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Sayonara Japan

Finally came the day we dreaded…the bags were packed, the house was empty, and we knew it was time to leave our home. Once again, our friends came out to see us, to wish us well on our new adventures. It was the saddest day of my life to leave behind my dearest friend, Eriko, as well as all of the other wonderful people I’ve come to love in Japan. Truly I feel this is only matanee – we will be back.

Sayonara Tanaka sama Family

It is true that you end up not appreciating things that are right in your own neighborhood. We would often go downtown for a good meal yet, right down the street, there was a wonderful sushi restaurant that we had failed to explore. Our neighbors, the Tanaka’s, did not let us leave without enjoying the fine food to be found there. We spent an evening with them and their son, Luft, an NIS graduate, enjoying the wonderful fresh and delicious sushi. If only we had fpund this one sooner!!

Sayonara in English

Jeff spent the last couple of years teaching English to a group of retired Japanese men and women. Every Thursday night, Jeff would meet with them for a class where they shared stories and talked in English. Through their presentations about places they had gone, we found numerous trip ideas for ourselves –leading us on some marvelous journeys. We also went on various hikes with the group – exploring a number of different mountain trails.
The group took us to a delightful Japanese restaurant where we enjoyed a fantastic evening sampling various Japanese dishes, enjoying the wonderful company and celebrating their friendship. They will truly be missed.

Sayonara Pariwar

I have just learned that food consumed at sayonara celebrations have no calories. That’s really a good thing to know since we have gone to SO MANY sayonara events.

We couldn’t leave Japan without our last fling at Pariwar. Wendy thought we should actually invite a couple of people – we used to have a whole crew every Wednesday before our Japanese class so…we invited a few people, and Wendy invited a few people, and they invited a few people and…about 26 people showed up! The people who own the restaurant are wonderful and their little girl goes to our school. They were so nice – and presented us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers…so hard to leave!!

Sayonara Sensei

All the years we were here in Japan, we were fortunate to have a wonderful Japanese teacher, Sawada-san. She was so patient with us, repeating things we didn’t understand and being very helpful even when we hadn’t studied as we should have. She also went out of her way to take us to various tea ceremonies and ikebana displays. She did much to make our time memorable here in Japan. Hopefully I will not forget everything I learned!!

澤田さんはすごい日本語先生です。彼女は私たち日本語を勉強した。彼女は茶道や生け花へ　行きました。私たちは楽しんで日本語を勉強しました。ありがとうございます　先生

Sayonara at Shooters

It’s really quite eye opening to read my first blogs of Japan – everything was new, I commented on all sorts of stuff, looked at everything in wonder…and now it all seems common place, I expect to see people bowing, I accept that roads are narrow and that the flashers are used to mean “I’m stopping here in the middle of the road”. It’s amazing to think how ordinary all of this has become.

It is now, sadly, time for us to say sayonara to this wonderful place we call home, ready to leave on yet another adventure, leaving fabulous friends behind. Our first of many parties was the annual end-of-the-year party at Shooters. Everyone from NIS attends the gala event, talking, sharing, enjoying each others company Hard because we know many people will not be back…us included. Thank goodness we have FaceBook to keep in touch!

Cormorant Fishing

Immediately after school, seven great friends, Wendy, Ebi-san, Eriko, Justin, Karianne, Jeff and I, took off to Nagara River to watch the cormorant fishing. It is a traditional method of fishing in Japan where the handler uses 10 or so leashed birds to fish in the water.
The trip started just before nightfall. We all got on a small, flat bottomed boat and were polled out into the river. Included was a “picnic” bento box – probably the most elegant picnic you’ll ever see! We stopped on the side, waiting for night to fall. The head fisherman came out to talk about how the birds are trained and cared for, how they were tied and handled during fishing. The men spend much of their time caring for the birds, who are only leashed while they are actually fishing.
The men punted out into the river and the basket was lit. The fir and sounds made stirs up the fish, giving the cormorants a chance to locate the quickly moving fish. The birds repeatedly dive for the small fish, swallowing them but not completely because of the way the leash is tied on their necks. After the fisherman has made a run down the river, he stops and allows the birds to “cough out” the fish they had caught. Most were quite small but some were fairly large.
Jeff has the best photos at: http://gallery.me.com/jeffgenest#100049

A day with great friends!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Leaving a country is really a sad thing to do. We have forged so many wonderful friends and I know I will miss every one of them. On the positive side, it has become a wonderful opportunity to celebrate together as well as to explore even more new things.
Saturday was just such a day. Mako-san, her two boys Kenshin and Ryoma, Eriko-san and I took off for adventure. We traveled first towards Obara, a small village nestled in the hills. Obara is the home of Washi no furusato, a famous place where they make gorgeous paper. The scenery alone is worth the trip and there are many hiking trails in the area. We, however, headed towards the craft center where you can actually try your hand at making paper.

