We went to the yakitori last night expecting to meet Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei. When we got there the master nodded us towards the private room, and when I opened the door there were a whole bunch of teachers in there.

Ikeda sensei, Arauchi sensei, Oki sensei, the school nurse Yamamoto sensei, Fujimaru sensei, Sakano sensei – it was packed with people in there. We sat down and Kuniko gave me a look like “what the hell is going on here?” I felt the same way.

From what I had understood, Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei were coming to hang out with the Denya yakitori regulars, so when we found them locked up in a private room with a bunch of other teachers we were caught off guard. After a few minutes the Denya guys started to show up, but the Takasago Minami teachers weren’t moving – they stayed inside the private room and talked shop.

I went outside now and then and talked with the gang. They were really happy to see me and chat about the wedding and my family’s visit. They are really cool people. The atmosphere was so much lighter and positive than the teachers in the private room – even though the teachers were laughing and joking around, they were complaining, too.

One time Oki sensei was complaining about something and giving the part time worker – who I get along with really well – a hard time. Although I really like Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei, there is a reason that they were the only teachers I had invited to the wedding party. I found myself wanting to hang out with the yakitori regulars instead.

Finally it was starting to get late, so Kuniko and I said our goodbyes and left the private room. We left some money at the counter for our part of the bill and then said goodbye to the regulars. I felt bad for them – probably the only reason they had come was to chat with my teachers, and they were all holed up in the private room.

As we were leaving the school nurse gave a small bag to Kuniko, and it turned out to be some wedding money for us. The presents are still trickling in – it is amazing how the system works.

As soon as we walked out the door Kuniko and I compared notes. She was just as surprised as I, and we both felt bad about some of the teacher’s attitudes in there. When we got home Kuniko composed a nice message to the master to apologize for their behavior and to thank him for hosting them.

We kept waking up last night as the wind rattled the windows and howled outside. I asked Kuniko if we had left the laundry out, and without saying a word she went outside, gathered it up, and brought it inside. I’m not sure if she was even awake.

Kuniko showed me how the timer works on the heater so we’ve got it turning on 15-20 minutes before we wake up, and it makes it a whole lot easier to get out of bed when you know there is a warm kitchen waiting for you.

We walked together to the train station right into the freezing wind, and it was burning our faces – it hurt so much. We had gloves and big jackets, but we didn’t bring our scarves. Tomorrow the wind is supposed to die down, so I’m looking forward to that.

At school I arrived, warmed up by the heater, made myself a cup of cocoa, and then sat at my desk and realized that there is no real reason to study today. I’ve been studying towards the test for so long that now it feels refreshing to be able to relax a bit. I decided today to just think about what I want to study over the next year, choose what to focus on, and think about new strategies. It was nice to sit back and think for a while.

I worked a little bit on a project to update the English language version of our school brochure, and also did some marking of exams. I left without guilt in the afternoon, and did a little bit of shopping at Ito Yokado before coming home and cleaning up there.

Kuniko is going to get off early today, and together we are probably going to head over to the yakitori tonight and drink with Yamamoto sensei and Maeda sensei. They really got along well with the yakitori guys during our wedding party, so it’ll be nice for them to check out the food. Yamamoto sensei was funny – he said that he doesn’t drink and he doesn’t eat chicken – those are the two main staples of any yakitori. We’ll have to find some other things on the menu for him…

A quick wrap up from the weekend: Saturday I stayed inside and studied all day while Kuniko did housework. She did loads of laundry, did some shopping, brought home goodies for lunch, and really got a lot done. We had a dinner of gyoza from Osho, nikuman, and some leftover kimchee. It was a great dinner – I’m in love with the gyoza from Osho.

Sunday I got up early to go out in the pouring rain and take the big Japanese test in Kobe. In Akashi I met up with Anthony, who is Kuniko’s former co-worker Risa’s husband. He was taking the second level test for the third time. I was also taking the second level test, for the first time. The exam is made up of four levels, the first level being the most difficult, and the fourth level being the easiest. Last year I passed the third level and this year I had studied towards passing the second level.

It turns out it is a huge jump from the third level to the second. As it was I barely passed the third level, so it was a bit ambitious to go for the second so quickly, especially considering Anthony who has lived in Japan for many years has had trouble passing it. The problem is the test is held only once a year, so I had no choice but to try.

