Japan: Back on track with my Home Stay experience
06/03/2006
I woke up early today (about 6am) to the sounds of voices in the kitchen. I guess the walls are literally paper-thin. なつのりさん (Natsunori-san, Nori-ko's brother) had to get up early to head to Tenjin for 剣道 (kendo) practice. I fall asleep again a few times until のりこ (Nori-ko) wakes me up for breakfast. Breakfast is quite a feast, with an egg (sunny-side up), my choice of パン (bread), rice, and 味噌 (miso) soup. After breakfast, we head out by van to 秋月 (Akizuki).
On the way to 秋月 (Akizuki), we stop by 眼鏡橋 (Megane-bashi), which is one of two of these types of bridges in Japan (one here and one in Nagasaki). The bridge type was taught to the Japanese by Dutchmen, according to my host family, and many movie stars come by to see the bridge. A picture of my host family and me on the bridge is shown below. When we reach 秋月 (Akizuki), we walk down this beautiful path with 桜 (cherry blossom) lining the path. Apparently during the Fall and Spring many people from all over come to this place for the cherry blossom festival. We walk down the path to a museum where のりこ (Nori-ko) apparently knows the person working there so we get 4 people in for the price of 2. The museum is very beautiful and has a lot of interesting historical items.
The path down 秋月 (Akizuki) essentially follows that of the moat of an ancient castle that no longer remains. Part of the castle has been replaced by a middle school, which is where たかちゃん (Taka-chan, Nori-ko's youngest brother) goes to school. We wandered around for a bit and I took some good pictures, then we took off in the car to grab some lunch. For lunch, I had a very good カレーうどん (curry udon) that was quite spicy.
After lunch, we visited a huge dam that was very pretty. Then we took off on a scenic car ride up a mountain to check out a famous district where they sell lots of different types of pottery. The merchandise I saw was all really quite nice, but very expensive. A picture of one of the stores is shown below. Apparently, my host father had some business at one of the stores too, so we went there and they discussed business while the rest of us had some good tea and snacks (picture shown below). My host family then proceeded to buy me two very nice 酒 (sake) cups as a souvenir. I hope I can get them home without them breaking.
After that, we were riding in the car on the way back to the house and they asked me what type of things I wanted to do in Japan. There were a few things that I'd heard of so I told them and they found it interesting. Some items on my list: eat 鯛焼 (taiyaki - a fish-shaped pastry filled with bean jam), go to a 祭 (matsuri - a Japanese festival), go to an 温泉 (onsen - a Japanese spa/hot spring). I also mentioned that I'd never played パチンコ (Pachinko) before, because we kept passing all these parlors.
We got to their house and my host mother and のりこ (Nori-ko) took a rest. My host father turns to me and says he's going to take me to a Pachinko parlor... I figured it'd be an interesting experience, so I went. We get to the parlor and the whole place is excruciatingly noisy. All the aisles of Pachinko machines are filled with tons of people smoking and it hurt my head. We spend some time scounting some good machines (the machines have statistics above them that my host father was looking at), then eventually picked two Indiana Jones Pachinko machines sitting next to each other. My host father tries to explain to me how to play, but I can't hear him at all over the ruckus, so I kind of feel my way around. He then proceeds to put in 10,000円 (about $100) for the two of us (way too much money) and we play for about a half an hour losing it all. Then he proceeds to put in another 10,000円 against my wishes, and we play for about another half an hour. The game itself is like a harder version of slots... Needless to say, it was an interesting experience, but I don't think I'll ever go to another Pachinko parlor.
We then go straight to a Sushi restaurant where the rest of the family is waiting for a table and I proceed to have tons of delicious sushi (and some french fries...). The restaurant is one of the "round sushi" styles where the sushi chefs are in the middle of a conveyer belt system and they make sushi, put it on a plate and on the conveyer belt. You grab whatever sushi you want and dig in. You can also make requests (pictures below). This sushi restaurant had some of the most delicious sushi I've ever had, and it was so cheap. Each plate is 100円 (about $1), so even that huge stack of plates we had for the entire family was not terribly expensive (for sushi).
After dinner, we made plans to go to an onsen, but everyone was too tired so we settled for 蛍 (firefly) viewing. Close to the house is a small creek that is famous for firefly watching. We went there and the whole place was lit up with fireflies. It was very beautiful. The whole neighborhood seemed to be there too, everyone just walking around, being social and watching fireflies. Very peaceful.
Thus ended a very good day. The next day would be my last day with my host family and back to studying abroad.
