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.