what is 'real' mail?
a message on paper that is delivered by a postal person to your real life mailbox.
It can come from any place in the world and doesn't even have to be written in language you can read. Take this postcard for example.
A few days ago, amidst the usual grocery store sale ads, bills and health club advertisements there was a bit of joy there in the stack. I'd received a New Years postcard from a girlfriend in Japan. Each year, families and individuals send out New Years greetings to those they fancy, just as many send Christmas cards here in the States. I was thrilled to get Mayuko's card, a photo one of herself, husband and their new baby. Mayu spent time in England and now speaks beautifully, fluent British English. Her postcard was completely in English, making it easy on me. Satisfied having received actual real mail, I went about grazing the rest of the mailstack, only to find, another New Year's postcard. This time, it was completely in Kanji (the Japanese written language) which is indecipherable to me these days (yikes, I used to know some of it, where does forgotten knowledge go?) It was refreshing to see the Kanji again and I didn't care that I didn't know what it said, more importantly, I wondered from whom?
Turning the card over, I found that it was addressed not to me (or AMC for that matter) but to a Yasuyo (Japanese name) in Arkansas. Nothing about it mentioned an Ashley or a Denver... or anything that would make it come directly to my real life mailbox... as far as I could tell.
Hmmm.... we had a full blown mystery on our hands!
I snapped a photo and jumped on Facebook, who better to ask than Mayu! I wrote explaining the mystery asking if she could fill me in on what is says and who it's from. Here was her reply:
Although the last letter of the name is missing, I bet this handwriting is male. He says,
"Let's be 70 years old with good health! I mss you! I miss you!" The address says Sodegaura, Narashino-shi, Chiba-ken. And his name is Toku... Inomata.
If you want to know his whole name, take a photo again and let me see what the last letter is!
Hmmm.... I don't know any 69 year olds who live in Chiba (I lived in Sendai.) So, it seems that perhaps Mr. Inomata's postcard stuck to Mayu's and made it to my box instead of Yasuyo's in Arkansas. Albeit, a few weeks late, I will put this postcard in an envelope to Yasuyo, explaining the whole thing and why a person from Denver is sending a postcard from "Inomata san." ('san' is placed after someone's name to show respect. It is similar to Mr. or Mrs.)
And so, the case of the mysterious Japanese postcard is closed.
But a mystery continues....who is Yasuyo? And what is her relation to Mr. Inomata?
For, He misses her! He misses her!
