Almost time for Tohoku

It's getting close to my last day of work, and that means I'll be leaving soon for Tohoku (Northern Japan). This time, Nicole will come along! Yippee!

Here are some photos from my last trip north to Tsuruoka. I love that place ...

Of course, no trip to Tsuruoka would be complete without a trip to Ajiwai, where they serve the "Ajiwaimen" special. It's a HUGE bowl with miso/sesame soup, pork, green peppers, other random veggies, and TONS of bean sprouts. And ramen noodles, naturally, but you just can't see them. They're in there somewhere. I have only finished the Ajiwaimen once, but I may have done permanent damage to my stomach muscles ... it's just so huge!
Speaking of eating, this is Taka with a mouth full of food! Yummy. Look at those cheeks. Taka is Naomi's baby, Yumi's sister. What a cutie.


Saturday night was the big night out for us. Martin met up with Yumi and I at Doutor's (they have a Doutor's coffee shop in Tsuruoka now; how cosmopolitan!) and we proceeded to call up the whole gang for a little reunion. Alex came in all the way from Yamagata City (3 hours away), Maruyama arrived after his late shift at the post office, Shunsuke left the farm early (he's a soybean farmer), and Toko arrived fully decked out in his rockabilly gear, as always! He is the lead singer of a rockabilly band called 'Memphis Mafia'. I was a guest singer for a couple of shows back in 2001. Martin brought his girlfriend, Yuko, a very nice lady, just beautiful and great. Jeff also joined us, an American who teaches at East High School in Tsuruoka. They were a few other guest appearances, mostly by former students of Yumi's and of Martin's. Kako's is a very popular place, after all ...

We had such a great time! I truly felt so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people, just fantastic, generous, funny friends that drop everything when I'm in town. We laughed so much!
Lots of photos were taken. In fact, this is a photo of Martin and Jeff looking at the photo they just took of Yumi and I. Here are some of the highlights.


Yumi being silly ... it is so hard to get a normal photo of her!










Finally, we managed to get one. This is Yumi talking to one of her former students, who also worked for her mother.


















Yuko laughing. Nice action shot!














A friendly kiss on the cheek from Toko. Look at that hair .... and this is the same guy who sits on the PTA board of his son's junior high school. Rock on, Toko!



The last photo is of Toko and Shunsuke talking with Yumi who snapped the photo, I think. Everyone traded cameras at one point.

Thank you Yumi, Martin, and everyone for a great trip. I'll see you in two weeks ... can't hardly wait.