Neriza Sarmiento - Saito's
On the Road to:
A HUNDREDFOLD OF “ONE MOMENT,ONE MEETiNG”
The way of tea in Japan encompasses the whole idea of “Ichi go, Ichi e” or one moment, one meeting, which means that every experience we have in our daily life is unique and special, therefore it must be cherished. This was the belief of Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), the master of “Sado” or tea ceremony. Decades of living in Japan has taught me to appreciate the simple things in our complex world. Sometimes, I feel sorry for some of our “kababayan” who allow themselves to be slaves of time and material possessions. I am also one of those train commuters, like almost everyone inside the train, glued to my I-phone in the early hours of the morning. Or sometimes, while transferring trains, I fear that some of those impatient salaried workers might just knock me down the escalator or that some of the oversized suitcases of a group of tourists might hit my injured leg. People seemed to be rushing unmindful of others. Services are the best in Japan and customers are never kept waiting. In some fast food chains, orders are made through iPhone applications, so by the time the customer
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JULY - AUGUST 2019
steps into the shop, the items are ready for pickup. In the slow paced and almost choreographic ritual of “Sado”, serving tea is an expression of purity. “Wabi” is the spiritual experience representing tranquility and refinement , while “Sabi“ is the material side that is decayed or worn out. For the 100th issue of Jeepney Press, I would like to look back at the very first “one moment, one meeting“ I had with Dennis and Irene during a presidential reception in Tokyo in 2003. They were in the preliminary stages in planning the publication Jeepney Press. I felt honored to have had that moment of meeting two very warm-hearted and determined brother and sister, to document the journeys of Filipinos in Japan. I never imagined that it was also the start of my own journey of soul-searching. The second moment was a reunion in Japan with Nanette Ochoa Fernandez, a classmate in my Theater Arts class way back when. She wrote about me in her article in JP. Soon after that, Dennis encouraged me to write a column here, so the first person I interviewed was my best friend, Noemi Itsukage. It has been 15 years since then and what started as a 1/4 page column expanded to a 2-page spread. Over the years, I wrote about the lives, struggles and aspirations of migrants in Japan. Some of them are known to many of you: Henry Tabao, Malou Sato, Valentino Cabansag, Osti Wade, Susan Fuchizaki, Roman Santos Jr.,
