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.

Pottery at Bunsei University & Volcano Restaurant March 24, 2012

Day 3 March 24, 2012
I woke up this morning and the weather outside looks gloomy. Teresa made Ric and me some breakfast.  We all ate and got ready to leave to go pick up Yamaguchi and her husband.  It's weird to call them both the same name but in japan, most people are called by their last names.  Teresa drove and picked up the people that were going.  The car is now packed with all of us and we are headed to Bonsai University for our Pottery class. 

 Upon arrival at the university, we located on campus the place for our pottery class.  
After we arrived we went inside and prepared ourselves for the class.  Mrs. Yamaguchi brought sleeves and aprons for all of us.  
We each worked on our pottery and made about 3 pieces of pottery.  

When finished wrote our names on paper and put it with our projects. A class picture was taken with sensei then a tub of fresh strawberries were passed out to everybody in the class.  This pottery class at the university is only open to the public once a year.  I feel lucky to have had this honor of attending the university for a pottery class.
Teresa's finished pottery 

 Donna's finished pottery

Ric's and Mr. Yamaguchi's pottery pieces

Teresa is driving us all to a place to eat called Volcano which was recommended by Yamaguchi. 

 This restaurant serves a variety of ramen noodles made in a stone bowl that registers at 300 degrees.  When the server brought our lunch they had a bowl of hot liquid they poured into the hot bowl of ramen.  To keep from getting burned from the bubbling liquid we were told to hold our paper placemat in front of us.  Now I know why they call this food volcano the liquid bubbles up like a volcano erupting LOL. 

 Now it's time for dessert which was white in color with a clear liquid and 3 little beans on top.

Sweet taste and very good.  So sweet of Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi they paid for everybody's lunch.
When we left Mrs. Yamaguchi invited us all to come to her house and have tea.  We all sat around a table on the floor.



Under the table is a hole in the floor with a heater.  We all put our legs in the hole under the table and pulled the blanket up on our laps. Awe nice and warm. 

 We spent a couple hours talking about today's activities. It's time to leave now and I have had an amazing time.  The pottery class at the College of Art was so special.  The lunch and time with Mr. and Mrs.  Yamaguchi were all spectacular.