My goal all along was to pass the test next year. At this level my listening is not very good, and my reading is way too slow. Although I did well on the practice exams, the actual test was a different story. I built some confidence by really doing well on the first section, but the next two sections were really tough. The last section I had only two minutes left and 10-15 answers still unanswered. I had to fill in guesses on all of them and then go back and try to knock them out. I was really disappointed in that – that cost me a lot of points.

So it looks like I won’t pass this year, but I expected that. It gives me a lot of information on what I need to focus on, though. My listening and speaking skills are probably the worst, but vocabulary and kanji are my strong points. I’ll focus from here on speaking and building my reading speed. The results won’t be ready until sometime at the end of February, so I’ll just forget about them and move on.

When I got home from the test Kuniko was ready. She cooked an incredible dinner Рa pork saut̩ with vegetables and miso soup. She had the kotatsu all warmed up for me, made me some yuzu tea, and had bought a movie for us to watch. It was a great way to come home from a rainy day at the exam.

I had three classes on Friday, and after that a holiday party for our school. Somebody had arranged a bus to drive us from the school to the hotel where the party was being held, right near the train station in Kakogawa. Due to how the train lines are set up, you cannot take a train from my school to Kakogawa. This makes for some really tricky train connections and some very long walks, but the bus saved everybody a lot of time.

This year the party was a much calmer affair. Nobody got completely blasted, and I can usually count on at least one person doing something memorially stupid. Mainly, I just concentrated on it not being me. The food was Japanese style, but there were some other things mixed in and I thought overall it was pretty good. They had oden, nabe, lots of fresh sashimi, and between those three things I ate really well.

As usual the big attraction was a bingo game, and everyone checked their cards carefully to see if they won. I realized this year for the first time that there are enough prizes for everyone – the advantage of winning early is you get the first choice of prizes. Even that is a crapshoot – they are all wrapped so you have no idea what might be inside. Last year I got a puppy-shaped neck warmer, but this year I went on the principle of picking the heaviest thing I could find, and I got three small jars of honey, which I suppose is a marginal improvement.

I was sitting at a table with all men, and everyone was pretty reserved. I think they were afraid to speak to me, and to be truthful I’m not so confident in my Japanese that I can strike up a conversation with anyone. I did talk to the chemistry teacher, and he insisted that I do a lesson for his students next year on fermentation. In Japanese. Yikes!

As usual everyone was walking around pouring beer into each other’s glasses, and I made sure just to drink a sip or two. One of the waitstaff walked by and delivered a plate of sushi for the table, and she started talking to me in English. I was really surprised by it. The other guys at the table were watching us carefully – this girl was really good looking. She was probably 28 years old, tall, and she spoke English pretty well. We talked about her homestay in America (Wisconsin) and about my school. After a while I could see where the conversation was going so I started playing with my ring while we were talking, but she took no notice. Finally her boss walked by and gave her a look and she took off. After she left all the guys at the table were talking about it as if I couldn’t understand them.

Across the way there was another end of the year party for another school, and as it happens a lot of the teachers knew each other. Even I knew two of the teachers, so I chatted with them a little bit. After the party I was hanging out with a bunch of their teachers and talking only in English to give them a little confidence. There is one thing I’ve learned about living in Japan as a foreigner and speaking Japanese – you’ve got to choose the right times to use it. By using Japanese you can really change the experience of the people you are talking to, sometimes it makes them feel like their English wasn’t good enough.

While we were chatting the other school’s ALT came up and introduced herself. She had an American accent and seemed like a nice enough girl. Earlier I had seen her smoking with some of her co-workers in the lobby so there’s a strike against her. She said that she had heard a lot about me, so I wonder what that is all about.

Soon Kuniko came and picked me up, and together we went back home – stopping for some kerosene to run our new heater. It’ll be fun to check that out.

As the date of the big test looms, I’m getting less and less confident. Although I passed the practice test yesterday, I was totally baffled by another practice test today. I’m just going to have to balance some studying and some brain rest over the next two days.

At school they have installed the big heaters in the staffroom, and today they were fired up for the first time. It’s starting to get notidceably colder at school, and the students are already complaining about not being fast enough to catch the warm seats near the windows.

I had a nice discussion with Tanaka sensei, the kendo and Japanese teacher who sits behind me. I alternately think he is a really nice guy and an intolerant nit-picker. The nit-picking is towards the students though, and he always treats me and the other teachers with respect. I enjoy his conversations because he is genuinely curious, unlike the history teacher who talks to me just to impress other people and pump up his own ego.

