Miki at Kiri Museum

I remembered that I never posted the video of Miki making the dragon go at the Kiri wood museum.

Picture Album Posted from Trip

I placed the majority of the photos that I took in a Picasa Web Album here. I had a GPS unit attached to my camera for most of the pictures I took. That means as you click on each photo that has the GPS info attached, you can see exactly where the picture was taken on a map. Picasa shows this on the right hand side of the screen on my computer. I tried to kid good pictures of all the students, but since Haley is my daughter there are naturally a few more photos of her.

There is also an 8 minute video with some nice Taiko drum music that quickly shows all of the photos.

Sayonara

It is hard to say goodbye to good friends that you have made. Living with our host families has created some wonderful friendships. There were many tears from the families and the students. Through vigilant efforts in both English and Japanese our hearts on both sides were touched and feelings of close friendship were well understood.
We are on the bus now and will soon be at the Narita airport.

Samurai Village, Cool Bridge on the River, Ramen and Shopping

On Tuesday, we started out at Ouchijyuku, a tourist stop in the mountains that is setup to be like an old Japanese Village.

 

Miki and Nick were eager to try out the dried crickets with weird sticky sauce on them. Niki said it wasn’t that good, while Nick said he liked it.

After spending some time in the village, we took the bus and went to a small stop on the river that had a cool bridge that went across the river to a small shrine on the other side.

Of course Noriko was there and she had invited Danny and Mark, a couple of gaijins living in Kitakata.

After this stop we went to a Ramen shop in a nearby city, Aizuwakamatsu.

 

Have I mentioned that there is a crazy ton of hydrangea growing everywhere in this area? They are everywhere.

 

This was the Ramen shop’s display with some hydrangea.

We then went to a large store for some shopping. Many were excited that they could get Coolish (an ice cream in a squeeze tube) for 77 yen. Some found t-shirts and I found Mr. Donuts and got a sweet cream filled cruller. Then it was back to our host families for our final night with them. The time has gone by quickly and we will wake and be to the Chamber of Commerce by 8:15 in the morning.

Farewell Party

(In case you didn’t know, if you click on a picture, it will make it bigger in another window.)

Kitakata sure knows how to throw a party! There was plenty to eat and drink and many of the towns VIPs were there. The party and dinner was hosted by the Aizu Kitakata International Association. The President, Vice President and General Secretary and Board Members of the International Association and Chamber of Commerce were there as was the President of the Rotary Club - Kenichi Sato, the Mayor - Shinya Yamaguchi, the Superintendent of Education – Kazuyoshi Sugai, the Principal of Kitakata 1st Junior High – Takanashi Kouichi as well as all the host familes, many of the guides, the delegation from Kitakata that will come this fall to Wilsonville and other people in the community.

All of the Wilsonville girls were dressed in Yukata, compliments of their host families.

The VIPs gave a few speeches and then the host families talked about their experiences with the students using their Japanese to give a few details about their stay. Cameron’s speech brought tears to his host mother’s eyes and Miki’s host mother could barely get through her speech. Strong bonds have been made. It is amazing all that everyone in Kitakata has done to welcome and accommodate the group from Wilsonville.

The International Association gave a gift to the High School and to each students as did the Mayor.

This is the group that will come to Wilsonville in the Fall, 10 students, including 9 girls and 1 boy, plus Jiro Sato and Noriko Koondo.

As a group we were taught a certain clap and cheer and then the party was over. We have a full day tomorrow and then we leave on Wednesday morning.

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An interesting tidbit - It is hot and humid here. Four years ago, two of the boys from Wilsonville stayed together at one home. The family had the boys sleep in a room with tatami matts. That family had to replace the matts after the boys left because the sweat so much and it left an awful stench.

Zazen, Soba and Kitakata 1st Junior High

Today was another full day. However, these days are quickly coming to an end. When I was here four years ago we went to a temple to do Zazen at the temple and the priest was old then.



The priest is still there, but four years older. He said he was the 45th priest to be at this temple. As we sat in the lotus position meditating, the Zen master would walk up and down the aisles. If we were not sitting up straight he would use his stick to align us straight. If we were falling asleep he would whack us across the back. Luckily no one fell asleep.





