Happy 100th Birthday to my Obaachan!

My sister and me with Obaachan and Ojiisan in 1987
 
My Obaachan (grandmother) was born on October 16, 1909 and is 100 years old tomorrow, which is pretty amazing. She lives in Osaka, Japan, where she’s lived the majority of her life. She was married to my Ojiisan (grandfather) for 73 years before his death at the age of 95 in 1998, and has survived two of her five children. She lived in the same rented house for about 50 years, and now lives in a home close to her old neighborhood. Though she’s quite frail and has become somewhat forgetful in her old age, she still loves to eat and still manages her chopsticks very well – especially when eating her favorite salty black seaweed condiment, which she always eats with her rice.


Obaachan, 2008  

Though I spent most of my life in the United States, I have great memories our summer visits to Obaachan and Ojiisan in Japan. I remember how much they spoiled us, especially Obaachan, because she didn’t really get to see my sister and I that often. I laugh when I think about the time that, after drinking a bottle of Kirin Lemon soda and telling her how much we liked it, she had a case of the stuff delivered to her house so that we could have as much of it as we wanted. Whenever we were at her house, she’d make sure to stock up on cookies and other treats.

I also recall how she would always have a nice sushi lunch delivered to her house whenever we’d visit, and how she took us to her local food arcade to show us off to her merchant friends. If we so much as looked at something, she’d ask if we wanted it and try to buy it for us (it got to a point where my parents warned us about not taking advantage of this!). She gave us little envelopes of money but was always discreet about it so that our Japanese cousins wouldn’t get jealous or feel left out. My grandparents weren't wealthy, but they were always generous. Obaachan had a cabinet underneath the staircase where she housed many unopened presents that were given to her, and in turn give them to us or her friends.

Obaachan always gifted us with one nice piece of jewelry on our visits, whether it was a pair of pearl earrings or a gold ring. She had impeccable taste and to this day I still have all of the beautiful jewelry she gave me. Obaachan always told my sister and I how pretty we were, and how young we looked, and would stroke our hands and talk about what pretty skin we had; she’d hold her tiny, wrinkled hand next to ours and say, “Look how much younger your hand looks!” Pretty funny since she’s 64 years older than we are!

Though she hasn’t a clue what the Internet is, and probably doesn’t even know what a computer is, I wanted to dedicate this day to my Obaachan on her 100th birthday. I’m sorry to say that I won’t be with her to celebrate, but my parents are going to see her next week and I look forward to seeing the photos of her intimate birthday dinner celebration. Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu Obaachan!