I had a visit from an old friend of Kuniko’s at school today. There is a part time teacher that is working at our school temporarily. She is working as a home economics teacher, and she came by to introduce herself and say hello. She wants to get back in touch with Kuniko, so I said that I’d pass on the message. She got married this year to a Canadian guy who has been living in Japan for seven years. Maybe one of these days we can have them over for dinner or something.

After school ended I went over to Tsuji-san’s place to do another Japanese lesson. We talked for the whole hour in Japanese just because my test is coming up. I think it was good practice. Kuniko and I had thought that we would just talk in Japanese at home for the week running up to the test, but we are just too comfortable with our weird mix of both languages.

We often speak both languages at home, and so it makes things hard to follow. I’ve honestly lost track of what language any person is speaking at any given time. We do have one rule that we try to stick to – don’t mix two languages in the same sentence unless we’re translating something. That seems to be a good strategy to avoid confusion and bad habits.

Tomorrow night after school I have my school’s end-of-the-year party. They tend to be pretty mellow affairs, because most of the teachers at my school are in the 50+ age bracket. I’m not saying that 50 year old people don’t know how to party – it’s just these folks tend to be pretty conservative. The groundskeepers always get loaded and they are fun to watch, though. Anyway, it should be a fun time tomorrow night.

I’m going to take a crack at garlic cheese naan bread and store-bought curry tonight. The bread is already cooked really, I don’t have the facilities to make naan bread from scratch, but I will do some bread surgery to add some cheese and garlic to them. I hope they turn out well!

I was joking around in my two classes today. All the students are gearing up for exams, and they were listening carefully for clues to what might be on their exam. I gave my students loads of clues. I circled important words that they should memorize, and spent about 30 minutes trying to get them to study.

Usually they end up complaining that it was too hard, but I think it’s a good experience for them.

I had the latter half of my day with no classes, so I locked myself in my classroom and took the Japanese language proficiency test from two years ago. I’ve been practicing with last year’s exam, but the one from 2003 was completely new to me. I followed all the rules, used the same time as the actual test, and after almost three hours I passed the test. It was just barely, though, so I know that the actual test may be even closer. Yikes – I hate close shaves.

On my way back home today I noticed that there were lots of kids and mothers preparing for the upcoming Xmas party at my apartment complex. The amount of work they are putting into it is amazing. For the past few nights they’ve been working in the meeting room – painting, drawing, hanging things up, decorating the tree, etc. I’m looking forward to being Santa for the party, I should be pretty relaxed by then and ready to chug eggnog with a bunch of kids.

Home life is still in a little bit of disarray around here. Kuniko still has no voice, and has a nasty cough. I’m fighting off my cold and I think it is in it’s last throes. We’ve cleaned up most of the boxes and gifts, and are compiling a list for thank you notes. I never thought getting married was so much work!

I forgot to mention that Kuniko and I took the plunge and bought a heater for the house last weekend. We had been planning on getting one since the little electric space heater I have wasn’t going to cut it for two people. While they were here my family gave us money to buy one as a wedding present, so now it is sitting in the kitchen waiting for it’s first drink of kerosene. We got an empty kerosene drum to fill at the gas station, and as soon as it cools down enough we’ll fire it up and try not to asphyxiate ourselves.

We’ve been on an early schedule lately, and I’ve been leaving the house much earlier than usual. Part of the reason has to do with our bathing habits. Since I converted the shower to a bath, we’ve been taking baths in the evening, and then I just jump in the morning to wash my hair. It works pretty well so far, and I am kind of enjoying taking a long hot bath before bed. It heats you up to the core, and suddenly I don’t need that electric blanket quite so much.

Anyway, we don’t need to get up so early but we end up getting up anyway, and I hate to just sit around the house when Kuniko is gearing to go, so I’ve been following her out the door.

This early arrival has not gone unnoticed at my school. I think it makes a couple of teachers nervous. They are used to being the early guy at the school and when someone else beats them there, they lose the bragging rights. I don’t mind – I use the time to study, especially with the upcoming test.

Today in one of my classes I went in without much of a lesson plan at all. This is a big deal, usually I plan everything down to 5 minute intervals. I went in with a small photo album of wedding pictures and a worksheet to test their memory. It worked out that the groups that finished the worksheet got to see the wedding pics. Girls were screaming and saying how cute Kuniko was and I didn’t know what to say but “Yes, she is cute!” I guess more modesty is called for in that situation, but I can’t do it…

I had a good recording session with Yamamoto sensei for the listening test. We did it all in just two takes. He only flubbed pronunciation of “blueberry pie”. Now we’re all set for next week’s listening test.

