubble, and when not farming he took his clan off to work in the big city making roads, thus, the coffers of this wise farmer became abundant.
One particular thing to respect about wealth Japanese farmers is their innate sense of modesty, as it’s in the DNA of the Japanese imprinted into this society over millennia.
Regardless of the vast amounts of money he accumulated during his time of building roads, there was never an ostentatious display of wealth by this family.
This man’s wife, Ms. Hanae never fails to impress.
Always chipper when bumping into her she is witty, humorous, and the same ages as Maggie May—82 years old.
Ms. Hanae journey to the farm started when her family sent her to Mr. M’s farm the next town over as the new wife (oyome san).
This was an arranged marriage, and in those days of yore, nor the bride or groom had a say in who the marriage partner is whatsoever.
There are disturbing horror stories of the appalling treatment of some new farm wives by the entrenched sour matriarch of the farming clan, where she is known as the dreaded shutome—the ideograms (姑) meaning “old (古) woman(女).”
Mention shutome to one of your female Japanese friends and see the reaction— you may be surprise as to the kind of image this powerful word conjures up in the females population of Japan.
Interestingly enough, while talking to the Hindu proprietor of a very delicious Indian curry shop, one came to understand arranged marriages are quite common throughout Asia as the traditions of the East remain firmly rooted in the cultures throughout Asia.
Indeed, he told me 95% of marriages in his Indian town were arranged—as was his, and he was in total agreement with this embedded tradition of arranged marriage for Indians.
He further added that he thought this was for the best of both families, as the parents know what’s best for the continuation of the clan and the family legacy.
Ms. Hanae not only runs her farmhouse like a well oiled glove, at 82 she also swings her lawnmower with the skill of a master mower.
Even more surprisingly, Ms. Hanae never misses taking her dog for a walk every morning and evening.
One often bumps into her and her lovely Shiba-inu, where we stand around chatting, or as the Japanese say ‘ido bata kaigi’ (water well conference)
One can see these diligent farm wives throughout Japan, trimming the weeds and generally mowing down anything around the rice fields that gets in the way of a successful crop.
Ms. Hanae’s constitution and resilience is probably due to the fact she has never drank alcohol and has eaten the traditional Japanese diet of rice, vegetables, and fish for her entire life.
Always a pleasure to engage Ms. Hanae while giving her the honour and respect she deserves as an exemplary model of the diligent and hard working agrarians that grow the sustenance to feed the nation of Japan.