As you are no doubt keenly aware, I didn't
get to write to you yesterday due to having a fair bit to do that didn't
include tappin' on the keys.
So here is Saturday and Sunday combined for your reading pleasure and edification.
Had my onigiri and a banana for breakfast then checked out from Hotel Taiyo about 8:45.
I
pretty much knew the way to get to the station near the Anami's as I
have travelled it a few times before. From Shinimamiya to Kyobashi and
change trains there to Suminodo. I had a ranged to meet Yoichi a little
after 10 so I purposely caught a train getting there at 9:47 so I would
have time up my sleeve. I got down the bottom of the ramp from the main
entrance and had really just got there when I saw Yoichi driving up in
the Noah. Perfect timing. He had Saito with him as Leia was off playing
netball. Back to the house, settled in and then Mami and Leia arrived.
Mami
had bought stuff for lunch- maki (including my favourite tuna)
and inari ( I made sure that it was mentioned that Phoebe has a fondness
for them), which we had with a bowl of miso soup and coffee
afterwards.
At about 2PM Yoichi, Saito and I went to have a
look at the new P & P Yuki premises. Very grand although not a huge
difference in the amount of floorspace compared to the old building.
Then
back to the house. Saito had to go and play badminton so Yoichi, Leia
and I went to a Matsuri ( festival) being held near a local shrine.
There were stalls set up down about 4-5 alleys around the shrine- some
selling food, some selling all manner of knick knacks, toys and sundry
useless kid must haves But the real kid magnet are the stalls with
various crazy games of chance. A few recognisable like shoot the
balloons, get the hoops over the sticks, etc BUT the doozies are ones
like picking up as many real live goldfish with a paper net as you can
before the paper gets waterlogged and breaks thereby rendering it well
nigh impossible to pick up more of the poor little buggers. There were
also water tanks where the water ran and you had to pick various objects
like little balls of trinkets ( again with the paper net) and again
dependin on how many you got determined the prize,if any. They were
pretty expensive games (¥300-400) for the most part and the rewards were
pretty cheap in comparison. Still the kids were having a ball. Leia
also bought a giant sausage on a stick smothered in ketchup and then a
chocolate coated banana covered in hundreds and thousands. Just to
really bring home the fact that you aren't in Kansaswas a couple of
stalls selling cucumbers on a stick- cucumber really!
After an hour or so trekking around the shebang back to the house.
Dinner
was a delicious meat and potato soup, rice, a really hearty miso soup
with carrots and onions as well as tofu followed by coffee and a sweet
that is balls of sticky something covered in sweet sticky something.
Know it's hard to believe but they were tasty.
We had played
Uno earlier and after dinner Y, S, L and I played Monopoly. S loves
Monopoly but Leia won. They really get into the whole property developer
mentality including auctions and doing swap deals to establish
ownership of areas. I felt like a total victim of the capitalist society
at work. I had a bath before dinner so to bed at about 11:15PM.
Up
this morning about 7:30AM. Onigiri ( as it happens for breakfast and
then Saito, Yoichi and I drove to the office, left his car and walked to
the nearest station to catch a train to Ikoma. The reason was the
annual BBQ for Saito's rugby club. An hour and a half of up hill and
steps and hills and steps and tracks and steps until we got to the BBQ
spot. On the way in the train Yoichi told me his father grew up in an
area on the way to Ikoma and he used to take Yoichi walking in the
forests around Mount Ikoma so it was quite a homecoming of sorts for
Yoichi.
Thankfully I took some photos because words really
fail to do justice to a Japanese BBQ. They set up seats and tables under
cover and tarpaulins, rugs for lolling in the open. They had 6-8 areas
of 3-4 charcoal burning barbies which all the blokes fan furiously, with
fans, while the ladies ferry the ingredients. Each area then starts
cooking the same things in sequence. First little sort of smoked
cocktail franks which were eaten with a slightly spicy brown sauce. Then
chicken wings followed by thinly sliced beef, sweet corn, onions, sweet
potato, eggplant. All the while other delicacies like fish are being
steamed in foil, each area had 3 of these fish which when cooked were
pulled apart and set on top of a bowl of what I can only describe as
daikon slurry. Very tasty. The other real delicacy, which I was told are
quite expensive were a shellfish sort of like a small conch shell and
when cooked you pull the meat out and eat this quite odd looking bluish
coloured very bitter end bit followed by the quite chewy bit at the
opening end but you don't eat the very tip that greets the outside world
cos it's a disc of shell looks like a button. Remarkable looking but
something I could probably not be too fussed if never eaten again.
All
this is washed down with beers and spirits for the grownups and soft
drinks for the 100 or so kids from the various grades the club fields.
Have to say it was interesting to see the number of men ( my self
included) drinking zero alcohol beer.
I met a man who lives
in Nara which is quite near to Ikoma and who works as a travel agent I
remembered his daughter Anika, from last year, because as far as I can
remember, she was the only girl practicing. He takes her to Australia
every year during their summer break and she goes to school for 8-10
weeks because she loves going to an Australian school. Also he pointed
to a boy who speaks English because his father is Scottish and teaches
English at a University in Osaka. Kid spoke pretty flawless English with
an interesting mix of brogue and Japonnais inflections.
When
I went to the toilet, up some more stairs, in a kind of community
centre for the park there were people in Halloween costumes all over and
also people who had harvested an autumn specific wild soy bean. It is a
drk greens black coloured bean and quite highly sought after. As I was
heading back I stopped to. Take a picture of the people cutting the
beans off the branches. A lady asked would I like to try the edamame?
Of course I said yes and hand on heart they were truly oisshi. I kept
being plied and agreed to just one more, just one more. Only had a few
really but damn they were good.
After the military precision
packing up it was back down the mountain to the station. We then caught a
train to another station (Nagata) where Mami and Leia picked us up and
drove to the Uehommachi Bus Terminal where I caught the Airport
Limousine for would you believe ¥1550. Luxury bus and porters
load/unload your baggage. V civilized. As last year Yoichi (and this
year the rest of the family) waited to wave me off. Such lovely people.
Got
to KIX with plenty of time to spare. In fact too much but better,
etc,,,, Checked in, returned my wifi rental and headed to the shops. I
knew there was a UniQlo there because the last time the Anami's had
driven me to the airport ( about 5 years ago) we had a look in it and
they bought me a summer suit- cotton shorts and jacket. Couldn't resist a
windbreaker for ¥1490 and a belt for ¥1200. Then on through Security,
Customs and Immigration by way of a shop to buy 2 x onigiri, a bottle of
barley tea and 4 packs of green tea Kit Kats. Got the South Wing
shuttle train to Stop 3 and walked to Gate Lounge 34. The free wifi has
genuine speed ( 17.79 down and 6.78 up) so I thought I would
try FaceTime thought Sal most likely to be available and we connected
on the second attempt. Sooooo fun to see and talk on your phone. I love
it
So this whole thang is being written aboard JQ16 from KIX to Cairns at 41000ft. I will send it when I get to CNS
The
trip is nearly over. I have had a great time recounting my days in the
Land of the Rising Sun and can't wait to be able to do it all again next
year. Probably aim for July to catch Gion Matsuri in Kyoto. One of the 3
big festivals in Kyoto where giant light covered floats and crowds of
people have fun in the streets for 2-3 weeks
Until next
time, I'm putting away my two typing fingers and we will have to make do
just talking to each other for the most part.
Lotsalove- 2526km from Cairns,
Tim