Back home I bought some ingredients for tortilla soup, and Kuniko helped me cook it up when she got back from school. Her voice is still missing, so we’ve had a couple of quiet evenings lately. There are signs of improvement, though, so she should be good to go tomorrow. I hope.

The first round of pictures have arrived. There’s so many and I’m still sorting them out, but you can leaf through them and at least get an idea. I put them into a web gallery using some free software. I’m sure it’s not as easy to view as when I usually post them, but this takes me about one minute to post, as opposed to the other method which can take over an hour.

Picture Gallery

There will be more pictures later next week when we get the professional photos in, but until then, I hope this will do!

Kuniko and I survived the weekend, and got a lot of work done. The house was a disaster, the laundry had piled up, and we both have a cold, so it felt like we were totally crappy homemakers.

I think we’re getting close to catching up. Over the weekend we had time to catch a movie, I converted the shower into a standard Japanese bathtub, and I took my first Japanese-style bath in my own home. It was nice – it really warms you up.

Today I went back to school, and things were just how I left them. The schedule today was light so I got some much-needed study time in. I delivered all my return gifts to people that had given me wedding money/gifts. Now that that’s off my back, I can get cracking on my school work.

Tonight Kuniko came home late after stopping in to see a doctor. After her lessons today she lost her voice, so I cooked her some hot and spicy dinner and then tucked her into bed.

In other news, I got tapped by the apartment complex mothers to play Santa Claus during the kid’s Xmas party in a couple of weeks. Kuniko and I were smirking about that for a while – that should be funny. I hope I can get some pictures. The apartment manager ladies came to my door and asked, and they were so excited when I said yes. I cannot wait to freak out some little kids.

What a couple of weeks! I thought rather than break everything down day by day and struggle to remember every detail, I’d do an entry for the wedding, and an entry for everything else. As usual there were tons of pictures, and I’ll post some of them here. Later I’ll have more that we had taken professionally – I’ll get those posted as well. For now, it’s time to settle into the old routine, and get things organized and cleaned up after all the activity.

I was really looking forward to showing everyone around, but it was more challenging than I expected. Any time you have a group that diverse, people are going to have different things they want to do, different speeds they want to do them, and lots and lots of questions. Sometimes I felt like a really strict tour guide – I hope they didn’t resent me after it was all over.

Probably my biggest surprise in planning things for my family to do while in Japan was how much walking is involved. I don’t think about how much walking I do every day, and especially when you throw in a bunch of sightseeing trips – it makes for some very sore legs.

My family pushed through and did a great job. When it came to sitting around a table on the floor, they sat. When it came to eating strange unidentifiable things, they ate. I was really proud of them. I was especially proud of my mom, who subjected me to a lot of “eat this, eat that” when I was a kid. She wasn’t afraid to try anything.

Kinsey flew in on Friday night, and despite a miscommunication with Kuniko we got it figured out and Lynn and I took the bus into the airport. It was a long ride, but we swapped stories and talked all about the fun we had at the soba party the night before.

When Kinsey appeared at the gate she looked like she was full of energy. She grabbed the attention of everybody waiting for her, and the attention stayed on her for most of the trip.

We came back on the bus, and lugged her hot pink luggage onto the train and all the way to Akashi. She struck up a conversation with a very surprised guy in the elevator, and I think until then it hadn’t really dawned on her that people don’t speak English. The guy rebounded nicely, though, and spoke to her in rusty English. I think he thought that she and I were on our honeymoon in Akashi.

We checked Kinsey into the hotel and then went across the street to the okonomiyaki restaurant. The master was happy to serve us up again, and I enjoyed watching everyone showing Kinsey the ropes. She ate the onion and beef tendon okonomiyaki without a problem, and Lynn had a sly grin as he let her say how much she loved it. I understand he told her what was inside the okonomiyaki the next day.

Saturday was the day before the wedding, so we took it easy. Kuniko served up a traditional oden dinner, and everyone gave us presents. We had so many presents laying around, and little did I know at that time that it was only the beginning.

Sunday was the day of the wedding, and I wrote a whole entry just on that – you should go check that out.

