They arrived Friday afternoon from Guam. I picked them up from the airport and brought them to my apartment. I was excited for my dad to see the changes I had made since last time he was here in August (it feels like a totally different place!). And of course as is Japanese tradition, I had to serve them tea! Then we headed to the hotel that I had booked for them. Trying to find them a hotel that was ok here in Itako was quite a challenge, or more trying to book the hotel was a challenge. They ended up at a semi-traditional Japanese hotel. But luckily they had western style beds, and not only futons on the floor. That evening we had dinner with Tamae at a Japanese restaurant.
While at dinner, I received a phone call from someone who works at the Board of Education (there had been a board of education party that evening I had not gone to, and this phone call came at the end of the party). Ishitsu called to invite my parents an I to go with him to the Sawara festival on Saturday. As is my motto here, don’t ask questions, go with the flow, and you will have a great time (or at least a great story), we told him we would love to join him.
The following morning, we met up with Ishitsu who drove us to Sawara, a town about 15 minutes from Itako. The town of Sawara, has been preserved, and the central area looks like a town from ancient Japan. It was in this area that the festival was going on. There were large floats being pulled and pushed by people. These structures are incredibly heavy, and you could see the pain on the faces of those responsible for moving them. There were also small children that were pulling the ropes at the very front, mostly just for show, they were adorable.
Sunday, I showed my parents around Itako more. Taking them to the infamous road side station, or rest stop that my dad thinks is the most hilarious thing. Showed them a few stores, including the 100¥ store (dollar store), where my mom went a little crazy buying pill cases (I believe they think she has a drug problem) We took a boat ride around the rivers in Itako and viewed the famous 12 bridges (but I’m not quite sure why this is so famous). This boat was operated by an old woman, dressed in a traditional rice pickers outfit, and she was convinced that I was fluent in Japanese and talked at a very rapid speed to me.
Then we headed to Narita where I spent the night with my parents, because they were leaving Monday. It was a lovely weekend.
2 comments:
I love this last picture of the woman. The old women in Lannion are so cute but in such a different way. I'm envious you had family in town... someone needs to come visit me, haha.
A trip to France? That would be lovely too!!! We had a great weekend visiting you Lauren, enjoying the green tea sitting at your apt., watching you delve through all the goodies reminded me of Christmas morning! Just experiencing all the sites and sounds you have described so aptly in your journal but mostly, being with you and seeing how you have given so much of yourself to adapting to new customs and your desire to stretch yourself to learn more. We had a nice time visiting with Tamae also, the commonalities you share are surprising! We had a very fun weekend. Mom (I'm still Jet Lagging It's 2:51am, Fri. and I was suddenly wide awake)
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