Yuka and Taka
Day 1: Nagoya
Straight from the airport, we met Yuka and went to visit our friend, Yurie, at her apartment in Nagoya. In the two years since we've been gone from Japan, Yurie's gotten married, moved to Nagoya, bought a dog, and had a baby. It was so fun getting to meet her husband, Daiske, and their 2 month old baby, Joe!
Yurie, Daiske, and Joe
Yurie and Yuka (they've been best friends since kindergarten) with the toy we gave baby Joe.
The girls oooing and ahhing over baby Joe!
Frank and Joe
Melissa and Joe
Yurie's apartment is really nice, modern, and in a great location of Nagoya. It's actually a studio, though, so it's much smaller than a family of three would have in America. To the left of the table where we were sitting is the kitchen, Frank's in the living room that has one couch and a flat screen TV, and behind the living room is the baby crib and their queen-sized bed (you can see the brown comforter in the pic). It also has 1 bathroom. We estimate it has about 450 square feet.
Okonomiyaki Restaurant
After visiting with Yurie for a while, we met Taka at their favorite okonomiyaki restaurant in Nagoya. Okonomiyaki is like a pancake-style pizza that has cabbage, pork, noodles, and other stuff. It tastes really good!
Yuka and Taka at the okonomiyaki restaurant.
Day 2: Reunion Day!
Visiting Emi:
Our second day during our visit was full of reunions. We started the morning by going to see Emi, Melissa's private student. While living in Japan, Melissa taught Emi English once a week at her house. It was great seeing her and her dog Pico again! Emi's daughter recently got married and moved out of her house, so Emi decided to add another Dachshund, Sara, to the family to fill her daughter's void.
Our second day during our visit was full of reunions. We started the morning by going to see Emi, Melissa's private student. While living in Japan, Melissa taught Emi English once a week at her house. It was great seeing her and her dog Pico again! Emi's daughter recently got married and moved out of her house, so Emi decided to add another Dachshund, Sara, to the family to fill her daughter's void.
Us with Emi
Next reunion at Ikkyuuen Restaurant:
About a month before our visit, we arranged to have a yaki-niku (grilled beef) lunch with some of the women who taught us so much about the Japanese culture and who became great friends of ours! This was such a special reunion for us. Some of the women didn't know each other because we knew them from different places, but lunch went great and they all got along really well.
They prepared this "Welcome Back" poster for us, which they all signed...so thoughtful!
Mami: To the left in the white shirt is Mami, who was our Japanese teacher. She not only came to our apartment once a week and taught us Japanese lessons, but she also taught us SO much about the culture and took us on many excursions to see castles, parks, and to meet many people.
Nobuko: Next to Mami is Nobuko, who is special to us as well. She is one of Mami's English students and has done so much for us. When our moms came to visit us in Japan, Nobuko came to our apartment early in the morning to dress us all in kimonos to attend a tea ceremony.
Misayo: Misayo is seen on the right. She was Melissa's Ikebana (traditional flower arranging) teacher. Melissa took lessons from her twice a month, which was interesting because Misayo doesn't speak a word of English! Misayo also held the tea ceremony for our mom's when they came to Japan. It's so amazing how you can have such a special bond with someone who doesn't speak your language at all!
After lunch, we all met at our favorite coffee house in Gifu. This is where Melissa took Ikebana lessons from Misayo and is the same room we had the tea ceremony with our moms. We have so many memories here.
Kaki no Tane: This was our favorite Japanese snack, especially Melissa who ate a pack every single day we lived there! We stopped by the supermarket to stock-up on them to bring back to Korea!
Kaki no Tane- It comes with peanuts and the orange things are like spicy crackers.
While shopping for the Kaki no Tane, we found a display full of different flavored Kit Kats. We've tried cherry flavored, peach, green tea, and a few more flavors before, but we were kind of grossed out by what we saw this time...vegetable flavored Kit Kat!
Top left: Yurie (new teacher), Erika, Naoko, Kaori, Yuka, Miyuki, Megumi
Yuka, Melissa, and Frank in front of the temple.
Part of a garden at the temple
Rock garden at the temple
After the temple, we "played" on a playground at an elementary school. Taka had the most fun of all!
Taka and Frank on the playground
Yuka and Frank showing off their arm-strength...or Yuka's lack of! ^_^
The Gifu Festival was going on in the Yanagase area, so we walked down there. We walked by a store selling an Obama mask...they really love Obama there!
We came across this truck with 3 wheels. Taka said these trucks were common when he was growing-up.
We happened to run into Hina chan and her mom on the street. Hina chan's family owns Salty's, the convenience store next door to MES. When we moved, Hina chan was 1, now she's 3 and goes to Gifu Kindergarten!
The Gifu Festival had a stage set-up with traditional dancing near Mt. Kinka. (You can see the castle on top of the mountain).
Traditional dancers
Biggest Moon of the Year
The other table had Frank, Yuka, Kiyoko, and Machiko.
Kiyoko and Machiko: Frank taught Kiyoko, who is in the white shirt, and Machiko, purple shirt, private English lessons together twice a week. They, too, opened our eyes to the Japanese culture by taking us to numerous festivals and cities around Japan. They are such wonderful women!
Nobuko surprised everyone by giving out Chelsea candies...because our friends Matt and Chelsea couldn't come back for the reunion!
Nobuko surprised everyone by giving out Chelsea candies...because our friends Matt and Chelsea couldn't come back for the reunion!
After lunch, we all met at our favorite coffee house in Gifu. This is where Melissa took Ikebana lessons from Misayo and is the same room we had the tea ceremony with our moms. We have so many memories here.
Cute designs on our coffee!