Monday was the day after the wedding, and I think everyone was exhausted. I had caught a cold the night before, so I was pretty miserable. We had some people come over in the middle of the afternoon to hang out, and then we bundled everyone up in two cars and drove to the Kageyama farm, just about 15 minutes away from their home in Kakogawa.

I think everyone enjoyed seeing the fresh vegetables growing, and there were lots of questions for Mr. Kageyama. He answered and Kuniko or I would translate, and then there would be more questions. It was a really challenge for the translators, but we did the best we could. After touring the farm we continued up the hill to a temple that I had never visited before. We walked around and took some pictures. Kinsey and Kuniko rang the temple bell once, but apparently it was OK to do it – nobody came running to stop them. Apparently the bell was used in the past to signal that a fire was spotted, but I think those days are gone.

From there we drove out to a yakiniku place and my family had their first experience with self-grilled meat. Everyone ate a lot – even Kinsey who usually doesn’t like the idea of mixing her chopsticks with other people’s saliva. Since everything was being cooked on the fire, it was OK. My family treated the Kageyama’s, and they gave a big protest but finally relented. It was a real battle, though.

Tuesday was an early trip to Himeji, and then on to Hiroshima on the bullet train. That was a great experience for my family – the bullet train is very expensive, so to get a chance to ride that was really cool. Kuniko organized the tickets, and we jumped on board and in an hour we arrived at Hiroshima. We were sitting in the “silent car”, which was for people that might want to get some sleep in. There was a ticket holder to hold your tickets in case you where sleeping and didn’t want to be disturbed. Kinsey and Nancy loaded up their tickets in the holder, and when they got off they left them there. Oh, no! Kuniko did some talking with the station manager who ended up letting them through, mainly because they were foreign and we all had the same tickets.

Hiroshima was a whirlwind trip, but it was awesome. Our first stop was Miyajima, a kind of sacred island full of shrines, deer, trees, and shopping. We had to take a ferry to get there, and once we arrived everyone enjoyed playing with the deer. From there we walked through a ton of shops to get to the main attraction – the view of the shrine gate on the water.

We spent some time looking around, taking pictures of the trees changing colors, we had a quick lunch with some oysters, and then headed back to the heart of Hiroshima to see the Memorial Peace Park, the Atomic Bomb Dome, and the museum. By then Kuniko and I were both pretty bushed and we had seen both things before, so we waited outside. Before long everyone came out, and so we caught a taxi back to the station for a bit more souvenir shopping, and then we caught the train back.

We ate dinner in two groups upon arriving in Akashi. There was a sushi group and a ramen group. Kuniko lead the ramen group over to a pretty good ramen place across town, and Kinsey, Ray, and Lynn followed me underground to the tiny sushi place for a full on sushi dinner. He kept us in sushi and rolls and enjoyed the attention – it is a really good atmosphere, and we ordered plenty of hot sake to keep us warm.

Kuniko came and picked me up after they finished the ramen dinner, and together we went over to get a surprise for Lynn over at her house. Finally around 11 o’clock we hit the sack.

Wednesday was spent in Kyoto. We brought the surprise to Lynn on the train, and everyone was staring more than usual at a foreigner walking around with a gigantic Japanese bow and quiver of arrows. The bow is more than 7 feet long, so we made quite an impression. Lynn loved the bow. He was talking about it for quite some time and really enjoyed playing with it, checking the angles, and asking questions. Kuniko’s dad had used the bow during his school years, and it seems they both have a big interest in archery.

Wednesday was a national holiday in Japan. There were tons of people in Kyoto. For the first time, my family could see wall-to-wall people and get a feel for what it can be like sometimes around here. We split up into two groups for lunch again, and from there took a wild cab ride across town to Kiyomizudera. It was so crowded. The road that we walked up was filled with people, and there was a huge line just to get into the temple. We ended up skipping the actual temple and walked around taking pictures of the trees and scenery. Because of the crowds and a little bit of a late start we couldn’t see very much of Kyoto at all, but I think it was enough to give everyone a taste.

Finally we headed back to the station, walking almost the whole way, and then took the train to Sannomiya. There we ate at Asian Days, a really good all-you-can-eat dim sum and shabu shabu place. I think that everyone liked it, and we all went home with our bellies full.

