Japanese hospitality

Tomorrow Gordon and I are going back to America to visit family and for our wedding ceremony. Even though we are coming back to Japan to stay for another year, our friends have been wishing us luck, stuffing our faces and giving us gifts. It feels like we're leaving forever when we'll only be gone for a month!

Our first stop was at Mikyo-san's house on Saturday night. She made a wonderful dinner for Gordon and I and gave us a few gifts to bring back to the states. She also introduced us to her new kitten, Mint!

Our feast! Cucumber and crab sushi, boiled corn, fresh tomatoes and miso soup.

Mikyo-san also made miso ramen for Gordon.

Mint! My hand scared her.

Time to rest and clean. :)

Mint was almost thrown into a river by the person that found her. Luckily Mikyo-san saved Mint without a moments hesitation. I don't know who would want to get rid of a kitten, especially one that cute! (Mikyo-san names all her cats after food: Sesame, Melon, Parsley and now, Mint!)

The next night we went over to Yashiro's house where his mother whipped up our favorite foods: tempura pumpkin and inarizushi. This was an unexpected surprise that Yashiro requested from his mother.

Yashiro and his mother showing us how to make tempura.

Yeah! Food!

Close-up on the tempura, inarizushi and edamame. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I love inarizushi. Inarizushi is basically sushi rice (sometimes with chopped, cooked vegetables) inside a fried tofu skin that has been soaked in sugar and soy sauce. My mouth is watering. I WANT IT NOW!

Anyway, we sat down to dinner with Yashiro and his mother and father. We talked about America, food and traveling. It was so comforting sitting down to a meal with a family. I felt right at home.

Next on the agenda was lunch at my friend Ayano's house. We ate yakisoba and Korean pancakes. All the kids were there because of summer vacation. It was quite the adventure. During lunch, Naomi gave me calligraphy to display at our wedding.

Kose, Miki, Chino and Yuna cooking yakisoba.

Cute little chefs!

Yummy food! (the bottle was for Chino... not the adults.)

Naomi's calligraphy. It has Gordon's and my name in Kanji and Kanji characters that mean strong relationship or marriage knot.

I will miss these women while I'm away!

So, we got our fill of Japanese hospitality this week. I always love spending time with people over great food and drinks. I'm glad I have something to look forward to when I get back!