Saturday, October 7, 2017 – Nagoya

Oh gosh it’s early!  But I’ve got to stretch if I expect to move today;  I’ve missed two days because there just wasn’t room in the first hostel and the floor of the second one just looked sooo hard!!  We’re up and just about dressed when Tae comes over to announce that Field Day will be held tomorrow and we can go back to sleep.  And we do!!

Around ten we hear talking from the other side of the rice-paper sliding door and realize that it is time to get it together!  We get dressed and gather everything we need for the day, expecting to just pass through Sachiko’s living area.  She has company and it turns out that they have come bearing gifts!  One lady’s mother went on a shopping spree in Spain and bought leather coats.  The problem is that they don’t fit these tiny little Japanese ladies and we each are given one!  And there are hand made bags, too, and some other goodies!  Way too much to accept!  We explain that we have to brush our teeth and beat it over to Tae’s to find out what is really going on!  We really aren’t sure we’ve really understood the situation.  

Ginger, with Sachiko and her friend, the Bag Lady

In just a few minutes the ladies follow us over!  They really do want us to take the GORGEOUS leather coats.  Mom has passed and no one here can wear them.  And the lady who sews the bags really wants us to choose one each.  They are her hobby and she has brought at least six of them.  Later we learn that the other lady also gets to choose one, which makes us feel better.  She also has luncheon clothes on which she has done lots of handwork!  When we’re packing we realize that those bags are sure going to come in handy!

Pretty soon we all, including Sachiko and her friend,  set off on foot to visit one of those marvelous sushi places where the conveyor belt just keeps bringing more and more food and you can take off the ones you want.  Tae is in charge of the snagging operation, as well as the green tea preparation, and the food comes fast and furious.  There are at least two kinds of tuna, including yellow tail, and mackerel,  and flounder, and squid, and sea urchin (which comes with a raw quail egg) and fried oysters, which are Andy’s favorite, and two kinds of eggs (cooked, thank you!) and I’m not sure what all else!  When we’re all stuffed, Tae orders a couple more!  Then we sort the plates by pattern, so the bill can be prepared, based on the number of each kind of plate.

I'm just so in love with the architecture and use of space and plants.

Yes!  Yes!  Bring on the sushi!

That's a lot of sushi!!

What a happy crew!  And we're not finished eating yet!

Tuna!  And simple examples of the art from Tae is so adept at!  Her's make these look like the work of kindergardeners!

 

We walk down the street to the Seven-Eleven and everyone chooses an ice cream for dessert.   Then we walk back home, with Iori playing the Jump game!

Oh my gosh we’re stuffed to the gills!  Back home we go to recover from the eating orgy and plan for the rest of the afternoon.  We’d like to go to a cat café and Tae has done the research.  It turns out that the kids are too young to go and Andy would like us all to stay together – a reasonable request!  But during the discussion, Tae texts Ginger and me, saying that we should go and she’ll keep the kids.  That way she’ll have time to prepare Andy’s birthday cake!  It will be a big surprise, since his birthday is still a couple of days away!

Andy finally agrees and the three of us go off for our feline fix.  Ginger and I have ben away from our fur babies for more than three weeks, after all.  The café is nice;  but not quite what we expected.  There is no “café” per se.  There are two rooms, a boys’ room and a girls’ room, with about a dozen cats each, and lots and lots of beds and climbing places and some toys, and lots of rules.  You must wash up before entering the rooms;  you can’t pick up the cats; no flash photography; you can only stay for the amount of time you’ve paid for.  Still, the cats are beautiful, if fairly noncommittal about receiving affection, and one actually purred!

So not a happy camper!

We thought Tae was picking us up;  but she was “in the middle of something” and asked her mom to come get us.  I guess the cake took a little longer than expected, because there’s a text saying she hasn’t left yet, so we start to walk towards home.  It is good to get the exercise and it gives us a chance to check some more vending machines.  We still have only seen that one at the train station that was empty!

After a bit we see the van coming and Sachiko scoops us up and takes us home.  We play with the kids for a while, until dinner is ready. And what a dinner!!  Iori keeps bringing in plates and bowls until everyone has salad, vegetable soup, rice, and an individual, luscious, stuffed meatloaf! Quite an American meal which we recognize as Andy’s birthday dinner!  (Not sure if Andy caught on yet – probably not!) .  We clear the table and Andy plays Uno with Iori for a bit until Tae turns out the lights and enters with her spectacular birthday confection, complete with lit “3” and “4” candles.  We are all blown away;  but especially Andy, who never saw it coming!!  A most successful birthday surprise!  It’s a chestnut-flavored cake in a tart crust with a layer of meringue, sandwiched between layers of chocolate, so the meringue doesn’t get soggy.  And I think there’s more;  but I’m too busy gorging myself to figure it out!  There are little meringue buttons all around the sides! 

A rousing game of Uno!

Ginger is up to the challenge of drinking from the traditional square sake cup!

After dinner it’s time for baths and bed; and the adults break into the sake for another evening of conversation and indulging.  We can’t stay up as late tonight, since field day is tomorrow and we’ll really be leaving at 7:30 for breakfast and a day of cuteness overload!  

Tonight’s sake has a red ogre on the carton.  He’s a figure from a Japanese story and tradition in which the day dresses up as the ogre and the kids run away until they find a stash of a particular kind of bean.  They throw the beans at the ogre and scare him away.  It demonstrates courage in the face of adversity. Tae had gone to the store earlier, and we asked her to pick up some more sake since we had polished off virtually all of Andy’s big carton!  She brought home two different kinds and we really like the red ogre one!  It might be Andy’s new favorite!  Finally we just have to go to bed if we’re going to get up in the morning!