Dead Man's Party*

Intended airdate: April 2, 2010

Two Crazy Chicks Productions, in association with WorldWildPhotoGraphics and What Am I Going to Tell Your Mother? Productions, is proud to present Episode 1 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Japan II...

Pioneering journalist Hisato Ishida, only child of Minoru and Mieko Ishida, died in Tokyo of heart failure on November 30, 2009. He was 76. He is survived by estranged wife Honor Williams Ishida, daughters Catherine and Yumiko, and a fairly extensive wine collection comprised mostly of French reds.

That precious collection is the inspiration for what Yumiko and Cathy dub “the wine party,” a memorial/celebration/remembrance to be held at Tokyo’s New Otani Hotel on April 2nd.

A magnificent display of cherry blossoms welcomes our intrepid heroines, Cathy, and Cathy’s husband Mike to Tokyo. The four promptly set to work taking care of last-minute details.

Eden finds trouble as she and Yumiko are returning from the wine storage facility, where they spent the morning in a stark, windowless, icy room, pulling selected bottles for transport to the hotel.

Our fearless females are navigating a crowded station when Yumiko darts aboard a subway car just as the doors are sliding shut. Eden, taken by surprise by her normally slow-moving companion’s sudden speedy maneuver, instinctively – and stupidly – thrusts her hands out in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the doors from closing.

Her hands trapped, Eden looks through the glass to meet Yumiko’s startled gaze. It’s clear that she too is wondering what they will do if they are separated. It then occurs to Eden that she faces a much more disturbing potential problem: she might become separated from some critical body parts.

With a desperate yank, she wrenches her hands free. A moment later, the conductor orders the doors to reopen and Eden hops onto the train.

“Well, that could’ve been ugly. You’d think those stupid doors would have some sort of sensor,” she comments, wincing in pain and gingerly flexing her swollen knuckles. “We need a plan in case we get separated.”

The Plan: the gaijin (foreigner) stays put. The nihonjin (Japanese) is to return for her little lost sheep.

Eden and Yumiko are not interested in having to utilize The Plan, so they stick close to one another as, over the course of the next couple of days, they window shop in Ginza (Tokyo’s equivalent of New York’s 5th Avenue), watch a Shinto priest bless a new Mercedes, waft incense over themselves at Senso Temple, play with the latest electronic gadgets at Panasonic Center, and gawk at a sculpture atop the Asahi building that Cathy has dubbed “the Golden Poo.”

“It’s an apt name,” Eden informs Cathy when they meet in the hotel room to dress for the wine party.

Some 80 people show up to pay their respects to Yumiko and Cathy’s late father. For two hours, surviving schoolmates, colleagues, and friends toast his journalistic accomplishments, share humorous anecdotes, and reflect on his life. The wine flows freely and the guests get happily hammered.

It’s a dead man’s party. Who could ask for more?

© Eden Feuer

*For those readers who are not familiar with American 80s music, the title of this episode is a direct reference to Oingo Boingo’s hit song Dead Man’s Party.