Tea with Kozue, Teresa & Marlon

Welcome to Japan Party and Double Blossom Festival

It was so nice today to see Kozue and Susumu my host family from 2012.  I felt so honored that they would give me a Welcome back to Japan party.  I will never forget the wonderful time I had with these 2 very special people.

It was wonderful also to see Mioko another very special friend.....

Some men talk going on here!!

A gift from Mioko which I especially loved the painting of the dragon done by the famous one stroke painter in Nikko Japan.  The artist can paint the body of a dragon with a single stroke of the brush.  This delicate technique is known as hitofude ryuu.  which literally means a dragon with one stroke.

Thank you Mioko for a very thoughtful gift.

It is so nice to see Susumu and Kozue, again thank you for a fabulous party.

Susumu clowning around 
I loved to listen to everyone and talk about things we have been doing.

MY buddy Susumu

Susumu showing a few of the guests how to use the swords he made.  LOL, so much fun watching them all practice.



Wow, we are lucky to have such wonderful amazing friends.

Decided after the party we would pack and go to a Double Cherry Blossom festival. The flowering trees were absolutely beautiful flowers.

The FABULOUS 4 :-)

We saw the shinkansen ride at the festival and we ladies decided to take a ride.  Loads of fun when a group of fun ladies get together.  

We are the captains of this train Woot Woot

Time to relax and watch some entertainment at the festival.

 More beautiful blossoms to look at :-)

Looking good in that hat Mr. Marlon Charles.

Ate dinner tonight a ramen place that was called Volcano.  The first time for Marlon to eat here I'm happy to say he enjoyed it.

Farewell Dinner by Host Family 4-7-12

We are having farewell dinner tonight as its the weekend and it will be easier for them to prepare.  The hard work that Susumo put into this dinner will be forever etched in my mind.  He wanted to make me beef stew.  I went to the grocery store with him to get his supplies to make the dinner.  He spent Friday evening till 3 am to start preparing the meat.  They do not have a crock pot and he used something like a burner that used coal to heat it.  Guess that's why he spent the evening preparing as the coals must stay hot.  The next morning he was up early working on the meal for tonight. My heart is aching to think that in a few more days I must say farewell to Susumo and Kozue.  They are both the sweetest people ever.  I am lucky to have met and made such wonderful friends.  When Teresa, Ric and myself got back to host family's house from a day of touring we found Susumo and his grandson U out on the deck grilling some Yakitori and negima (onion).  

Susumo placed a bottle of white wine in ice in preparation for dinner. 

 We drank bottles of wine and enjoyed conversation around the table.   Kozue did a great job with the table setting and made leaves fried in tempura batter. She had taken them from her own trees. I truly enjoyed them, so very tasty. 

 Later we played card games that I have never played before but all the games were fun. 

It's getting late so I wanted some pictures of everyone before they left to go home. The first picture is of me and the Ikebana I made for them.

 Susumo and U

 Ric & Teresa

MY BEST FRIENDS

April 6 Utsunomiya Cherry Blossom Tours

My day always starts with a great breakfast made by Kozue.  The same thing Susumu and I practice our English and Japanese.  I am enjoying my time with them but soon it will be ending. Everyday Kozue takes me into Teresa's apartment to spend the day with her.  I generally arrive at any where between 7:30 and 9am.  This morning on the way to work I saw a bus stop to pick up a Kindergarten student.  In Japan, the only students who ride a bus are the Kindergartners.

Every day I also check on the cherry tree-lined road we travel down hoping the trees will start popping their beautiful flowers.  The season is so late this year due to the cold weather.

I have arrived at the Big B Apartment building where my friend Teresa lives.  

Go in and type in her apartment number and she opens the doors so I can come up.  I always enjoy my cup of coffee when I arrive at her house and I generally always call hubby and have my morning chat with him :-)  We are leaving after my short chat with hubby for the day.  We are headed to go get the car washed from the China dirt and sand that has blown all over Japan.   Teresa then gets out of her car and pays to get the car washed.

 

Never thought there would be anything great about a car wash in Japan but oh yes there was.  First of all, you park your car and the entire building with the scrubbers in them move back and forth and clean your car and dry it. No standing building was different than USA.   

When the car wash was finished Teresa and I got out and she was taking the floor mats out of her car.  She told me there was a machine that cleaned them all she had to do was load them into the machine. (only in Japan)

There was even a rack with fresh towels to dry your car and a spray bottle with tire cleaner and small mop to clean your tires.

We have finished the entire car inside and out.  Ready to leave and go to the Yamada store to look for a bottle that is shaped like a fish of red wine from Italy.  As soon as we get on the highway, it started to rain.  Never fails the minute you wash your car it rains. LOL
Yamada store is very unique as there are many specialty items you can find in there.
Noticed some items that I have seen in the USA but never would I buy this cheap meat for the price they wanted at Yamada.




The store was out of the wine I was looking for so now we are on our way to look for cherry trees to see if any are blooming yet.  Teresa drove us to a location that is famous for this huge cherry tree that is lit up at night when its bloomed.  On both sides of the shrine are 2 gold statues and in front of the statues on the sidewalk are the footprints of the Gods.

 Once I peeked through the doors of the shrine I was the beauty that lay ahead.  Pink blooming cherry trees and a bud-ah and a set of stairs leading to the cemetery.  

 On the funeral day the body is cremated. The guests take a small meal during that time in the crematorium. Afterwards, the relatives pick the bones out of the ash and pass them from person to person by chopsticks.
The actual funeral ceremony is then held by Buddhist monks according to Buddhist rituals. Many guests are present at this ceremony. Each of them will pay about 20,000 yen to the relatives and receive a small gift in return. After the end of the ceremony, another meal is held among the close relatives.
The urn is put on an altar at the family's house and kept there for 35 days. Incense sticks (osenko) are burned there around the clock (special 12 hour sticks for the night exist). Many visitors will come to the house, burn a stick, and talk to the family. After 35 days, the urn is finally buried in a Buddhist cemetery.

 Japanese are required to wash their hands and mouth in a natural spring or rock-hewn pool before entering a shrine. Visitors to the shrine use a ladle made from bamboo to wash both hands and then pour water into a cupped hand to wash their mouth. 

 It is believed that the higher the person is towards the heavens the faster they will get there, therefore hince the high staircases.

Finally we have reached the top of the cemetery and there are some beautiful cherry trees starting to bloom.

 Wow glad we stopped here so very beautiful place.
Now its time to go pick up Valerie and Kensho.  They are waiting for us just like always :-)  So happy to see there smiling faces.  Today we are starting off our adventure at touring around the building that surrounded  a castle at one time.   The weather is looking dark and the wind has picked up sure hope this rain passes. Our arrival at the castle as I call it was just as nice as I remember it.  This is the location that Teresa and I walked the first time I saw her in Japan.