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.

Diller Parents Visit: Finale

So, this post concludes our wonderful time with the Dillers - we definitely did a lot while they were here: Chicken Shack, yaki niku, Carp game, sushi, Kintai, shopping, etc. This post is simply going to finish with some highlights.

This was a common scene: Mr. Diller aiming his camera our way!

 

Off the train and on to our exploration of Nara! (Joel and I blogged about our trip there the first time we went to Kyoto - it's where the GIANT bronze Buddha statue resides!)

And of course ya gotta pet the deer.

This is such a beautiful structure that houses the Buddha.

 

There was some sort of ceremony going on where they were betting on the deer to do something. We couldn't figure it out for the life of us!

Look at that chopstick action! First time eating Okonomiyaki!

 

Oh Mr. Diller.... :)

Mrs. Diller and I found this super cool shop where everything was hand loomed! She bought a lovely scarf that is simply stunning!

 

We wanted to educate ourselves further on the creation of sake, so we took the Dillers to Saijo where a lot of local sake is brewed.

Standing in front of the sake barrels.

We finished that evening off right with a night of yaki niku! SO DELICIOUS!

You can't come to Iwakuni without going to see the Kintai Bridge. :)

Aren't they a lovely family?!

I have to mention that these two brave souls took only a paper map (old school style, LOL!) to Hiroshima and Miyajima and found their way around for two days by themselves! They stayed the evening in an authentic Japanese ryokan so this picture shows them in their "hotel" room, LOL. The beds are futons that are tucked away in the closets during the day and you are expected to wear the robes and eat your meals kaseki style (lots of dishes in small portions).

Too cute - thanks to the Chicken Shack!

Lastly, since they were here on one of my favorite days of the year, we celebrated with an appropriate breakfast in honor of the day: May the Fourth be with you!!!! :)

Mr. and Mrs. Diller, y'all are AWESOME house guests and we had a super tremendously fun time with you! Come back any time!!!

Diller Parents Visit: Kyoto

We can now say we have had visitors from the States!!! Joel's parents came to visit us for nearly two weeks at the end of April. It was AMAZING to have them here and they have proven themselves to be very brave and savvy travelers! From their plane landing unexpectedly in Fukuoka and having to figure out the Bullet train back to Iwakuni to exploring Hiroshima for two days and a night with only a PAPER map (old school, LOL!), they were AMAZING! I'm super impressed with their seeming lack of jet lag too - those two are first class world travelers. :)

The first thing we did was to take them to Kyoto to see the sights. This is definitely our favorite city in Japan - endless things to do and amazing restaurants!

First stop: Nijo Castle!

Exploring the castle grounds

We walked practically everywhere - good exercise plus it kept us hungry for all the good food!

Mr. Diller found a knife shop that has been in existence for over 100 years and the family continues to make their own blades. Both of us bought the one on the far left. And let me tell you, it cuts like no other.

The knife maker himself!

Ok, how to explain... this was the BEST ramen we have ever and will ever eat in our lives at a cute little restaurant called Gogyu. It's known in English as "burnt ramen" because they fry the noodles and somehow impart a burnt texture and flavor to the soup itself. It was a miso broth with black sesame and pretty much the most amazing thing I've eaten in Japan so far. LOVE.

This is Ginkakuji, known as the Silver Pavilion.

The grounds around the Pavilion were BEAUTIFUL.

Giant Torii Gate... I ran into the middle of the road to snap this shot

Hanging around the grounds of Sanjusangendo Hall... couldn't take pictures of the interior of the Hall itself but it was loaded with over 1000 life size statues of Buddha. 

Spring is such a great time of year!

So we took the Dillers to Tofuiro for dinner - if y'all recall, this is the tofu restaurant we went to the first time we traveled to Kyoto. Their set menu was entirely different this time (I think our first experience was better) but the Dillers were very brave in trying all of the tofu concoctions and sitting on the floor Japanese style! This was course number one - each item is made with fresh, made that day in the restaurant tofu!

Mastering the art of chopsticks

Yup - that's where we sat! Your legs definitely do fall asleep, ha ha!