O-bon is a mysterious Japanese holiday, which falls somewhere between the beginning and middle of August, as determined by the heaves and sighs of the cosmos each year. It is said to be a time when the spirits of one's ancestors return to roost (especially if one leaves a strategically placed eggplant near one's home).

For the average Japanese, it means time off work to make the annual trek home to dust off the family tombstone in readiness for the reunion. But if family equals hearth and home, then mine is here in my neighborhood -- Jiyugaoka. And my first adopted relatives were Rie and Reo, the mama and master of Strahlen de Sonne, both of whom are alive and well.

When I first discovered Sonne, as it is simply called, I thought I had stumbled into a lesbian bar. Rie is a handsome woman and Reo a strikingly good-looking man. They both laugh as they tell me, "Most locals thought we were a gay transsexual couple when we started living in Jiyugaoka." And they certainly don't mind the confusion.