Mikan Picking with JAS

Well, we went on our first JAS (Japanese American Society) trip! They gather annually to caravan up the side of a mountain (literally!) to pick Mikans at a local farm (very similar to Clementines back in the States), eat good food, and play BINGO until everyone wins. It was SO much fun! Plus, we were able to eat oysters to our hearts' content. Wow, they are yummy! JAS outings are really cool - the intention is for us Americans to practice speaking Japanese and immerse ourselves more in their culture and for the Japanese to practice speaking English and teach us about life in Japan. Everyone was super friendly and really funny. There were a lot of families there (Japanese babies are ADORABLE!) and tons of smiles. It really was neat.

We asked these kiddos if we could take their picture because they were cute. The one in the middle reminds me of me because he's being goofy. :-p

The Mikans were literally falling off the trees, ready to be picked.

We had little pruning shears to snap the Mikans off the tree at the stem. The ones that receive more sun time are sweeter.

This picture does not do the windy road justice. We took a lot of hairpin turns on a really narrow road getting up the mountain! There were mirrors along the way so you could check to see if anyone was coming around the bend right at you!

Our bags were checked when we done picking and if there was any space left over, we were told to go back and fill it to the brim! My co-worker Jeff and his friend Haroko joined us and we made other new friends too!

Everyone gathered round an outdoor hibachi grill to eat hotdogs, yaki soba (a rice/noodle concoction that's AWESOME), and some other type of egg noodle pasta salad with apples and raisins. There were also pot stickers and grilled oysters. YUM-MY!

This is our new friend, Toshi-san. He chose Cheetos as his prize in BINGO and Joel chose a bag of dried squid. They both stretched beyond their cultural boundaries with their prize choices. I am so proud. :-p

The view was STUNNING. When the sun broke through the clouds, it looked like a painting in the distance and not real life. Oh and did I mention it was 70 degrees outside and gorgeous?!?

Jeff and Hiroko. SO cute!