Faraway family … the vicar's daughter, Jeanna, enjoying some English sun with and her fiance, Earl, and a friend at a garden party.

Up the wall in Japan

Allan Rodgers, son of the vicar, teaches in Japan. It seems a wonderful life. Allan shares his mother’s love of corresponding. Here’s an excerpt from a recent email home. Allan was talking about taking a break in Europe. The letter suggests life abroad can have unexpected complications.

‘It’s time for a break from some of the Japanese ways of thinking,’ Allan wrote, ‘before I’m driven completely insane. For example, yesterday the apartment car park had new lines painted and for some inexplicable reason, everyone was asked to move one space to the left.

‘This would not be a completely unreasonable request except for the fact that the car parks are in a narrow space between the apartment building and a row of storage sheds (one for each apartment).

At work ... Allan with young students

‘Before, I was parked in front of my own storage shed so if I wanted to open the door, I just had to move my own car. Now I’m parked in front of the neighbour’s storage shed so I have to move my car if he wants to open his door.

‘I pointed this out and so it was decided that everyone should park a couple of feet away from the doors, making the already narrow-and-difficult-to-get-out-of car park even more narrow-and-difficult-to-get-out-of.’

Allan wrote, ‘Unfortunately, thanks to the rigid school system, logical thought is a rarely seen quality here and it sometimes drives me up the wall. Which, ironically, is probably the only way I’ll be able to get out of my car park now.’