That summer, just when I thought things might calm down for a change, my older sister Norika arrived from Japan to stay with me. I'd kind of invited my whole family to come, but my dad couldn't get time off, and my mom didn't want to leave him alone, so Norika ended up coming by herself.
The day of her flight, I took the train up to Los Angeles to meet her at the airport. She was all dressed up in a short flowery sun dress and sunglasses in a holiday mood. Even though she and I are sisters, we don't look that much alike. I'm kind of cheerful and bubbly while she often has this serious expression on her face. I think she thinks it looks sexy, staring right at you with these shining brown eyes. Maybe my eyes are even darker than hers, more black than brown. She has a slender nose, and she tweezes her eyebrow into arches, so she looks quite elegant, refined. I'm more of a girl next door type, wide eyed, innocent.
We came back to my house, and I introduced her to my host mom, Loretta and her 19-year-old son, Brandon, and his sister, Jennifer. Loretta was warm and welcoming, but Norika was all tired out from the flight, so I took her up to my room, and laid out a futon for her on my floor. She had a quick shower, came back wrapped in a towel, and went to sleep. Norika used to tease me a lot when we were young, but still I was glad to have her here, so I could show her a bit of my new life in the States.
The next morning, Loretta made us some pancakes while we showered, and got dressed. She and Brandon were asking Norika all kinds of questions. Norika's English was pretty good, better than I remember. Norika's boyfriend Evan is British. Loretta took Brandon and Jenn off to camp on her way to work, and I had to go to work too at my summer job. For the first day, Norika said she was just wanted to stay around the house, and take it easy.
"That's a nice backyard. Maybe I'll work on my tan," she told me. I gave her a spare key, and headed off to work.
That night when I came back, I could tell right away that something had happened. Brandon looked over at me with this silly grin on his face.
"What? What's wrong?" I asked, but he wouldn't tell me. I went up to my room, and found Norika in a flower dress lying on her futon reading a guidebook.
"How was your day?" I asked cautiously.
"Fine. Have you been to the Japanese garden here?"
"Yeah, it's on campus, near the anthro building. What did you do all day?"
"Oh nothing. What else is there to do here? How far is San Diego?"
"It's not that far. What's Brandon grinning about?"
"I don't know. Maybe he's a happy guy. How far is it to L.A.?"
"Norika! I want you to tell me what's going on. What were you doing today?"
"Nothing. I told you. I was just sunbathing in the backyard."
I glared at her sternly. My mind flashed back to the time I'd caught her out sunbathing naked in our yard at home in Kamakura.
"What were you wearing?" I pressed.
"Oh I don't know. It was so hot out. I couldn't find your swimsuits. Where do you keep them anyway?"
"Norika! You didn't!"
"Oh, it was nothing I swear. He only saw me for a second. I didn't realize he'd be home so early."
I sat down at my desk chair, shocked that she would have the nerve to sunbathe naked in our backyard.
"Oh, don't make such a big deal. So he saw me naked. It's not like it's the end of the world!"
I stared at Norika, appalled. This was my home, my host family that she was messing with. I'd always tried to be so careful here. Now Brandon would know the times that he caught me naked it wasn't just an accident.
"Anyway, don't do that here. Loretta would freak if she saw you."
"Oh c'mon, Emi. Don't be such a sourpuss. I'm here on vacation. I want to have fun. What do you want me to do?"
I looked over at her. I guess I could understand how she felt. She was away from home. She wanted to kick back, relax, do things she couldn't do in Japan.
"There's a nude beach in town," I noted cautiously.
"Really? Wow! That's great. Let's go!"
"Norika! It's not that simple. There are some weird guys there."
"So you've been, have you? Did you get naked?"
"Keep your voice down."
Norika was getting all excited now. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go with her. She does tend to get a bit carried away. I was worried if we got there, I wouldn't be able to calm her down.
"Oh c'mon. Let's go. I promise I'll be good."
