I never had the pleasure of meeting my wife, Sawako’s, mother as she’d died before I’d arrived on these shores, but I showed Sawako the post I’d written about the bus connecting the city and Yabe, and she exclaimed, “Oh, that’s the 赤バス (red bus)! It’s the one that goes to Yabe! Every time my mother saw that, she was filled with a yearning to go home!” People from Yabe are called 浜っ子 (hamakko -the historical name of the town was 浜町, hamamachi), and their denizens draw a great line between themselves and those who live in the city. Sawako’s mother, from what I hear, never got over leaving the town. Hamakko have VERY long historical memories, particularly regarding genealogical lines, are extremely stuck in their ways (if you’re a farmer, I suppose that makes sense - try something new and you could lose a year of income), and are suspicious of outsiders (but I have an in: I’m Kikukawa-san’s daughter’s husband, as everyone knows, even though she’s been dead for 40 years). - William