I woke up early today (about 6am) to the sounds of voices in the kitchen. I guess the walls are literally paper-thin. なつのりさん (Natsunori-san, Nori-ko's brother) had to get up early to head to Tenjin for 剣道 (kendo) practice. I fall asleep again a few times until のりこ (Nori-ko) wakes me up for breakfast. Breakfast is quite a feast, with an egg (sunny-side up), my choice of パン (bread), rice, and 味噌 (miso) soup. After breakfast, we head out by van to 秋月 (Akizuki).
On the way to 秋月 (Akizuki), we stop by 眼鏡橋 (Megane-bashi), which is one of two of these types of bridges in Japan (one here and one in Nagasaki). The bridge type was taught to the Japanese by Dutchmen, according to my host family, and many movie stars come by to see the bridge. A picture of my host family and me on the bridge is shown below. When we reach 秋月 (Akizuki), we walk down this beautiful path with 桜 (cherry blossom) lining the path. Apparently during the Fall and Spring many people from all over come to this place for the cherry blossom festival. We walk down the path to a museum where のりこ (Nori-ko) apparently knows the person working there so we get 4 people in for the price of 2. The museum is very beautiful and has a lot of interesting historical items.
The path down 秋月 (Akizuki) essentially follows that of the moat of an ancient castle that no longer remains. Part of the castle has been replaced by a middle school, which is where たかちゃん (Taka-chan, Nori-ko's youngest brother) goes to school. We wandered around for a bit and I took some good pictures, then we took off in the car to grab some lunch. For lunch, I had a very good カレーうどん (curry udon) that was quite spicy.
After lunch, we visited a huge dam that was very pretty. Then we took off on a scenic car ride up a mountain to check out a famous district where they sell lots of different types of pottery. The merchandise I saw was all really quite nice, but very expensive. A picture of one of the stores is shown below. Apparently, my host father had some business at one of the stores too, so we went there and they discussed business while the rest of us had some good tea and snacks (picture shown below). My host family then proceeded to buy me two very nice 酒 (sake) cups as a souvenir. I hope I can get them home without them breaking.
After that, we were riding in the car on the way back to the house and they asked me what type of things I wanted to do in Japan. There were a few things that I'd heard of so I told them and they found it interesting. Some items on my list: eat 鯛焼 (taiyaki - a fish-shaped pastry filled with bean jam), go to a 祭 (matsuri - a Japanese festival), go to an 温泉 (onsen - a Japanese spa/hot spring). I also mentioned that I'd never played パチンコ (Pachinko) before, because we kept passing all these parlors.
We got to their house and my host mother and のりこ (Nori-ko) took a rest. My host father turns to me and says he's going to take me to a Pachinko parlor... I figured it'd be an interesting experience, so I went. We get to the parlor and the whole place is excruciatingly noisy. All the aisles of Pachinko machines are filled with tons of people smoking and it hurt my head. We spend some time scounting some good machines (the machines have statistics above them that my host father was looking at), then eventually picked two Indiana Jones Pachinko machines sitting next to each other. My host father tries to explain to me how to play, but I can't hear him at all over the ruckus, so I kind of feel my way around. He then proceeds to put in 10,000円 (about $100) for the two of us (way too much money) and we play for about a half an hour losing it all. Then he proceeds to put in another 10,000円 against my wishes, and we play for about another half an hour. The game itself is like a harder version of slots... Needless to say, it was an interesting experience, but I don't think I'll ever go to another Pachinko parlor.
We then go straight to a Sushi restaurant where the rest of the family is waiting for a table and I proceed to have tons of delicious sushi (and some french fries...). The restaurant is one of the "round sushi" styles where the sushi chefs are in the middle of a conveyer belt system and they make sushi, put it on a plate and on the conveyer belt. You grab whatever sushi you want and dig in. You can also make requests (pictures below). This sushi restaurant had some of the most delicious sushi I've ever had, and it was so cheap. Each plate is 100円 (about $1), so even that huge stack of plates we had for the entire family was not terribly expensive (for sushi).
After dinner, we made plans to go to an onsen, but everyone was too tired so we settled for 蛍 (firefly) viewing. Close to the house is a small creek that is famous for firefly watching. We went there and the whole place was lit up with fireflies. It was very beautiful. The whole neighborhood seemed to be there too, everyone just walking around, being social and watching fireflies. Very peaceful.
Thus ended a very good day. The next day would be my last day with my host family and back to studying abroad.
posted by Christopher Luu at 12:58 AM
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