Crazy Eights

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You, are, and crazy. Those three words were in every sentence out of our friends' mouths when they heard Jessie and I would be hosting six members of Jessie's family at our little house for a week and a half.
Well, yes, we, are. But, they came, we all survived, and had a pretty great time, too.

It's going to be a lot quieter around here, and I feel kind of like I feel the day after my birthday...

But, both of our families came and went -- each experiencing a very unique portion of Japan and sharing with us our friends, our new perspectives and some of our adventures.

The Robertsons: Jim and Janis, sisters Jennie and Joie, brother Josh, and Jennie's fiancee Shaun, all made the trip half-way around the world to see what all the fuss is about.

During their ten days with us we cheered as Jennie and Shaun took part in the local 1/2 marathon with thousands of competitors from all across Yamanashi, spent two days traveling around Tokyo via train and subway: taking in a Japanese professional baseball game, touring the national museum, shopping Japan's biggest shopping district and generally walking until our legs gave out.

We drove our little borrowed purple van to one of the most famous gorges in Japan where we took hundreds of photos, and Jessie's family took part in some of her classes.

We made paper at a local shop and panned for gold (who didn't last week...?) with a couple of my students: Masako and Chifumi.

Their ten days here were packed with activities, which made the time seem to fly by.

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Photos

Inagako
Here we are at one of our first destinations: Lake Inaga.

2 hours, 30 minutes
Shaun and Jennie put in a valiant effort over the course of the 13-mile race. The hills wiped them out pretty good but they finished and were cheered on the entire way by members of the community -- some of whom even sang songs to them as they passed by.

Swallows Game
We managed to find our way to a Tokyo Yakult Swallows pro baseball game. The Swallows aren't very popular, but they have a fierce little group of die-hard fans. We had a fantastic time and it was probably the highlight of the trip for me, Greg.

Swallows Game
Noise was the name of the game: the entire game. The Japanese sure know how to let go at sporting events from what I've seen, and the result was a spectacle unlike anything you'd see at a US sporting event. The cheers were well rehearsed and the fans were extremely respectful. We ate chicken on a stick, noodles with pork and Baskin Robbins ice cream.

Jumbotron
So, of course we were on the jumbotron twice during the Swallows game. It wasn't a packed stadium, but twice does seem a bit excessive!

Japanese Comedian
So, we were walking down the street where we saw Andrea Bocelli and Jessie got ambushed by a television crew and a TV personality/comedian. We didn't know who he was, but after talking with our Japanese friends, he is nationally known, especially among young people. Hah! Unbelievable!

Dinner with the Oginos
Our friends had us over to try on kimonos, make a Japanese meal and chat. It was an all-day thing, and very enjoyable.

Andrea Bocelli
So, here's Andrea Bocelli. It was quite a shock for a lot of people, although I can't say I knew who he was at the time. Apparently he was doing a concert in Tokyo the following day.

Ginza Intersection
This is what most of the intersections in the Ginza district looked like.: large buildings as far as you can see. Tokyo truly is a sea of gray.

Paper Making
This is our friend Chifumi. She was one of our guides for our paper making adventure. We each made a paper fan (or at least tried to)

Comments

[Judy]

Wow - you got to meet Andrea Bocelli? Amazing! He has a voice like no other. I'm glad that both of your families were able to visit, even though we missed your (Greg's) family at Gary's wedding!

[Emily (Dawson)]

HEY!
I just went to a Girl Scout conference, we ran into your mom and she gave us your blog site - this is pretty cool! It sounds like you guys are learning a lot and having a great time (I'm so jealous :). Keep it up!