Tonight we took a long metro ride for a visit to Akiyo's home. Upon arrival to the train station. we were greeted by a very warm welcome: Akiyo, her friend Yoshida, and her younger sister ("imotosan") were waiting for us. We walked together to Akiyo's home and were introduced to her father (otosan).mother (okasan), grandmother (obasan) and 2 lovely cousins.
We spent about 4 hours with the family, eating delicious food (We were introduced to the art of making your own Sushi) and drinking beer, Sake, and ocha (Green tea). Our nervousness about language barrier quickly disappeared. With the competent simultanious translation provided by Akiyo and Yoshida, we found ourselves having very facinating conversations with our hosts. We learned from Grandmother about her childhood during the bombing of Tokyo. We spoke about family values in Japan, work, life, conducting business, healthcare , travelling in Japan, festivals, places to visit for the folliage. The cousin, who is cellist and a nurse told us about the hospital's orchestra, consisting of nurses an doctors, who practice regularly and play for the patients!
As I said, we felt priviledged to be so warmly received, and to learn more about the family's perspective of life in Japan.
Thank you, Akiyo and family for your generosity and warm hospitality!
Pnina
I'm so impressed that all these people have been so hospitable to you. Especially considering you have never met many of them. It helps me appreciate the value of Sarah's international network of friends. Once again, it looks like you guys are having a great time, which I'm thrilled to see. Mary and I went out today to see the marathon. We were hoping to see my friend Stots, who ran in the marathon today. We didn't see him but enjoyed seeing all the runners and walking around the city with Scarlett on a nice, chilly day.
ReplyDeleteLove you.