I was looking in a drawer today and came across a
curious neglected thin object. Vacuum wrapped in a tight narrow bag with
Japanese writing on it, my initial thought is that it might have been a
pair of chopsticks, but it seemed a little outsized. Unsealing this
package, I pulled out a fan and spread it open for the first time ever. Made of very high quality card, the fan is
pink on one side and blue on the other. Each side has an inscription, in
Japanese on the pink and in English - reading "Thank you very much for
invitation. March 19 1962. Mayumi Moriyama" - on the blue.
My
father worked as a civil servant at the Department of Employment for
decades. His 1962 diary tells us about the event that the invitation was
for:
Tuesday 13 March 1962. Met Michael Mellish on the train.Charming Japonais I.L.O. [International Labour Organization] fellow (Mayumi Moriyama) lunch at the Bunch of Grapes and up the Dome of St. Paul's.Bishop of Woolwich at Lambeth Palace.Monday 19 March 1962. CISCU meeting.Mayumi Moriyama to dinner - flashlight photo with me washing up.
Like
my father, Mayumi Moriyama worked for her Ministry of Labour for thirty
years. Unlike my father she then went on to a stellar political career,
serving in the Japanese cabinet on three occasions, as Chief Cabinet
Secretary, Minister of Education and Minister of Justice. For about
fifty years my parents would get a Christmas card from her office,
always of a beautifully coloured and printed scene. They were
incongruous things to receive, tokens from far away in recognition of a
hospitality from many years ago.
This
fan is a very well-made object. Its something of a shame that for
sixty-four years it has never been unwrapped and opened up. But if ever
there was a fitting time for it to be discovered and used, then that
must be today, (almost) the hottest London day ever. Thank you,
Minister.
