My 60 Keywords [5. Saga]
In the first semester of my first year of junior high, I transferred from Kokura to Saga due to my father's job transfer. I ended up spending about six years there until I graduated from high school, so my youth is in Saga. This was my third time transferring schools, following kindergarten senior year and fourth grade of elementary school.
I transferred to Saga City Jonan Junior High School, and for some reason, I found myself in both the Kendo club and the Choir club. I have absolutely no memory of why. It was a valuable experience where, for these three years in my life, I belonged to an athletic club and actually took it somewhat seriously. I was short and skinny until about my third year of junior high, so I was always a substitute, but I did my best, practicing in that smelly gear drenched in sweat during the hot summer and freezing while practicing in the cold winter. And for some reason, the choir club. I was doing this incomprehensible combination of Kendo and choir. Also, for me, my second year of junior high was the peak of my intellect and reason. Haha. It was around this time that I started listening to S&G at my classmate Naruura's house and discovered Western music, and at the same time, I started listening to Yosui, which is when I became a music lover. As an aside, Mr. Tokuhisa, who served as an outside director at Members, was also from Jonan Junior High and was two years my junior in the choir club, so we might have met. Haha.
I then entered the prefectural Saga Nishi High School through entrance exams. It had a somewhat rugged school culture, and in the summer, there was an event called the Fire Storm where we would sing the school song and dormitory songs in front of a huge bonfire, and for several weeks before that, the seniors would give us some incredibly scary training. However, it was great to be able to live freely in a regional area. Come to think of it, I participated in the Wakakusu National Sports Festival as part of the choir club and had the opportunity to speak with the then-Crown Prince and Princess (the current Emperor Emeritus). For some reason, I also participated as a member of the Saga Citizens' Choir for the 'Ninth' at a Kyushu Philharmonic concert, and I had many other interesting experiences. However, in my second year, my father was transferred again to Maebashi, but this time I didn't go with them and decided to live alone in a boarding house. That was fun. Being a second-year high school student is the perfect time to want some distance from your parents, so living alone was exactly what I wanted. As expected, my academic performance dropped sharply due to playing (mahjong), and I experienced things I can't talk about here. I was around 70th in the class when I entered, but by the time I left, I had fallen to the 300s, a miserable result. Tears. So, I ended up spending my ronin year in Maebashi. The photo is from when I visited my alma mater for the first time in about 40 years.
Saga also has a lot of (B-grade) delicious food. My origin for ramen, 'Ikkyuken'; my origin for gyoza, 'Manshuya'; my origin for champon, 'Harukoma Shokudo', and so on—just writing about them makes my mouth water... Oh, that's right, 'Yoryutei', which is run by a classmate, has two Michelin stars! It was too high-class for me to go to back then (though I did go in to play around), but a few years ago, I went with my wife and was able to enjoy a wonderful dining experience. (Photo taken at Yoryutei with classmates)
Thanks to FB, I know quite a bit about everyone from my Saga Nishi cohort, so it doesn't feel like we are far apart. I was able to attend the 35th-anniversary reunion in Tokyo and rekindle old friendships. My classmates included the owner of the aforementioned two-Michelin-starred restaurant, the president of the Saga Shimbun, the heir to Saga's number one confectionery, a school principal, a Shinto priest, the president of a local supermarket, a guy who became a member of the House of Councillors, and a master of the Japanese SFX world, a film director, and an authority on implants—it was fun to have such a diverse group.
Spending six years in Saga is a treasure in my life, without a doubt.
And, I found this out about five years ago, but when looking at the family tree remaining in our home, I discovered that our original Hara family roots began in Hara-cho (Shiota-cho), Fujitsu-gun, Saga Prefecture, with Bungonokami Naokage Hara, the lord of Momidake Castle, Ari Castle, and Nokomi Castle! Since the era was Tensho, that means we were in Saga in the late 1500s. When I found this, I felt a sense of destiny. I haven't been there yet, so I absolutely must go in the near future.
