Pdevine’s Weblog

I slept quite well in the traditional Japanese manner – a mattress on a tatami mat with a shaped pillow on the floor covered by a blanket.  The only thing non-Japanese was the pajamas and the beard – which by the way, Masako, my host mother and father commented on that she would like to see me without it….”Doesn’t it get in the way…of eating?…of washing?”  I found out at breakfast that Tashiki sleeps in a t-shirt and shorts, and Saki in American-like pajamas.  Sunday breakfast was huge: a sheet of dried seaweed on rice with another rice garnish of strips of pickled kelp, skemono – a cold rolled up scrambled egg, pickled cucumber, miso soup, slices of Japanese pears, and the ubiquitous tea. 

And off we went to a strip of street that had been closed off for a street bazaar – probably put on just for us.  Vegetables, cakes and breads, tatami mats, post cards, bamboo trinkets – all offering samples, all very friendly – and many of my fellow Americans and their hosts were there too. 

Host Family at Street Bazaar

Every time I turned around, my hosts were buying me yet something else.  My best find was a bamboo hanger, simple and elegant.  From the bazaar we went back home for tea and cakes then off again to Arita, Masako’s home town, clearly a mecca for bone china and ceramics – Mrs. Lightbody eat your heart out – where we went first to a shop that opened just for the American guest on Sunday where Saki and I got to make a pot on a potter’s wheel, much to many oohs and ahs.  Saki’s came out measurably better than mine – I started out planning to make a small cup and ended up with a rather funky shaped bowl.  It apparently will be shipped to me in a couple of months. 

Next stop was a ceramic shop where we all chose an item to paint.  I tried a rice bowl and attempted a branch of persimmons – orangy in color, which of course won’t match anything in our kitchen, but it was very peaceful and fun to do. 

Next was a very fancy ceramic shop with dazzling displays and  a museum of old ceramics upstairs – very high end items in the thousands of dollar range.  Lots of pictures…. I managed a find to fill the one hole remaining on my shopping list – whew! Surprise! Surprise!

We ended our Arita excursion with lunch at a curry rice restaurant/gallery…..extremely good food in exquisite surroundings.  Sometimes it’s hard to eat this food because it just looks so beautiful.

Back home just in time for more cakes and tea and a wonderful universal game of UNO while Masako changed into her kimono (takes about ½ hour).  We agreed to call the UNO game a win for everyone as the homestay was coming to a close.

A few more pictures and off to the Ryokan (Traditional Japanese Inn) to meet back up with the American Takeo Tigers for our final evening in Takeo.  It was some teary/happy goodbyes for the Imamura family and this blog’s author – truly a generous family who opened their home and their hearts, gave me their weekend and their friendship.  I truly hope we meet again.

Of course before we settled in to a relaxing evening in the Inn we needed to do a bit more Indiana Jones activity, climbing high on the ridge again, this time in the waning daylight, clearly breaking new territory as we encountered multiple giant spiders trying to block our way.  Hacking our way through with a staff, we were once again enthralled by this wonderfully friendly city as dusk settled. 

A quick dip in the hot spring and an easy change into yakatori with vest and we were off to the banquet to beat all banquets.  This could have been a movie set for Indiana Jones……easily except for the missing dancing girls.  Following a welcome speech by the great-grandaughter of the founder of the Inn, we found that despite our previous thoughts – there is even a higher level of banquet and service that we had yet to experience – at least 25 separate offerings that kept coming and coming and coming, served soundlessly by two kimono-clad servers, attending to our every wish.

And the food……of course there was the usual sushi and sashimi and miso and rice, but there was also a sterno-like ceramic pot lit to cook meat and pepper and onion and squash, the stuffed figs and the sake and beer and boiled egg and pickled seaweed and cooked Japanese veggies and chestnut and another soup with clover and a dumpling, and tempura, and more things still that I have no idea what they were…..but I ate it all (except the pickled octopus knuckle). 

Stuffed to the gills, the karaoke machine came out next and we rocked and rolled and laughed and giggled and laughed some more.  The Takeo Tigers have bonded for sure.

We finished the evening, you guessed it, in the hot springs for a long soak and a game of floating basketball with the washcloth and bucket.  Needless to say it didn’t take any of the four of us long to fall asleep on the tatami mats……despite the snoring competition that was definitely not on anyone’s agenda.

After a lineup goodby by the mayor, his key staff and the staff of the Ryokan (just 20 or so folks – nothing special) – these people are something else – and a “box breakfast” of rice balls and seaweed, banana and tangerine, and juice, we were off by bus and plane for our return to Tokyo.  On the way we broke our closing presentation into five groups of three.  I was on the O (for Onsen) team, and we managed to finish our part of the show on the bus and plane ride.