Kaki no Tane: This was our favorite Japanese snack, especially Melissa who ate a pack every single day we lived there! We stopped by the supermarket to stock-up on them to bring back to Korea!
Kaki no Tane- It comes with peanuts and the orange things are like spicy crackers.
While shopping for the Kaki no Tane, we found a display full of different flavored Kit Kats. We've tried cherry flavored, peach, green tea, and a few more flavors before, but we were kind of grossed out by what we saw this time...vegetable flavored Kit Kat!
Next Reunion: Dinner with the MES teachers!
For dinner that night, we met almost all of our friends that we worked with at MES! It was so much fun to see the people we spent so much time working with. Once again, Frank was the only guy...he definitely wasn't complaining about it though! Most of the Japanese teachers we worked with no longer work at MES, so it was actually a reunion for them to see each other as well.
For dinner that night, we met almost all of our friends that we worked with at MES! It was so much fun to see the people we spent so much time working with. Once again, Frank was the only guy...he definitely wasn't complaining about it though! Most of the Japanese teachers we worked with no longer work at MES, so it was actually a reunion for them to see each other as well.
Top left: Yurie (new teacher), Erika, Naoko, Kaori, Yuka, Miyuki, Megumi
Bottom left: Yurie, Chisato, Frank, Melissa, Mami, Ayumi
Of these teachers only Erika, Miyuki, Mami, Ayumi, and the new Yurie still work at MES.
Us with Chisato- She works in Nagoya now at Kumon headquarters.
After we finished eating, all the teachers lined-up to take a picture with us! So we have 11 of the same picture, just a different JT...so funny!
Naoko's face was priceless!
Day 3: A Day with Yuka and Taka
Naoko's face was priceless!
Day 3: A Day with Yuka and Taka
The next day of our trip was much more relaxing. We started the day by going on a walk with Yuka and Taka around their neighborhood.
Temple: We found a temple that we explored for a little bit. This temple was actually really interesting because the ceiling was taken from the floor of a castle from thousands of years ago. A battle had occurred in that castle and many men died, leaving blood everywhere. The ceiling at this temple supposedly has the blood from the men who died still on it. It was a little creepy.
Yuka, Melissa, and Frank in front of the temple.
Part of a garden at the temple
Rock garden at the temple
Playground:
After the temple, we "played" on a playground at an elementary school. Taka had the most fun of all!
Taka and Frank on the playground
Yuka and Frank showing off their arm-strength...or Yuka's lack of! ^_^
MES and Gifu Festival:
We made a short visit to MES where we were able to see Mr. Kimoto and Chris. It looked exactly the same and they're still using all the same games and toys that seemed old when we worked there! Kimoto San was doing great and seems to still be enjoying his skills of communicating with aliens! It was great to run in to Chris as well, especially since he's rarely at MES now. He only works at Wakaba kindergarten where he has developed his own school there. Mami and the new Yurie run MES now.
We made a short visit to MES where we were able to see Mr. Kimoto and Chris. It looked exactly the same and they're still using all the same games and toys that seemed old when we worked there! Kimoto San was doing great and seems to still be enjoying his skills of communicating with aliens! It was great to run in to Chris as well, especially since he's rarely at MES now. He only works at Wakaba kindergarten where he has developed his own school there. Mami and the new Yurie run MES now.
The Gifu Festival was going on in the Yanagase area, so we walked down there. We walked by a store selling an Obama mask...they really love Obama there!
We came across this truck with 3 wheels. Taka said these trucks were common when he was growing-up.
We happened to run into Hina chan and her mom on the street. Hina chan's family owns Salty's, the convenience store next door to MES. When we moved, Hina chan was 1, now she's 3 and goes to Gifu Kindergarten!
The Gifu Festival had a stage set-up with traditional dancing near Mt. Kinka. (You can see the castle on top of the mountain).
Traditional dancers
Biggest Moon of the Year
We happened to be in Japan for Tsukimi, which means moon viewing in Japanese. The moon on October 3 of this year was said to be the brightest and the most beautiful in the year. This tradition atually came from China. Taka's parents told us the traditon is to put silver glasses and dumplings in a place from where you can see the moon at home. The reason why they put silver glasses is because they have the power to ward off evil spirits. And the reason for putting those food in the moonlight is said to be in appreciation of the harvest and is in respect to nature. We were lucky to be near Mt. Kinka to watch the moon come up!
Here's a picture from the next day's Gifu newspaper of the moon behind Kinka castle.
Dinner at Taka's Parents House:
Dinner at Taka's Parents House:
After the festival, we headed to Taka's parents house for dinner. His parents live across the street from Yuka and Taka's house and Taka's sister and her family live next door. It was so much fun to see all of the family again!
Taka's mom and dad
Yuka's sister Maki and her kids came also. Melissa used to teach Yuka's niece Mana chan and nephew Tomoki...they are so adorable!
This is Taka's sister Keiko and her sons Yuma and Soya.
This is Chico, Taka's parents cat, who made Frank's eyes water all night. :(
This is Chico, Taka's parents cat, who made Frank's eyes water all night. :(
Frank and Yuma
Day 4: Goodbye Japan
Taka and Yuka drove us to the airport in Nagoya and had one last lunch with us before saying goodbye. We were sad to leave, but thankful we had the chance to visit again. Japan and the wonderful friends we have there will always have a special place in our hearts!
Melissa, We enjoyed reading about your visit back in Japan and seeing all the photos. You certainly had a good time together with your friends! We can see that Japan is a very special place for you with all those good friends and wonderful memories. We enjoy your blog very, very much. Have a great winter in Korea and don't get too cold!
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