STORY 06Celebrating mom’s 60th birthday
with a mother-daughter trip

• To celebrate my mother’s 60th birthday, I decided to take her on a trip, just the two of us.

  I got married and moved out two years ago. I don’t spend much time with my mother anymore, except for during New Year’s, so I guess the theme of the trip was to be close to her. We headed to Tateshina, where the average temperature is around 23 degrees Celsius, and air conditioning is unnecessary even in summer! It is the perfect place for my mother, who hates air conditioning.

  A shuttle bus picked us up at Chino Station and sped us up the mountain, where the fresh white birch trees were beginning to come into view. After a short while, the hotel we were headed toward suddenly came into view in the distance. It was truly a hideaway resort. There was not a single store, let alone a convenience store, near it. I absolutely love spots like this.

  

• Upon entering, we were first knocked out by the sheer number of books. My mother, a bookworm who is almost addicted to books, was very excited. I knew at that moment that we had made the right choice in coming here.

  

• As I was looking at the many black-and-white photos of the past, a senior employee who has been at the hotel for 40 years and knew everything about it began to explain them to me.

  

• That is a photo of Kazuo Funaki and Masako Izumi. It was taken during the filming of a Nikkatsu movie called Kougen No Ojousan, which was released in 1965. Tateshina has been a resort since that long ago!

  Well, the day was still young! After checking with a staff member about the surprise that I had requested in advance, I invited my mother out for a walk. To get a little dressed up and into the resort mood, we both put on dresses, fix our makeup, and went out to Lake Tateshina.

  My mother said, “Let’s get some ice cream,” as she excitedly pulled me toward the shop. The clean air, the beautiful fresh greenery, the dazzling light shining on the lake… Everything you could want from resort is here. We felt like the young lady (and her mother) from the movie Kougen No Ojousan.

  

  

• We returned to the hotel, and turned our attention to the garden where the bathhouse where Shingen Takeda is said to have bathed is located. And there we found…

  A bottle of champagne under a red parasol––the surprise I planned for my mother!

  

• I read out the card that I had written, congratulating her on reaching her 60th birthday in good health and thanking her for everything that she has done for me. Then, we raised a toast.

  

  

• Seeing the smile on my mother’s face was the greatest joy for me in planning this trip. After chatting for a long while about the past 60 years, the fun times, the hard time, and her ambitions for the future, we returned to our room.

  We had a reservation for the private open-air hot spring, and it was now time, so we went for a special bath together overlooking the mountain stream.

  I had no memory of ever before taking a bath with my mother. She was always busy with work, and I realized that I had never talked about life with her. I never dared to take her time for that.

  It may have just been my imagination, but my mother’s back seemed a little smaller. She was always so powerful, and it has seemed like she would remain energetic forever.

  

• It is said that people will now live for 100 years, but I wonder how many more years she will be healthy enough for us to travel together. I have decided not to waste any more time. I plan to bring both my mother and my father here next time.