I had a weird schedule today. Kuniko and I got up early, but fell back asleep after breakfast and I didn’t get moving until 10:30. I was due to meet Mr. Komuri in Akashi at noon, so I high-tailed it out of there and got to the station with ten minutes to spare.
We were meeting up for an annual sake brewery party held in the Akashi area. The name of the brewery is Akai Ishi (red stone), which sounds like “Akashi” when you say it fast. Clever.
We met a few ex-Takasago Minami students that were attending the party as well. They were only three years out of high school. They remembered Mr. Komuri really well, and my predecessor, Andy. There was actually a pretty good mix of people, younger and older. We all got on the train to Eigashima, where the brewery is, and I sat down with Mr. Komuri. One of Mr. Komuri’s friends steered a tall Japanese girl over to sit next to me, and I found out that she spoke great English. Her name was Yasuko, and she had done a two year homestay in Canada.
We talked continuously on the train ride over, much to the amusement of Mr. Komuri who was doing everything short of elbowing me in the ribs while I talked with her.
Once we arrived at the brewery we grabbed some seats, and they told us the plan. We took a brief tour of the sake brewery, which was really interesting.
The tour was short but informative. It was all in Japanese, but I could follow the process and see how things were done. This was a really old sake brewery, and it reminded me a lot of the old wineries back home. About the same level of cleanliness, too.
We came back out into the sun, and the drinking began. Each table got two 1.5 liter bottles of sake to drink. They had three different kinds. One kind of sake that I’m getting into lately is nigorizake – cloudy sake. It’s unfiltered, and it has a slightly bitter taste, but it’s really good.
While we were drinking, Yasuko took up a position on my right and introduced us to her family. She had a sister there, her sister’s friend, and then her mother and father. They were all really nice, and because they had gone to Canada many times to visit Yasuko, they were really into all things Western, for example, me.
Yasuko was really asking me lots of questions, slowly circling inward into more personal ones, and I recognized the pattern. She asked if I had a cellphone, and I said yes, and then she asked if she could call me sometime. All this in front of her whole family, who are enjoying the sight of a modern mating ritual. Yikes.
I said sure, and as I turned towards her to give her my number I said in a lower voice, “But, I do have a girlfriend…” She had a good reaction – she just gave me a big smile, and said “OK, maybe I’ll call you to practice English sometime.” Whew.
Mr. Komuri was no help, proclaiming to the table that I was single and available. The table responded with introductions to the single girls. Mr. Komuri probably thought he was doing me a favor. I’ve got to tell my teachers sometime. Maybe it will be soon.
Meanwhile, our table was full of snacks and everyone was eating and drinking. Someone had brought pigs feet and passing those around, and Mr. Komuri was drinking a lot. I knew that I had another event to attend, so I took it slow. As is the case at most parties I go to, I was a big attraction and lots of people came by to say hello, practice English, and compliment me on how strong a drinker I was. A 72 year old guy said that I looked like Tom Hanks. How nice.
Flash forward an hour, and the party is really revving up. The mother of the family is taking picture after picture of everyone – one of me with each of her daughters, and the guy across the table is ready to offer me a job sailing transport ships to Australia. Mr. Komuri was going for broke, so I finally told him that it was time that I should get going. He took the cue and we said goodbye to everyone. Then I guided a slightly wobbly Mr. Komuri down the road towards the station.
We got on the train, and I dropped off Mr. Komuri at the station. He was walking home, so when I saw him head the correct direction I got on JR and went once again to Kobe to meet Kuniko.
It was good to see her at the station, and together we walked out of the station and north. She was hungry and we thought it would be a good idea to get some food before the wedding chapel just in case we got stuck talking to somebody too long. We went over to McDonald’s for a quick burger, and then caught a cab to the wedding place.
This place was similar to the other places that we had looked at. A very nice man named Yamamoto gave us a tour, and even paid for our cab fare. The building was full of different themed rooms. I guess the idea is to get you to fall in love with a room, and then they have some way to get you to get married there. We’ve looked at lots of places, and most look like this:
Sure it looks fancy, but it isn’t really our style. Yamamoto took us to another room, though, and as soon as we walked in, we both got excited. Much more our style:
It was actually two rooms, a reception room that had a full bar, and then the banquet room that was really stylish. It reminded me of the 50’s modern look of “The Incredibles”. The funny thing was that Kuniko really liked it, too. Yamamoto, like a professional sensed this, and told us all about it.
The next stop was a fake wedding ceremony. It went OK, but there was far too much singing and praying going on. We both had some fun with the foreign priest’s accent. He switched between English and Japanese. I asked Kuniko how his Japanese accent was, and she said it wasn’t so good. His English accent was really tough to understand as well. We wrote that information down on the survey they had given us. I only hope he has another language – he wasn’t doing too hot with either of the ones we heard.
Finally we went to a free dinner. It was a way to preview what a reception dinner would be like, and they pulled out all the stops. The had all the Japanese wedding stand-bys… the bubble machine, the memorial candle, the mixing of glowing chemicals, cake cutting ceremony, a chef who came out to cook our steaks to dramatic music, lasers, music videos, everything. I guess if you like something, them you’ll order it for your wedding, so it’s a good way to try everything out.
Kuniko and I were making fun of some of the really cheesy things – and enjoying lots of free food.
It was all fun and games until they announced that the person with the piece of chocolate cake hidden in their dessert should announce themselves. Kuniko had it, so she got to keep the flower bouquet that the fake bride was carrying around. Score!
Finally we wrapped up dinner and headed downstairs. Yamamoto was there and we consulted with him and a few other people about our likes and dislikes. They drew up an estimate based on a very simple wedding – none of the flash and cheese – and so we took that with us to think about. He was pushing us to make a reservation, but we told him that we’d rather wait and decide later. He saw us off at the door, and we headed on foot back to the station, full of delicious food.
I said goodbye to Kuniko at the station and got home fairly late. The last couple of days have been full of events, and it sure feels like the future is coming up fast. We’re both excited, and looking forward to seeing what happens next.
