Family Matters

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Well, things have been busy here for Jessie and I, to say the least. Not only is the school year winding down, but our free time has been spent with friends and preparing for our families to visit Japan.
We knew these next two months would be full of adventures and challenges.
My parents have been here for a week now and we're having a very nice time. Thankfully, our friends have been eager to whisk us off to places around Yamanashi and even further away. Jessie and I have been able to visit some places we've been wanting to go to as well as showing my mom, dad and brother how we've been living these past eight months or so.
Five people in this little house is quite a few, but we're managing to keep things from getting out of hand, and food hasn't been as hard to make as I had feared. Plus, having a couple more people to help with dishes is never a bad thing.
We're borrowing a vehicle from our Australian friends for a month or so, so we've been able to drive up into the nearby mountains and be independent as much as we want. We even found a tucked away shrine entrance which brought us up about 300 (uneven rock) steps until we arrived at the shrine. It was worth it, but our legs were pretty wobbly by the time we got down.
On top of that, we've been able to visit Matsumoto Castle, the oldest remaining castle in Japan (about 400 years old). We've taken part in a calligraphy class and a shamisen (Japanese banjo) lesson. We've been to a Kabuki Theater museum, a silk worm museum and a Chinese monument park with our friends.
We'll have updates coming soon about the rest of our fun, but here are a couple pictures to start off with...

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Photos

Conversation group
We visited our Wednesday evening English conversation group and had a great time.

Matsumoto-jo
The trip to Matsumoto Castle was one of the highlights for all of us. It was a trip I had been looking forward to, and Jessie had a good time, too.

Shamisen teacher
Ono-sensei is one of the most respected shamisen teachers and performers in our area. She regularly has public performances and was a gracious host.

Teresa and friends
Here's my mom with my students Masako and Chifumi. We had a nice day with those two seeing many local sites and experiencing quite a few things that most visitors wouldn't know about.

Fuji
Fuji-san was pretty cloudy for most of my family's stay, but we had a couple very nice days.

Climbing the shrine steps
Here my parents are, climbing what they probably thought was the last flight of stairs.

Jeff at shrine
Here he is, poking around the shrine at the top of the hill. Jeff's having a great time walking around our neighborhood and learning about everything Japanese.

Mom and Yuki
Here's my mom with our calligraphy teacher for a morning -- and friend -- Yuki.

Comments

[coulter]

I think we found that shrine, too
When you talked about the hidden shrine, it brought back memories of our drive in the mountains around Kushigata. I bet it is the same shrine we came upon. Very secluded. Glad you are enjoying your family!