My Two Hours of Fame in Imabari

This morning Chuck and I decided to take a sea day and not go on our excursion because it was pouring rain. We learned that we were the first cruise ship to anchor here so about 9:30 am I decided that I would go over to the port on a tender just to see what was going on.

When I arrived at the port all of the passengers on the ship who were going on excursions were gone, and I was the only passenger in the welcoming area. A lovely group of kindergartners were just getting ready to leave the area after they had spent the morning greeting passengers. I was able to wave to them and receive a few hugs .

Suddenly, I became the town celebrity and everyone began showering me with attention and love. There were several small vendors set up in the area and they each wanted to show me what they were offering. I got a hand massage with hot spring water and then they wanted to take my picture so that they could use it on their Facebook pages and for advertising.

Once that happened everyone wanted their picture taken with me. I was offered orange juice and then asked to pose with the vendors of the orange juice. Then I was offered a towel and asked to pose with the vendor for the towels.

There were a number of Japanese women offering a tea ceremony to me, and finally there were ladies who wanted to dress me in a kimono and have me pose with them.

There were newspaper and TV reporters there who wanted to ask me questions about where I was from and and how I felt about Japan and their port. They assigned a special interpreter to me and she walked with me everywhere and arranged for photographs to be made and interviews to be conducted. For two hours, I was literally the only person in the area.

Somewhere tonight in Japan, I will be on TV and tomorrow I will be in the newspaper as the esteemed guest from Asheboro, North Carolina. They were all so kind and gracious and grateful that I was willing to pose with them to help promote their products or services. So for two hours today, I was a celebrity in Imabari, Japan .

But truthfully, the people of Japan are the celebrities. They have a gracious hospitality that welcomes everyone. They showered me with love and gifts and smiles. I felt completely embraced by the people of this town and it is a day that I will treasure forever.もっと詳しく