It is hard to imagine this group making no sounds for 30 minutes or so.

 

Our guides today were Kaoru (she used to have Noriko’s job), Dr. Shida, the retired dentist, and Kim, not pictured.


After our meditation session, as we were walking to our next destination we came upon a place to soak your feet. The 70 in the sign above means 70 degrees Celsius  or 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Only Sensei, Alyssa and Miki were brave enough to dip their feet, if only for a few seconds.



We then went down the road to a soba shop. Soba are buckwheat noodles. The ingredients were 1 kilo of buckwheat flour, 400 cc’s of hot water and 100 cc’s of cold water. I have a video of the soba maker doing his stuff, but it is too large to upload tonight. I will upload the video when I return home.

After making the soba we ate them for lunch with some tempura that was made while we made the soba.



After lunch we went to Kitakata 1st Junior High. Here Rachel is presenting a gift to the principal, Takanashi Kouichi. We split into two groups. One made some tempura sweets and then made origami with a class. The second group learned how to paint Japanese characters. After the period was over,the groups switched.





While the students cleaned the school, Mr. Takanashi took us on a tour of the school. He said that he will come to Oregon on August 21, 2017 when there will be a total solar eclipse in Salem, OR that moves across the US towards Florida.

One note, Todd is like a Rock Star. All of the girls swoon over him. If he waves or smiles their way, the girls scream. In one of the classes of about 40 students, all of the girls were surrounding Todd.



At the end of the tour, the Cheer Club had some Japanese Cheers to see us on our way.

Another great day in Kitakata. But wait, tonight was the farewell Party.

Day with the Sato’s

Jiro and Yoko Sato

I was lucky enough to get to stay with the Sato’s for a second time. When I was here four years ago, I stayed with them as well. They have a large home and a very large garden as well. Most of their meals comprise of several items from their garden. Their biggest meal is breakfast.



This is a typical breakfast. Cucumbers that you dip in their homemade miso that was made from their homegrown soy beans, tomatoes, fried egg plant, fish, fried egg from their chickens at their home, miso soup with tofu and some vegetables like potatoes or beans from their garden, fish, rice and what wasn’t in the picture was the natto (fermented soy beans) that you put on the rice, seaweed, and then at the end of the meal some yogurt with a big spoonful of their bottled strawberries that are from their garden as well. They believe that a big healthy breakfast is the best way to start the day. I don’t know that everyone thinks that way as many of the students say they have salad and an egg or bread and jam for breakfast.

Jiro is really the glue that holds the Sister city Association together on the Japanese side, I think. He has come with the group to Wilsonville several times, and has come on all but one day of the excursions with our group. He seems to be the one constant in the Kitakata group.

There are so many amazing things about these two, but let it suffice to say that that are both hard workers with a variety of interests that are generous to their neighbors and city.




Today the Sato’s took me on a trip to Yonezawa to buy some Yonezawa beef. You may have heard of Kobe beef that is feed beer to make the meat more flavorful. This is the same with Yonezawa beef. We will use the thinly sliced beef for our Sukiyaki dinner tonight. With the current exchange rate of about 87 yen per dollar, the most expensive meat in the store is 1,575 yen per 100 grams or rather $82 per pound! This is meat that literally melts in your mouth. I can’t wait for dinner.



If you live in Yonezawa, you can get your meat delivered from this truck.



We took the scenic route to Yonezawa and stopped to get a view of a gate or Tori in Lake Hibara. Lake Hibara was created 120 years about when there was an eruption of Mt. Bandai. This gate is underwater and the shrine that it leads to was completely submerged as was the small village that was behind it as well.


In Yonezawa we also stopped by a shrine where there was a statue of Uesugi Youzan. A few hundred years ago he took over the ailing and debt ridden area and turned it into a prosperous place. JFK is quoted as saying he thought that Uesugi Youzan was the best politician he had ever heard about. Part of his success was teaching poor people how to be more prosperous and getting the people to eat carp for it’s protein. (We bought some carp and so I think it will be on the breakfast menu tomorrow.)