Thursday we got everyone packed up, checked out of the hotel, and headed to the bus stop in Sannomiya. Kuniko met us there, carrying bags of presents from her students, and we got my family tickets on the bus to the airport. There were lots of tears, lots of hugs, and lots of staring from the people walking by. Still, it was a good chance to thank everyone for coming all this way. Kuniko gave them one last gift – a CD of music from our wedding, and a stuffed Anpanman for Kinsey. After we sent them off, we traveled all the way back to our place and completely crashed out. Kuniko is getting my cold, so a lot of rest seemed like the best thing.

Friday it is back to work, at least for one day, so we’ll try to take it easy until then.

I thought I might be tossing and turning the night before Kuniko and I got married, but we both slept soundly, got up like any other day, and dressed up in some nice clothes. Luckily the hotel had a bus picking up my folks, so we had an easy morning without having to worry about the logistics of getting them to the wedding in one piece and on time.

We took the train into Sannomiya, and walked the fifteen or so minutes down to the wedding place. We had made this walk so many times before – late at night, on weekends, after work, in the rain, in the heat, and it felt great to be taking that walk again, maybe for the last time.

I relaxed in the lobby and Kuniko went in to get her makeup and dress started. About fifteen minutes later they came and got me, and I got all dressed up in a flash, then together we went out in the hallway, bumped into my family who were just arriving in their dress clothes, and we all went up the elevator together and into the lobby.

In the lobby there were lots of friends that had already arrived, so we said some quick hello’s while the wedding people tried to herd us into two separate rooms – one for the bride and her family, one for the groom and his. I tried my hand at making tea, but I guess I screwed it up… it turned out that it wasn’t tea at all. The lady came in and made it properly. Everyone seemed nervous, but I wasn’t feeling nervous at all. Soon the photographer came in and introduced himself, and then we all kind of broke out of our defined rooms and went into a photographic frenzy.

When I say frenzy, I mean it. We went inside a huge lobby and sat down on two seats set up for the purpose. There were tons of people there. Kuniko’s ex-students from last year were there, all the people we invited, and it was overwhelming. Everyone was taking pictures, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that I felt like a movie star surrounded by papparazzi. We would sit there and smile into the flashes, and just go from side to side, with people switching places behind us. Kuniko had an assistant to help her with anything she needed – she kept things in her kimono for us and stayed out of the way just enough to not be noticed, but if anything came up she would come forward and take care of it. She was a big help that day.

After almost an hour of greetings and photographs we went down to do the ceremony in the chapel. Everyone was seated inside, and as we walked to the door our wedding organizer picked that time to say that she was sorry but she couldn’t find another priest for us, even though we had specifically asked not to have the one that was there today. Oh, well – nothing to do about it now! Good timing on her part.

While we waited outside for everyone to get seated, the priest tried to relax me by chit-chatting, and he asked me if I remembered everything. I answered truthfully that I remembered about half, and he didn’t seem too concerned. He gave me the address of his church and tried to get me to drop by and say hello some time. Thanks, dude.

The doors opened and we went inside, and although I’ve never been to a Japanese wedding I’ve seen plenty of pictures. The groom always looks like he’s on death row, so I really tried to look as relaxed as I felt. I think I pulled it off, but we’ll have to wait for the pictures to know for sure.

Then, they played “Here comes the bride”, and Kuniko was walking through the door with her father. They walked up to where I was, and her dad and I bowed to each other. He made his move to his seat, and I took Kuniko’s arm and we stepped up onto the altar.

The ceremony was very simple, and we avoided any major disasters. The ring exchange went perfectly, and everyone said “I do”, so it was a success in my book. I didn’t get as long a kiss as I would have liked, but at least I got a kiss on the lips.

We went out the door, hid in a little room, and then they had everyone go outside. We came out another door into the empty chapel, and then out onto the steps. Everybody clapped for no other reason than we pulled a nice disappearing act. Then we walked around the perimeter of people and they threw flowers on us. I’ve never down a flower shower kind of thing in a circle. Usually isn’t it with people on either side of you? Anyway, everyone got their licks in, even some of my students who made the trip all the way from Takasago.

Once that was finished we took a group photo, and then got everyone inside. Kuniko and I set up in the first room of the reception area, which was set up like a lounge/bar. I had a staff of two waiters who helped me pour drinks. Really, they did all the work. I opened one bottle of wine and that was about it. I’d rather spend my time talking and taking pictures.

Kuniko and I worked the crowd separately, and came together now and then for a picture for people. We had paid a lot of money to have the photographer on hand to take pictures for us. We both thought he was taking a lot of pictures of other things, though. I would see him taking a picture of a wedding present, or an artsy picture of the organist’s hands. Hey, those pictures could be from anybody’s wedding. I want pictures of my guests, buddy!