The people at the village were wonderful, walking us through the steps for making paper. They also had a great video - in English even - that talked about the whole process. I always am amazed at how people figured out some of the complex processes they go through to create things - unbelievable.

The day did not stop there. We traveled back to Mako-san's home where she treated us to a fabulous lunch - absolutely delicious. We were so full!!! It did make it hard to get up for our next stop - the Nou Theater in downtown Nagoya. The style of acting is very different - slow and precise. It's not unusual to see people dozing through parts of the performance. This one did become quite lively during the second half, keeping you on your toes as the priests exorcised the serpent from the bell (they had English translation available - yeah!)

What a fabulous treat today was! Thank you Mako-san for making it possible!

Displays at NIS

Make a Smilebox photobook

Eriko and I spent many happy hours working on various creative displays for the library...some might call our passion a bit excessive...but we had a wonderful time creating our fabulous attractions. Here is just a tiny taste of our creative passion.

Sayonara

Make a Smilebox postcard

It is so sad to be thinking of leaving this wonderful country and all of our friends here. We’ve been fortunate to have met so many people while we have been here and it is very sad to be leaving. On the plus side, we’re getting to do a lot of special things with friends to enjoy good memories.

This last weekend Tomi-san, our ikebana sensei, treated Beth, Wendy and me to a wonderful tour of the Ceramic Museum here in Nagoya as well as a personally catered lunch. While she modestly claimed that she did not cook a lot, Tomi-san set a beautiful table and served absolutely wonderful food.

Besides being a fabulous ikebana instructor, she is also well versed in the tea ceremony. She even has a small tea room in her house where she treated us to a personal tea ceremony. It is just such a calming, quiet experience – one that truly makes you appreciate life. There’s so much attention paid to the decoration in the room and the calm, quiet, precise way to move everything. It’s quite an experience. I must admit it is a regret I have – that I didn’t study tea ceremony too. Ah well….

Thank you sensei for everything. I will remember these years with fondness.

Sosuke and Yosuke

We had to make our final trip to Yokohama to see Kaz and Kazumi's beautiful new twin boys. (Kaz and Kazumi lived with us in the states for 6 months or so before we came to Japan.) The boys were born on March 23rd and immediately, of course, stole everyone's heart. They are absolute sweethearts and brought back so many great memories. Now... if I have it right...Sosuke is the one who is wide awake and Yosuke is the one sleeping peacefully.

Hasedera Temple

While the great Buddha is by far the most famous place to visit in this region, there are many more temples to enjoy.
The Hasedera Temple is the location of a famous statue of Kannon, carved from a camphor tree. As the story goes, 2 statues were actually carved, one placed in the Hasedera Temple near Nara. The 2nd one was tossed in the ocean (so that it would some day reappear to save people - hmmmm). It did indeed wash ashore on the beach near Kamakura so a 2nd Hasedera Temple was constructed. It has made it famous as one of the holy places in this area.
The grounds of this temple are quite extensive, featuring some wonderful, secluded, peaceful meditative areas - a very pleasant hour walking about it. The statue was gorgeous though, alas, we could not take pictures of it.

Kamakura

We finally had the opportunity to visit the Great Buddha of Kamakura. It is a bronze statue that is located at Kotokuin Temple. At one time it was inside a large temple but a tsunami 500 years ago wiped out all of the buildings, leaving the Buddha statue in the open air. This one is the 2nd largest in Japan though someone made the distinction that the largest one in Nara (Todaiji Temple and yes...at some point we went there) is the largest bronze Buddha statue that is inside a building and this is the largest bronze Buddha statue that sits outside. Who knows...