"Well, I'll think about it. I'm off on Saturday. Maybe we could go then."
"Oh that's wonderful. You're the best." She got up, and gave me a hug. I was still worried about what I was letting myself in for, but anyway, hopefully this would get her to be more careful around the house.
That evening, my host mom's boyfriend, Hank came over to join us for supper. I was nervous about this. Loretta was older, but Hank was 30ish, closer to our age, fit, handsome. He has a sharp straight nose. His nostrils flare a bit, and he has kind of cute lips. His hair is brown and always cut short and neatly combed. I'd had a little late night run-in with him myself. I guess I came home a little tipsy, and one thing led to another. I managed to get away before things really got serious, but there'd been this tension between us ever since.
Norika looked him up and down, clearly intrigued. At supper, we chatted back and forth about life in Oceanview and back home in Japan. Brandon had so many questions for Norika, but Hank was pretty quiet most of the night. I was relieved though when he finally went home.
As it got near bedtime, I let Norika have a shower first, and then I had one. When I came back, she was still lounging around in her towel.
"Where are your pajamas?" I asked.
"I guess I must have forgotten them at home."
"Here. I'll lend you some." I got out the most conservative pair I had, boy style with long sleeves, and threw them at her. She didn't look too impressed, but she did say,
"Thanks," and put them on.
The next few days went by pretty peacefully. Norika went out shopping, exploring Oceanview's sights. She dressed for summer, but she wasn't wearing anything more outrageous than what the American girls wear, brightly colored mini sun dresses and the like.
Saturday finally rolled around, and we got ready to head to the beach. I dug out this big hat and sunglasses, trying to disguise myself in case we bumped into anyone I knew. Norika was all excited though. This was her first time ever to go to a nude beach.
We took the bus to campus, and then headed down the hillside through the trees to the beach. It was absolutely packed, the busiest I'd ever seen it. There were more women than usual, and almost everyone seemed to be naked for a change. I gazed around, but as far as I could tell, there wasn't anyone I knew from campus. There were quite a few guys checking us out though, so I dragged Norika down to the far end where there weren't so many people. We set down our stuff, and she looked up at me expectantly.
"So how does this work? Are there change rooms or what?"
I looked at her, and laughed.
"No, there are no change rooms. This isn't even an official nude beach. The only reason they have one here is because the police never come down this way."
She looked at me wide-eyed, struck by how naughty the whole thing seemed.
"They should have these in Japan."
"They do," I let slip, immediately regretting it. She shot me a look.
"What? Are you some kind of nudist now?" she asked, shocked.
"No, no," I assured her. "I just read about it somewhere."
She looked at me with a knowing grin, sure that I knew more than I was letting on.
"You knew this beach was here when you decided to come to Oceanview!" she blurted out. I wanted to deny it, but it was true. They do sort of mention in the guidebooks that Oceanview has a nude beach, and I must admit I was curious even then, back when I was deciding where to go to study. I'd certainly never told Norika that though. I always try to be the good girl at home around Mom and Dad.
"Anyway, you wanted to see the nude beach, and here it is," I went on, trying to change the subject. I got a towel out of my bag, spread it out on the sand, and sat down. "This is only my fourth time here," I reassured her, trying to get her to calm down.
"You've been here four times!" she exclaimed, teasing me.
"The first two, there was hardly anyone here."
Norika finally got out her own towel, and sat down, looking around in wide-eyed wonder at all the naked people. We just sat there for a long time, staring out at the ocean and around at the beach. Norika seemed nervous about getting undressed, and I can't say I blame her. Even though I'd been here before, it did seem a bit daunting with all these naked guys peering over at us. I looked over at her, and smiled. She seemed a bit defensive, obviously unsure.
"Mom and Dad would freak if they knew we were here," she giggled.
"Yeah," I laughed. I began to suspect she didn't have enough nerve to actually strip, so I stretched out, and relaxed.