A couple weeks ago I made a trip to Tokyo to pick up Ali (casting a spell on me above) which marks the beginning of Guest Star Season in Ichinomiya. Ali's a karaoke natural, so she fit in just fine here! As seen in Tara's pictures (previous post, please check links) many a crazy day was spent experiencing Japan. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hop around the country with them every weekend, but I kept myself busy with many manly things:
Last weekend I ended up at 2 barbecues, the Sunday version hosted by my favourite local Hawaiian Bar's Bartender. The weather was perfect, and it was my first experience with an outdoor Japanese bbq. Yes, it's different, and we still used chopsticks. Meat and vegetables chopped up into small manageable pieces, grilled up nice, and then thrown in your bowl of dipping sauce. Delicious! Oh, and of course there were skewers of mini-squid to be had as well. Mmmm....sooo many legs!
The previous weekend I played in my second Japanese soccer tournament. Yep, so far that's 2 tournaments, one practice, and one win.... out of the roughly 10 tournament games. After the tournament our team discussed the benefits of practicing again before we enter another tournament, and it was generally agreed that this was a smart move. More importantly than our successes, we had a good time running around on the mini soccer field and it has been good practice for my Japanese as well, since most of the team members don't speak much English.
The weekend I picked Ali up at the airport was my 3rd visit to Tokyo. Tokyo is big, crowded, bustling and energized as you'd expect, and it actually doesn't appeal to me that much. What I enjoyed more was getting to visit Yoshi and his family again! Yoshi was featured on this blog around the start of May last year when Tara and I travelled to Tokyo to meet her family. We first met Yoshi in Canada while he was attending Western. It's interesting to spend time with him because he seems a lot more Canadian than he is Japanese. I spent Saturday afternoon in Tokyo before Yoshi's dad met me at a train station to drive me back to their home. So, for anyone who knows Yoshi - Derrick, Justin, Kevin... - he and his family are doing well, and were most hospitable to me. Also, Kevin, I introduced Yoshi to your solo album and he "really really liked it a lot". Sorry to leave personal messages for Kevin on here, but he's been hard to track down recently since he's been TOURING NEW YORK CITY WITH HIS BAND!!! In case anyone hadn't heard.
The day after Ali arrived was my birthday. The picture (top) sums it up, and it was a great 2 weeks! Next up, Tara and I depart tomorrow morning for a 1 week trip to Nagasaki and area. As soon as we're back, Meaghan's coming into town. Check back soon, the fun promises not to stop!
Ian
