Tabesan - My Kanji Sensei

I learned my first Kanji lessons from Tabe-san. His full name is Kennichi Tabe. He used to explain me the meaning of Kanji. He started to tell me the meaning of Kanji from his name. The Kanji for "Ta" stands for the Rice field. So meaning of his family name is 'Near Rice Field'

His explanation was interesting and during my days with him, I learned a lof by talking with him. This rare opportunity I got to learn from a native Japanese, I value as one of the best moments in my life.

I used to ask him many doubts on Kanji during the Coffee-break. Our coffee-breaks extended by discussion on Japan, its people, culture, language, places in Japan, History of Japan and so on....

I shared my experience and knowledge about India. He valued this as a rare knowledge to him.

Because of his teachings on Kanji and some basic conversation, I could progress faster in my Japanese learning classes I attended. During the months of February I was the slowest student and hardly I could remember and recall any of the previous lessons. Japanese Teachers Morishita sensei and Imade sensei might have wondered how slow I was. My reading in Hiragana and Katakana also was very slow. Out of the five students, I was the first from the bottom!

I felt shame and worried of how to improve. It was then I got in touch with Tabe-san. A nice gentle man, who keeps high values in his life and respect others. Being a foreigner I used to feel some kind of insecurity regarding the communication, the doubts about the mentality of Japanese people towards foreigners etc.

Tabe-san helped me to overcome this insecurity feeling. I think, I topped the Japanese class both in reading and vocabulary. I could read Hiragana and Katakana without much effort. I could transfer trains and go to unknown places myself without fear.

The inputs given by Balasir, who really helped me to get into Japan coupled with Tabesan's Japanese teaching drastically removed my fears about this new country. My colleagues and Boss at office are rarest kind of people, at least for me. But how can I say the rarest?

Such kind of helping people, the real altruists are more in Japan, compared to other countries. That is why I frequently meet with kind people during my life in Japan.

Past Two and a half months - the rarest days in my life to learn new things about Japan- now finished. But with sweet memories I can say.........I miss you Tabesan............