I went to Mito yesterday to meet up with Okada-san’s family. Mito is a few hours’ bus ride from Yokohama and we got to chat about all sorts of things, from work to family and politics. Very interesting stuff.
We arrived in Mito around 1:30 and went to check into the hotel. The hotel was right in the city and very close to the road where the parade/matsuri was happening. Once I checked it, we had a beer and we went to the matsuri. Okada-san’s wife was working in the parade, so she couldn’t meet us, but we went to her friend’s place, who owns a sembe shop! It was great! They had beer out front, and lots of yummy foods. I met her son who had studied english in Wellington, so we reminisced a bit about that. He went there 15 years ago, so I told him it’s probably quite a different city now! Maybe he’ll go back.
We ate some yummy omachi and some really great cucumbers and eggplant in soy and vinegar marinade. So yummy. Plus lots of beer!
All of the sudden, they brought me into the shop and got out a yukata (浴衣) which is the summer kimono. Lots of people were wearing it, as were our guests. So I looked a bit out of type with my western clothes on. Anyways, they wrapped a wide thick cotton belt around my stomach, put the yukata around me, then tighted it properly with a thin belt, then a wide belt over top of that! I think I looked pretty good! Then some sandals (geta – 下駄) and I think I fit right in. Okada-san then made me give some o-mochi to some of the girls in one of the floats, much to their surprise. I don’t think they quite understood what I was doing, as they gave me quite a bewildered look! They gladly took the beer that I offered to them, but perhaps because Okada-san came along with me with some beer too!
Around 5 or so, I got really tired, as I got up really early to make the bus and I usually try to sleep in later on Saturdays, after having a tough week. Anyways, I started nodding off and then the owner of the sembe shop told me to go lie down in the back, where they pulled out a thin futon and a blanket for me, and opened the large drawers giving me some shade from the light and I had a great sleep! A bit hazy when I first woke up, but that was really good! After that, we met up with Okada-san’s wife and then we went to meet their daughter Momoka, who had been shopping for a wedding party soon. We decided to go have dinner at a really fancy hotel, which was super yummy! Drank really nice sake and I had tempura. Yum! Okada-san didn’t let me pay for the food (thanks Okada-san!) and then we headed back.
The fancy hotel that we had dinner at deserves a mention. It’s an absolute mansion of a hotel, looking vaguely like the Louvre, with big pillars, lots of cool masonry and big windows. The inside atrium was completely enclosed and they had wedding-type things arranged around (pillars, flowers etc.). The rooms looked into the atrium as well and the ceiling was very high. Perhaps 8 floors or so! Amazing. Okada-san’s son, Taro, is a chef in the hotel. Very nice!
After that they drove me back to my hotel and I had a great sleep until 8am the next morning! Very nice!
Today we drove into the mountains, where we went to a waterfall and had some dango (団子) and ate yummy fish called auya or something. The fish was cooked in a lot of salt, and tasted so yummy! We spotted a place to stop by a stream and we put our feet into the water – nice and refreshing. Mito it seems is cooler than Yokohama, and the air definately is drier.
The driving about was amazing. We went into the mountains and found lots of interesting things. The thing that struck me about the mountains was how green everything is. There are still rice fields everywhere and the rice is an amazing green – not light, but not dark either. Momoka said that they were taught that each rice stalk has 100-200 grains of rice! That must make rice a very efficient plant!
Later, we met up with Taro and his girlfriend for some drinks before we caught the bus back home. On the way, they bought me some umeshu (梅酒) because they know I like it. How nice! On the bus home, I caught a nap (even though I wasn’t really tired) and got home to do some work before heading to bed.
What a nice weekend!