Japan weekend #16 - A very Japanese weekend

Weekend #15 was one of the most Japanese weekends I've experienced here so far, and also one of the best. And I didn't have to go much further than my home town and the surrounding areas to enjoy it. It's taken me a while, but I'm beginning to appreciate the benefits of living in the countryside. The sense of community here, the fresh air, the mountains. I also love discovering surprisingly good new places to eat that few other Westerners will visit!

On Friday night we had dinner with the JETs in our local area at Curry House CoCo Ichibanya and sang Karaoke. Ry turned out to be a good singer and even managed to sing 'Surf's up' by Brian Wilson well, which is not an easy feat.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the 'ALT Exchange Party' that our English-speaking friends in the area had set up, but it turned out to be heaps of fun and a perfect opportunity to learn about and experience Japanese culture - tea ceremony, flower arranging, pottery, calligraphy and fruit picking. The exchange part was that eight (very lucky) JETs who got placements in Osaka city were visiting our town for the weekend.

After attending a local cultural festival on Saturday morning, we started the afternoon with ikebana (flower arranging), which I don't think I was very good at! But I did have this moment when Andrew took a photo of me doing ikebana that I realised that I was exactly where I had wanted to be a year ago when I wrote my application to come to Japan - I wanted to experience Japanese culture and life, and I've been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to do that.

Learning how to do ikebana (flower arranging), Kinokawa, Japan

Andrew ponders the meaning of his ikebana arrangement

Next we experienced a short tea ceremony. Like many of the arts we learnt about on the weekend, our hostess had been learning tea ceremony for ten years, and still considered her a student. She told us her mother had been learning tea ceremony for thirty years, yet still considered herself a student, too. I am impressed by how many Japanese people spend literally decades perfecting their art, be it ikebana, tea ceremony, or martial arts.

Tea ceremony, Kinokawa

Our tea ceremony hostess

Andrew experiencing tea ceremony, Kinokawa 

A traditional tea ceremony sweet

Our next activity was pottery. I hadn't tried pottery since high school! Below is Mr Ito, who taught us pottery and hosted the party in his home. He's a very accomplished man who is still climbing mountains and travelling the world even as he nears his 80th birthday.   

Mr Ito shows us how it's done

Dinner was simple and yummy - take a nori sheet, place rice, vegies, fish, etc. on the nori, wrap it up, and eat! 

Dinner

After dinner we sang English songs for children and adults, which seems a bit quaint, but I know I enjoyed it!  Many friends of Mr Ito had arrived by then, kids, adults, and older people, making for quite a full house! We sang kids' songs such as 'London Bridge is falling down' and 'Heads and shoulders, knees and toes', and adults' songs such as 'Oh Danny Boy'.

Next was wine tasting with Whitney, an ex-JET who now lives in Osaka and works in the wine business. I like the occasional wine, but I still can't really distinguish hints and overtones of flavours in the wine well. I'll just have to keep practicing!

Whitney conducts the wine tasting

The wines we tried. I liked the one of the left the best.

Sunday was actually my 29th birthday, but I didn't tell anyone as I wanted to keep it low key. The day started with a fig and mandarin tart from a local boulangerie I've been meaning to try, the Fleurir boulangerie. So good! And so nice to find local places like this. 

Fleurir Boulangerie, Kinokawa

Fruit tarts, Fleurir Boulangerie, Kinokawa

Macarons, Fleurir Boulangerie, Kinokawa

Day two of the 'ALT Exchange Party' consisted of learning Japanese calligraphy and black ink painting, and then going fruit picking!

Mr Ito shows us black ink painting

I've mentioned it before, but the fruit here in Wakayama is amazing. So fresh and tasty. It's mikan (mandarin) and kaki (persimmon) season and we could eat as much as we wanted for free, and take home a bag of fruit we'd picked ourselves for 600 yen. Oishii! (Delicious!) I think it might have been the first time I'd ever been fruit picking, too, as far as I can remember. 

Osaka JETs and friends ready for fruit picking

Fruit picking

Fruit picking

 After the fruit picking the most amazing thing happened - you won't understand the scale of it unless you've lived in country Japan after coming from the coffee snob city that is Melbourne, Australia. We found a place that makes great coffee, possibly the best coffee I've had in Japan. It's called Centro and it's a pizza and pasta place in Iwade. Amazing!

Good coffee, Centro, Iwade

So kawaii! Great cappucino, Centro, Iwade

 Andrew and I then went shopping at Aeon Mall. I am determined to perfect my yama girl look and bought a cute yama girl jumper from Uniqlo. We saw a movie, in English, and had dinner at a place that unexpectedly had all you can eat pizza with their dinner set! It was a really good birthday and a great weekend.