It has been a while since I’ve posted here – sorry about that. Wrapping up the end of 2008 has been a little bit busy, but Kuniko and I have been enjoying the extra time off we both have.
Just before Christmas we went to Kyoto to celebrate Antoine and Miwako’s wedding. They really put together a whirlwind of events at the end of the year – within a week they had bought an apartment in Sumiyoshi, welcomed guests from overseas, and got married. That’s a lot of potential stress, but everybody was doing well when we saw them at the wedding.
We didn’t attend the Japanese-style ceremony but instead participated in the reception which was in a more modern style. It was a great reception, including everything from fruit carving to a drunken uncle.
We were able to meet up again with Antoine and his family in Himeji and climb the Himeji castle, search through 100 yen stores, and eat noodles together in the Sanyo department store. We really had fun with Benjamin, Antoine’s 16 month old nephew. He is just beginning to talk, and entertaining him was half the fun of the trip. Once things calm down a bit for Antoine and Miwako hopefully we’ll be able to head over to their place and check it out.
For the New Year we were hanging out at home for most of the day, but we did get a chance to party with Komuri sensei over in Akashi. He does a yearly soba party, but unfortunately we had been out of the country the last two years. He’s got the perfect party location in Akashi, and together with some other guests we made and ate soba, osechi, tempura, and some other traditional dishes that were new to me.
Our final stop for the New Year was the local shrine in Okubo for hatsumode. The line was long just after midnight, but they had built a huge bonfire next to the shrine, and it warmed us up as we waited. On our way out the bartender from Red Spanky came up and wished us a happy new year – I was impressed that he did it in front of everyone.
Today Kuniko and I are spending the day at home, doing laundry, maybe taking a walk, and relaxing. We’ll be spending lots of time with the family in the next couple of days. Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging more often in 2009….
