Old and New Friends in Japan: Saga

Back in May, we had the amazing opportunity to meet up with my ol' buddy Matt Biss and his wife Danielle while they were visiting Japan. They were here to see the Yamasaki family, whose son Kouichi lived with the Biss's, once as a middle school student and again for a year in high school. The two families have stayed in touch over the past twenty years, each traveling across the world to attend each family's weddings. Matt and Danielle made the trip to Japan to visit them, and we are so grateful they let us tag along on their adventures. These two families are clones of each other and are so similar in personality, it's amazing to witness their connection from the other side of the world.

We were invited to travel down to meet them at Kouichi's parents' home in Saga, which is about a three and a half hour car ride from Iwakuni. Immediately we were accepted as their friends and we are still so amazed at this family's generosity. It was great to see old friends as well as make new friends here in Japan. Kouichi did an excellent job as our translator, event planner and travel guide for the whole trip. The first night we met the family at uncle Sunao (Sam) and aunt Kiyoko's home and had some really delicious bento boxes with them for dinner. We went back to the Yamasaki's to stay the night and would meet up with everyone else the next day.

Bob and Eiko (center) Skyping with the Biss family back in Ohio!

Bob, Kouichi, Matt and Akari and I on morning walk.

During the day on Sunday, the plan was to go play in the mud. Literally. Outside of Saga, there are some mudflats called the "Gata". The Gata is located on the Ariata Sea and when the tide goes out the mud is shallow enough to walk in. You can actually rent shoes and a long board to use to slide through the mud. This is where the Gatalympics are held every year where athletes from all over the world travel to compete in the mud games, check it out! As you can see from the pictures, we had a great time!

A group photo BEFORE the mud.

Kirk and Danielle posing after putting on the special mud shoes.

Group photograph AFTER playing in the mud.

Of course the boys had to race out to the line and back.

This is SO much harder than it looks!

Two little piggies playing in the mud. ;-)

Finally clean! (sort of)

After cleaning all the mud off of us, we traveled back across town to uncle Sam's where we got to experience a Japanese family gathering. They ordered an amazing spread of Chinese food.

What a feast!

They even had a "Welcome to Saga" cake for everyone that was visiting!

Kiyoko was a GREAT hostess!

Group photo!

There is a sports center right down the street from uncle Sam's, so after dinner a group of us walked down to the batting cages to take a few swings. I was definitely rusty, but it felt good to have a bat back in my hands again.

These are the beautiful and so very thoughtful gifts that were given to us by the families. They will forever remind us of our new friends in Saga and of the great time we had there. 

We would once again like to thank the Yamasaki family for opening up their home to us and treating us like family! We had such a wonderful time with everyone! We are also grateful for our thoughtful, American gifts from the Biss' - Kirk's favorite popcorn and Joel's chocolates! Stay tuned for the second part of this trip where we meet up again with the Biss's and Kouichi in Yokohama three days later.