Work today. I planned to head to the Prefectural library where I believed there to be some records of migrants who went to Australia as indentured labourers in the 1880s and 1890s. Wakayama was one of the prefectures from where many poorer Japanese went overseas to seek there fortune as it were.
Very untourist-like, I grabbed my back and hopped on a bus to the library only to find today was its day off: closed. Oh well. Back to the city and onwards and upwards to my other appointment for the day. Meeting people at Wakayama University and sitting in on a colleague's senior seminar.
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| A little morning tea: sweet potato parfait |
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| A fountain in the relatively new mall near the University |
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| The seminar group... |
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| Did I mention lunch? |
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| Just a very cool tanuki in downtown Wakayama |
Turns out, I did most of the talking...students wanting my opinion on a range of issues. It was a good experience. Took me back to my undergrad experience here in Japan...nearly (well, actually) thirty years ago. Hard to believe.
Further planning for the December lecture and I met a number of the academic staff, including one person who has specialised in the story of Wakayama's migrants from the 19th century. Sort of made up for the library being closed...
I'm looking forward to December. And getting the library on the right day!