Then, we ushered everyone into the room, and made our own grand entrance. From there the whole thing was pretty well orchestrated. We tried to keep it simple. We had a couple of speeches, but mostly it was hanging out with friends and family. Their were two musical performances – one on piano by Kuniko’s friend Tomomi-chan, and one by Komori sensei playing the ocarina. Both of them were great, and everybody raved about the performances afterwards. It’s hard to play in front of a lot of people like that, but they did a great job.

At the end Kuniko read a letter to both sets of parents, and got lots of tears from everyone. We wrapped it up soon after that, and got everyone out in the lobby. The Denya yakitori gang wanted to get us out on the balcony, and there they tossed me in the air three times Japanese-style. Then, they got Kuniko and threw her up three times, too. I was there helping – kind of like a hip-hip-hooray on steroids.

We held a second party at a place called Arcobaleno in Sannomiya. There was a pretty good turnout, and the master of the yakitori organized the whole thing. We had picked the place earlier, but he handled all the money and the attendance. I had been to a second party once before, and it was pretty organized and centered around karaoke. Not much talking to people – at that time I don’t think I was introduced to anybody new.

Kuniko and I were determined to avoid that, and I think we succeeded. There was a little table for the two of us to sit, but neither us was there for long. We spent our time introducing people, talking to people that seemed to be lonely, and trying to bring together friends from all parts of our life.

There were some interesting connections – Tsuji-san, my Japanese teacher had been a student of Tsutsumi-sensei. Carrie’s vice principal was Miyake-sensei’s husband, Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei hit it off with the yakitori gang, and even set up a date to drink together over there. My dad was a big hit with Kuniko’s friends, who kept trying to get their picture taken with him. Lynn and Antoine and Kimura-san (the big guy from the yakitori) had a really interesting discussion in both English and Japanese about muscles. It was a blast to see, but there wasn’t much time for me to eat or to drink, really. As long as everyone else was enjoying themselves I was happy.

To wrap up the second party everyone in the place did one big clap of their hands, and then we started filing out the door. The master did a great job of wrapping things up, and Kuniko and I distributed small gifts to everyone that hadn’t been to the wedding.

We all gathered at the steps at the bottom of the restaurant and said our goodbyes. Kuniko and I had arranged for Tsuji-san to guide my folks back to their hotel, and so we were pretty free. We had previously agreed to head home and have some leftovers and then just relax. But – I had a surprise in store.

We broke apart from the crowd and walked along the Motomachi towards Sannomiya station. We were rolling a suitcase that we had brought just for this occasion – we had to transport lots of stuff back home from the ceremony.

I rolled the suitcase to the right suddenly and told Kuniko to jump in a cab. I threw the suitcase in the trunk and then got in and told the driver to take us to the Oriental Hotel. The Oriental Hotel is a really nice hotel on the ocean that is pretty dramatic – Kuniko was really surprised.

We got there, checked in, enjoyed some steak sandwiches via room service, and went out on our balcony to enjoy the view of the Kobe port and the ocean beyond. What a nice way to end a great day.

Yesterday we had another full day – starting off with a run to Mr. Donuts. This is one of my favorite donut places in Japan, and they have some unusual flavors. While Lynn went over to Starbucks for a coffee, Nancy bought us all donuts and coffee. I had some nikuman and an old fashioned glazed, while everybody else was eating a croissant type roll with a hot dog and cheese embedded inside.

From there we went to my school in Takasago, and really surprised all the students. They were really friendly, and came by to say hello. They were hoping for a glimpse of Kuniko I think, but unfortunately she had to work this week.

We were led into the principal’s office where he greeted everyone and said I translated as best I could until the vice-principal made it there. We talked for a little while, and then had a chance to sit in on Mori sensei’s international understanding class. She wasn’t aware that we would drop by, so I felt a little bad. Afterwards she said that she was very happy that we stopped in.

My dad was right at home, and went over to talk to a couple of students. Luckily he was talking to one of the better students, so I think they had a good conversation.

After that we had a chance to walk around and meet lots of students who were very curious about us, and we also got to meet Tsutsumi sensei, who is really a great person. Finally we wrapped things up and left. I thought it went really well. Everyone was nice to us and I think they were genuinely interested in my family.

