Thursday, March 5, 2009

I was staying at Yoshimi's, and we were going to go to visit her Grandparents. For Lunch, we stopped at a Mcdonalds.

I got a shrimp burger(I had to try one) and a grape soda. They have grape soda everywhere in Japan. The shrimp burger was really pretty good, and I didn't feel gross after eating it like I did when I ate Mcdonalds in the U.S. And they recycle everything, even the ice left in you cup!

Yoshimi's Grandparents were so cute. And her Grandma's mother, who is around 80 I think, was there also and she was making sushi rolls when we arrived. I couldn't believe she was 80! She looks amazing.


We ate some of the Sushi and drank some green tea, even though we had already eaten lunch. The sushi was so amazingly delicious. It was savory but the carrot almost had a sweet taste.

Here is Yoshimi laughing at me as I took photos of the Sushi.


Her Grandparent's house was so beautiful, it was a large traditional japanese house, with paper walls and a beautiful garden.




I got to borrow her Grandmother's bike and we rode to the local mall, where we did Prikura(photo booths), shopped, caused trouble, and ate at 31 flavors. Here is Yoshimi imitating some strange mannequins...

One thing I am going to miss is the ice cream. I don't know why, but it's just better. I got melon flavored ice cream at 31 flavors, and there are actually tons of melon flavored things in Japan.

Then we rode back to her grandparent's house, and we ate some sweet rice cakes. These are really commonly given as gifts or eaten as dessert in Japan, they're really delicous. Rice cake is basically rice in a firm jello like state, and then filled with some kind of sweet paste. I think is is called Mochi.

Here is a photo of me with Yoshimi's family. From right to left there is Rika; Yoshimi's mom, Yoshimi's Aunt, Yoshimi's Great Grandmother, Yoshimi's Grandmother, me, and Yoshimi's grandfather. It's crazy to think that I was hanging out 4 generations of women.

So we said goodbye and everyone came out to see us off, even Yoshimi's great grandmother hobbled outside and sat on a rock to watch us leave.

The night before Rika(Yoshimi's mom) had gone for Flower arranging with her friends. Apparently it's a popular hobby in Japan, women gather and arrange flowers and socialize. She brought home her flowers and I took some photos of them.


Here is Shi-zu getting dressed. haha, I felt kind of bad for her.




The next day Yoshimi and I met up with Ayako at the Mall, and we also met Ayako's friend; Hisa, who left to Argentina for a Host stay on the 26th. She wanted to practice her spanish and english with me.

I bought some peach juice, it was yummy. They have a lot of peach flavored things in Japan too.

Here is a photo of Hisa and I.

Here is an amazing 31 flavors sundae Hisa got. We basically just hung out at the mall all day and ate ice cream.

we ate a lot of ice cream.


These are some guys with weird hair that I took a picture of. I don't think they understood me so they were kind of freaked out. haha.

Then we said goodbye to Hisa and went to dinner at a delicious sushi place with Atsuko.
There were two tracks on the sushi railroad thingy. It was really awesome, each table had a touch screen computer, and you could order something on that and then the track above the main one would have a fast train zoom up and stop with your food.




6 comments:

  1. Oh man, I am so hungry for some of this food!!! What a lot of fun in this post. The japanese gardens at grandma & grandpas house - wow! I love that great-grandma hobbled out to see you off. Shi-zu looks like a (what are those little teddy bear forest creatures in Star Wars?) any way that's what Shi-Zu looks like. I am home alone tonight - I really think this might be the first time this has ever happened..... I am watching house and trying to comfort Big Mac. He is so upset and follows me everywhere.

    It was so nice to skype with you tonight!

    See you soon!

    Love, Mom

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  2. EWOKS!!!
    Yes---Shi-zu does look like an Ewok!
    Basically I was going to say all the same things Cindy said!!!--Awesome hunger creating food photos and story and I WANT a Japanese style garden/yard!!! :)
    We missed your skype---wahhhh! Tell us when to be watching for it and we'll be there--ok?
    Love you!

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  3. SaraBaraPumpkinara
    i miss you. this post was wonderful, i'm so glad you got to hang w/ the older ladies and experience some of the traditional Japanese culture....the antithesis of crazy western mad rush everywhere always trying to get ahead culture..!
    this recession we've got going on here seems to be forcing ppl to stop, look around, and think about the way they're living. There's been a lot of talk about living day-to-day, appreciating what you have, etc.
    One of my friends just told me about a (formerly pretty successful) real-estate agent she knows who is having to apply for bankruptcy...He and his wife are looking at other schools for their two kids, and neighborhoods that are lower income. They're thinking of pooling some of their resources with the many friends they have... sharing child-care, gardenspace, maybe even chickens?
    This kind of stuff is happening (and has been happening, as I'm sure Renee can attest to) all over the place.
    It's so comforting to know that these hard times might be creating space for community that didn't exist before.
    anyways, i just thought you would like that. i miss you so much!! keep up the awesome blogging. I always read when i have computer time (mostly my lunch break at work) but sometimes don't have time to comment unless i'm at the library. just know that i'm reading and loving it and thinking of you!!!!!!!

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  4. Mom-Yeah the food was amazing. And the Grandparents were so cute, and nice. We are going to meet Ayako's grandparent's today, so I can finally give them their gifts. hahahhahaha
    Shizou does look like an E-wok!!!! it's kind of creepy. haha.

    Renee-I am getting fat here from all the amazing food!!!!! I wish I could re-create it when I am home or something. haha. I'm so sorry we missed skype time, I was so busy this during the weekend I barely had time in the mornings. Maybe next weekend?? I will email you if it looks like I can't.

    Ruby- I am so glad to hear you are reading!! I bet you are really busy at your new job. Sometimes I feel like the crazy mad rush culture is here in Japan as well, but maybe that's just because I live in a city. I think it's defferent everywhere else. But I see a lot of commercials for medications advertized on the tv that will make your eyes less red and soothe ulcers... I think There is a high stress level in the work force here. haha. The culture also has this strange inferiority complex about appearance and how they look compared to the more european features people. All the models have european features, and some woman use contraptions that create a crease on their eyelids. Every woman here wears makeup!!! I have not met a woman who doesn't yet. I can't wait to talk to you about the weird culture differences... We neeeeed to hang out when I get back.

    Love you all, miss you all, thank you for reading and commenting, it makes my day!!!
    -Sara

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  5. Let's skype this week....fat shmat!
    And blog more girly!! I am waiting and waiting!!!
    :)

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  6. YAYYYY skype!!
    I know I'm so sorry, it's crazy I've been away for a week so I couldn't blog. I will do a post tomorrow!
    :)

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