Adventures in Japan Part 1

5/31 - 6/5

I can't believe it's already Sunday! Anyway, if you can't tell from the title I'm in Japan. I'm here getting to know my fiancé's family and meet his friends. It's been quite a challenge trying to remember everyone's names and speaking Japanese almost 24/7. I've studied it for 4 years, but there is still so much more that I need to learn. And it doesn't help that I'm shy because it makes it that much harder to talk to people. But as I get more comfortable it gets easier.

I was planning on writing everyday, but time kept getting away from me. Let's start from the beginning. I stayed the night at my awesome friend Charlie's house since she lives pretty close to the airport. I had an early flight so I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. We ate banana bread (I'll be asking for the recipe later) and played Portal 2. I mostly watched because they were towards the end, but it was fun.

Everything went pretty smoothly travel-wise. There were no delays and I didn't miss my connection. The flight to Japan was long, but I'm used to it now. There was an entire class of Japanese high school students who were on the plane from Seattle to Tokyo. They were probably on their way back from a school trip but I wasn't sitting by any of them so I didn't have a chance to ask. I sat next to a guy who talked to me for most of the plane trip. He was on his way to Thailand to see his girlfriend who he hadn't seen in a year. And I thought 1 month without Shinsuke was long!

After I arrived at Narita I had to take a train to Zushi where Shinsuke would pick me up. It was a two and a half hour ride but I made it without missing my stop, even though I fell asleep for part of the trip. When you ride trains a lot you learn how to wake up just enough to hear what the next stop is so you don't end up missing your stop.

It was great to finally see Shinsuke after so long! He took me back to his house so I could get something to eat then to the Seki family's house where I would be staying until his dad got back from his business trip in China. They have a daughter, Natsuko, who will be getting married the day Shinsuke and I come back from Japan. Our plane doesn't leave until late afternoon so we will be able to go see her get married in the morning. Her parents made their invitations so when Shinsuke asked about how to go about making ours they offered to help us. All we had to do was buy the cards and envelopes and decide the design and they would print them out for us.

So Wednesday Shinsuke and I set out to buy the materials. Natsuko walked me to Ofuna station where I was supposed to meet Shinsuke. Though he didn't say exactly where to meet and as soon as we arrived at the station we discovered that it was relatively big. We walked around awhile hoping to run into him, then Natsuko suggested that we page him over the intercom. Though, as soon as the announcement went out he had found us. He had said to meet at 12 but ended up leaving the house late. He had called but we had already left.

Shinsuke and I went together to pick out the cards and envelopes and ended up able to get everything for 8000 yen or about $90 with the exchange rate. On the way back we stopped to look at some model homes and even went to look inside one. The one we looked at was a western style house. Though, one weird thing I thought was that there were two separate rooms for the husband and wife. We also stopped in Kamakura at a CD rental shop. In Japan it's legal to rent CDs and copy them for your own use because the money you pay to rent them end up going to the artist. Before going back to Shinsuke's we also picked up some omiyage (souvenirs) for Saturday when we were going to visit his relatives in Tokyo.

That night I made oyakodon for dinner and I think they all liked it. Since his dad and mom weren't there I'm going to cook for everyone again. I'll probably make okonomiyaki. His family is always asking what kind of food my family eats and what they like, but I have a hard time answering. I guess it's because we make all kinds of food. And I haven't been home in awhile so I've been cooking for myself.

Thursday I went to Shinsuke's again but we didn't do much because it was raining. But his dad came home in the afternoon so we decided I would move my stuff and stay at their house from then on. After having sukiyaki that Shinsuke made for dinner, Shinsuke and I went back to the Seki's to get my stuff and to print out the invitations. I was surprised that they turned out so nice! I would post a picture of what they look like but everyone is going to have to wait until they get them to see them. We made both Japanese and English ones. Since no one from Japan can come the Japanese invitations are more like an announcement of our marriage. Though, they have they same design. The Seki's daughter, Momo, is really good at drawing and she drew a kyorochan (a bird character from Japan that Shinsuke likes) version of both of us to put on the invitations. They are small, but if you look hard enough you'll be able to find them on the invitations.

Friday was really fun. Shinsuke made breakfast and then we left to go to sister Shiraishi's (I think that's her name) house. She is a sister from his ward and she invited us over to learn how to make chashu, Chinese pork, and Italian musubi, rice balls with an Italian flavor. She was really nice and she even taught us how to make your rice especially good. She also showed us a bread machine that she owns that makes really good Japanese bread, and other kinds of bread to. It's not too expensive so we are going to buy one to take home. Before we left she showed us her garden and picked a bouquet for us.

On Saturday Shinsuke and I went with his dad to visit their relatives in Tokyo. I don't remember everybody's names but they all seemed really nice. Each family gave us congratulation money in some really pretty envelopes.

Before we went back we stopped by Shinsuke's grandfather's grave. The flower shop was already closed but they washed the grave down with clean water. In Japan people also leave drinks or food when they visit a grave. 

Until next time!