Next stop was the grocery store for a quick snack to eat at the train stop, and then we caught the train to Himeji to tour the castle with Kuniko’s parents. They met us at the train station and gave us a big bottle of sake that we forgot last night, and then we walked to Himeji castle.

I’ve been to the castle several times before, and it is always very dramatic. As we walked there we could feel the temperature starting to drop – the weather is really changing up around here.

Everybody seemed to enjoy the tour, and the tour guide was really nice and did most of the tour in English. At the end we headed back, and everyone was trying to make conversation with the Kageyamas. The language barrier is tough, though. My mom managed to have a short exchange with Mrs. Kageyama, and she was really happy about that. I talked with Mr. Kageyama on the way back, and we were happy with how things went.

They walked us to the station, and so we got on board the Sanyo line and headed to my station.

We met Kuniko at the station by chance, and after a pitstop at my place for a bathroom break we went to the yakitori for a little dinner party. The master was there cooking away, and he greeted everyone, and even spoke some English for everyone. He must have been working hard on studying for us.

The food was great as usual, and we ate plenty of food. We went with an assortment of different foods, and the master kept serving us my favorites. The pork/kimchee dish was popular, and the mushroom dishes were also very popular. For a while we were the only people there, but soon a couple of regulars came in. They called some friends, and then I was able to introduce five regulars to my family.

They’ll be at my wedding, so we’ll get a chance to hang out again, but I was glad for them to be able to meet in their “natural environment” – at the yakitori.

Nancy was really enjoying the Okinawan Aomori, and by the time we got out of there, everyone was really happy. My dad bought everyone’s meal, and a round of drinks for the regulars and one for the master. What a nice guy!

The final challenge was for everyone to get on the train without assistance and go home to Akashi. They did great – dad called in once they arrived and said they had no problems.

Today we’ll be taking it a little easier, and going to Komori sensei’s house for a soba party. Friday will be Osaka – I’ll need to dream up some fun things to do there.

We are continuing to cram everything we can do into each day, and I think everyone is holding up well. Last night we went over to Kuniko’s parent’s house, and it went really well. Considering the culture and language barriers, everyone seemed happy to find out the new members of the family are nice people.

We ate and ate and ate and ate, and talked about all kinds of topics. At first it got started very slowly. The Kageyamas were working hard in the kitchen, and when Kuniko arrived she started helping them, leaving all of us to sit in the living room staring at each other.

Finally we coaxed Mr. Kageyama out of the kitchen and we all did a quick toast. Once the alcohol started flowing, people seemed to be a little more relaxed.

We had sukiyaki for dinner, with some rolled sushi on the side. Everyone did really well with their chopsticks – nobody asked for a fork. After dinner there was a big gift exchange. The Kageyamas seemed to like their gifts from my family, and they returned the favor by giving everyone giant bottles (twelve!) of sake and sho-chu.

We came on back to Akashi and tucked everyone into the hotel. Today we’re going to visit my high school, tour Himeji castle, and then finally have a party at my local yakitori.

It has been a challenge to squeeze everything that I think they should do into the schedule. I’m really hoping that we don’t have to sacrifice too much, but I don’t want to drive everyone to exhaustion. We’ll see how it shakes out!

So everybody showed up safely last night at the airport, and we gathered everyone up and took them back to Akashi. It was a long trip back by bus, car, and train, and during that time we were able to hear all about their plane trip. I guess it wasn’t so bad – no screaming babies and just a little turbulence.

My mom did really well according to the rest of the family. She’s never been much for flying, but apparently she did great. Everyone was in great condition and great spirits as they checked into their tiny hotel rooms and set themselves up.

After checking in, we all went across the street for okonomiyaki. The restaurant wasn’t so crowded, and the master gave us a funny smile when he saw how many foreigners were coming inside the place.

They served up some great food – and it was Nancy and Lynn’s first time eating okonomiyaki. We had tonpei-yaki, Hiroshima-yaki, butakimchee-yaki, and negisuji-yaki. I think everyone liked the food.

We went for a quick beer at Donkey, and again we got a funny look as the Donkey master watched us all file into the bar. By now, everyone had been drinking at least a couple of beers, so one more seemed like a good idea. But people were starting to fade fast, and it ended up being a quick drink. These guys had been awake for a long, long time. We took them back to the hotel, and then Kuniko and I drove home. Tomorrow will be a recuperation day for them, and then dinner at the Kageyama’s.