“I’ll get you a souvenir from Nishiura, and of course, something for your mother too!”
During the economic boom in Fujiyoshida known as the “Gachaman era”, the fabric weavers of town would venture off to enjoy the neon-soaked streets of Nishiura, equipped with their earnings in one hand and a drink in the other.
As the men sobered up after returning home, they were greeted by the wrathful looks of their wives or fellow factory workers. “If only I’d have bought a souvenir!” These are the kinds of customers that come to “Matsushimaya Shoten” on Honmachi Street.
Matsushimaya Shoten sells a wide assortment of products from camellia oil for women’s hair and dressmaking tools, to school bags, depending on what’s popular at the time. I picked a simple face powder as a souvenir, as I know next to nothing about cosmetics.
“I bought the same thing just last week!”
says the young wife of the owner of Matsushimaya Shoten, who has taken up the role of assisting these poor men desperate to appease their women with the perfect souvenir.
The couple who run Matsushimaya met at the Horseback Archery Festival held once a year at Omuro Sengen Jinja (also known as Shimo Sengen). She came from Kumamoto to help her friend at the festival, but before she knew it his mother had already grown a liking to her, saying “Don’t bother going back to Kumamoto, stay here.” And the rest is history.
But it wasn’t easy keeping her mother-in-law happy-- from dawn to dusk she was put to work cleaning the house or taking care of the kids, not to mention tending to the store. No matter how hard she tried it never seemed to be enough. On the other hand, her father-in-law was a different story and he was always kind and friendly to her.
The husbands of this town are known for indulging in the profligate pleasures of life. They go out drinking every night as if it’s their last, sometimes getting so wasted they’d make a geisha take them to their front door.
This kind of behavior was common for husbands, but what about newlyweds? In fact, the wife of Matsushimaya can recall their honeymoon trip to Atami, when she was giddy with excitement on the way there, only to see her newly-wed husband get ready to go out alone as soon as they arrived.
“This town is lit up like a firefly! I’m going out for a bit, see you.”
He was referring to the bright neon lights of the pleasure district. No stranger to the town of Atami, he leaves a confused wife alone in the hotel with nothing but a bunch of bananas left on the bedside.
There was once a time when that same man who disappeared into the neon lights of Atami took his wife out dancing. Rumba, Mambo, Jilba, Cuban Rumba… he could do it all with grace and poise. But his wife didn’t know how to dance, and she was rather embarrassed.
When they got home, her father-in-law asked, “Did you have fun?” As she admitted about her two left feet, her father-in-law went to Kasahara Musical Instrument Store, the oldest musical instrument shop in Fujiyoshida, to buy her a stereo.
“Seiyan from next door is an excellent dancer, why don’t you ask him to teach you?”
“Seiyan from next door” was “Mr. Seiji”, a former classmate of her husband who now runs the “Tsuchiya Clothing Store” next door. He was the life of every party-- a smooth talker, a great singer, and never without a crowd. She earnestly asked Seiji for his help and they practiced together on the second floor of Matsushimaya Shoten day after day.
Finally, it was time to show off her new moves. She invited her husband out dancing, and just as she expected he was completely dumbfounded by the 360 she had made.
“Wow, you’re really good. Where did you learn to dance?!”
She had no idea dancing could bring this much pleasure and pride, and it all came rushing in. That rush drew her to visit the dance floor time and time again.
