Morning Cleanup

My face stung with the chill breeze. The sun had not quite made its way up yet and long shadows were barely visible on the concrete between us. We were, as usual, standing in a silent circle. We bowed at some unseen prompt, and called in unison, “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”

It wasn't clear to me who was to get a broom and who a bag and dustpan, but as there were way more brooms, I helped myself to one. Twenty sets of white-gloved hands were busy cleaning the 250 meter long street that was the main entry to our hilltop neighborhood.

The little piles of leaves were multiplying, so I switched to picking them up. Many hands did make light work, and after thirty minutes the road was clean, the clip-boarded roll was checked, brooms piled, bags tied, and we were back in our circle. With the final bow and ending marker of “Otsukaresama deshita” we went back to our houses. It was 7:30am, Sunday morning.

Last summer, I moved away from that chilly area - chilly in more ways than one - to a different neighborhood. Today, this was my experience.

Unlike the former area, the cleanup was scheduled at a more reasonable 7:30am. I went down to help sweep the park right on time, but true to the spirit of collectivism and doing one's best, the park was nearly clean. This lively elderly bunch had started sweeping much early. I grabbed a bamboo broom and swept a swath of the park for about 5 minutes, then a man with a big trash bag and a couple women with brooms came and helped me finish up.

I marked my participation on the name sheet, and the head lady joked to me, "You won't be getting a pack of saran wrap for perfect attendance." Indeed, I hadn't made it down there every time. "Three times a year I actually have a good excuse," I told her, "since I need to leave early for work." She said, "Muri wo shinaide," which means, "Don't stress yourself over it," or something akin to that. There was no final, "Otsukarasama deshita" bow, no formality; after smalltalk, people simply said, "Bye," and went back to their houses.

I like this new neighborhood group much better.

A few hours later, when I came home from swimming and running errands, lo and behold, what did I find in my mailbox? A box of saran wrap.