When I first came to Japan, in high school, I imaged Japan as a country with two regions: the Tokyo area, which was extremely densely populated and technologically modern, and the rest of the country, which was made up of sparsely populated villages that hadn't changed in 700 years.
And when I found out I was going to be staying in Fukuoka, on a whole different island from Tokyo, I figured that we would be catching our own fish in ancient nets and harvesting rice in ancient costumes. Of course, Fukuoka ended up being a gigantic city, and I ended up having a great time anyway. My host sister from Fukuoka, Ryoko, is getting married in Tokyo on November 4, and I am excited to attend my first Japanese wedding.
Unlike my first Japanese experience, two of my friends in Tsukuba (both Canadian), started in Japan teaching English in a very rural city in Fukushima prefecture. This weekend there was a big party there, and my friends brought a bunch of Tsukuba folks to attend. The party is in a huge house called "Tan Tan." About 50 people attended, and there was music and very tasty food.
The next day after the party, our friends took us on a hike, to a very good restaurant, and to a onsen resort. One of my friends has put some pictures here, and here are a few of my pictures form the weekend:
1 comment:
Gosh, I almost gave up on checking your blog when a man in a suit and a raincoat hailed me down and told me to read up! Fun posts and great pictures. Do they have Tan Tan's in Seattle? Makes me long for a trip . . . when are you going back?
Japanese Dreamer (aka: Groucho's momma)
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