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Published: July 14th 2006
On the 5th of July we were invited out to Tsukuba in the Ibaraki prefecture to visit Mie's (Matt's wife) family there.
Ibaraki is mostly countryside with lots of fresh crops and many open fields. They've recently built a new express trainline out to Tsukuba in the past year called the "Tsukuba Express" ( original name, we thought! ). This final leg on our 2 and a half hour journey to other side of Tokyo was just wonderful - compared to being squashed in like sardines on our local train line and then again on the 40 minute trip from Machida into Shinjuku. (NOTE : Try to avoid travelling in rush hour - ESPECIALLY in summer!!!)
So, once we arrived, Matt and Mie picked us up. We didn't catch up with Mie the previous weekend and it was just wonderful to see her again. We hadn't seen her in nearly 18 months and noticed a dramatic improvement in her English - her English was AWESOME!!!! (Wish we could've said the same about our Japanese......oh well!)
They took us out for a yummy lunch at a very cool Soba restaurant nearby. "Soba" is a special kind of Japanese noodle
Tsukuba Express
(the train, not Cam!)made from buckwheat flour (soba-ko) and wheat flour (komugi-ko). About as thick as spaghettie (but little grey in colour), soba can be eaten hot or cold. Cam went for the hot option served in a warm soup, while I tried the cold, which comes with a cold soya based dipping sauce (tsuyu).
We soon learnt that all those childhood manners of not slurping food when eating were to be thrown out the window. Slurping is THE WAY to eat soba - so we joined in. Didn't quite match up to the table full of professional businessmen behind us though, whose slurping almost drowned out any conversation.
After lunch it was off to the ASAHI Brewery for a tour. ASAHI is a brand of Japanese beer and the brewery in Tsukuba offers free tours for the public - it was actually Mie's 7th time there and Matt's 5th, I think. The tour was interesting but the best part was at the end when we went to this high tower to enjoy half and hour of free beer. Admittedly, I don't really enjoy beer, so enjoyed a yummy mango beverage with some chips - but I think Cam and Matt
enjoyed trying the different beers. Oh, and the brewery also set up Japanese and Australian flag especially for our visit.
In the afternoon we went back to Mie's family's house. It was our first time in a real Japanese house (we don't count the number of NOVA apartments we've been in so far). We all sat down in the living room and enjoyed green tea, sweets and home-made gyoza (thanks to Mie), which were all delicious. Mie's brother and his wife live in an adjoining house and we got to meet there two adorable children. Saya, especiallly, was an absolute cutie and I coudn't stop taking photos of her. Her and her brother Shuto went crazy when Cam started playing with them!!
Mie's family is so nice and so welcoming. It was just lovely to be in a family atmosphere again - made us miss home!
We had an amazing time visiting Tsukuba and Matt and Mie's family - thanks for having us!!
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Holly
non-member comment
Hello to you!!
I really enjoy reading your blogs. You two are so adorable! I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. Life is crazy..but not too eventful! I would love to come visit you someday! Not sure if I could afford it though. Would love to see you again! Any plans to make it to the US?