Today (well a couple of days ago....) we went to Kyoto!

Today (well a couple of days ago....) we went to Kyoto! So much has been happening lately that I'm really far behind on uploading pictures and posting on my blog. FYI this post won't have a lot of pictures since we were pretty busy this day. So on Monday 2/5 we flew from Sapporo to Kyoto. We woke up early and took a bus from Sapporo to Chitose where New Chitose Airport is. Our flight was slightly delayed, but we finally made it on and took off. Both Harrison and I were looking forward to getting out of the cold and snow.

Last breakfast in Sapporo

 

When we landed Aya Honda, from my old host family, met us at Kansai airport to pick us up. I home stayed with her family almost 10 years ago, and since then our families have kept in touch. I try to visit her and her family whenever I return to Japan. She took us back to her family's temple, so we could see the rest of her family. Her family's temple belongs to the same school of Buddhism that Harrison and I are a part of. During the drive I caught Honda-san up on BCA (Buddhist Churches of America) news and she told me about her temple and family. Once we arrived we discovered that Honda-san's brother Makoto got a new shiba named Jo, so Harrison and I played with him for a bit before going inside the house. We were quickly shuffled into a greeting room and in typical Japanese style we were given tea and okashi or snacks/sweets. I introduced Harrison, or "Ha-ri" (Harry) since that is easier for Japanese people to say, to Honda-san's parents and then starting catching up. Her father is a retried university professor and minister, however he told me had has Alzheimer now and couldn't remember as much. He still seemed pretty sharp to me though. He asked about our families, how I knew "Harrison-kun", and then started asking about what we did for work. I explained that "Harry-chan," as I call him, and I grew up together since we go to the sample temple. Then I began explaining where we work, and what we do. Explaining CAR T cell therapy in Japanese is extremely difficult....However with Honda-san's help I was able to explain the basics.

We were then taken to lunch at a buffet in a nearby mall. Before we left, we were told that a Tea Master was visiting the temple as he teaches tea ceremony classes there and we were invited to return to participate. So we had lunch and then returned to the temple for the tea ceremony. By this time Makoto-oniisan had returned from work, and after quickly catching up, invited us to join the tea ceremony with the Tea Master or "お茶先生" (ocha sensei - tea teacher) as I called him. Honda sensei (Aya's father) performed the ceremony with the instruction of ocha sensei. Tea used in a tea ceremony is made with a lot of matcha and is very thick and bitter. However it has a good smell and tastes really good after eating sweets. It was the first time Harry-chan had drank this type of tea before. We shared the tea together and then ended the ceremony.

Afterward we talked more with ocha sensei and Honda-san's family. They ordered pizza and we met a few other people that had come to the temple for various reasons. I had forgotten how busy their temple is. Makoto-oniisan asked what we planed to do in Japan. I told him everything we had done (skiing in Niseko, Sapporo, Snow Festival, eating) and explained that we had plans to try new foods and visit new places. When we mentioned we wanted to try fugu he told us that his father recently went to a good place in Osaka and recommend it to us. He told us that he could meet us the following day for a fugu dinner. We exchanged information and he left to do some more work. We didn't plan on going to Osaka, but with good food in mind we fit it into our Kyoto schedule. It was getting late and we still hadn't cheked into our hotel in Kyoto. As we packed up to leave, Honda-san's mother told us that an all women Buddhist musical group was practicing at the temple and asked if we wanted to see them. We agreed and they performed 2 original songs and dances for us. They were very impressive and we were told they perform regularly throughout the area. After that we said our goodbyes with promises to visit them again in Osaka the next time we came to Japan. Honda-san then drove us to our hotel in Kyoto. She told me that she is planning to go to the BCA National Council Meeting in a few weeks and would see me there. We thanked her for her and her family's kindness and checked in our hotel. However even though our room was non-smoking you could clearly tell that someone had been smoking in the room. Not wanting to have to deal with smoke smell again, I went down to the front to ask if we could switch rooms. The front lady told me all of the same type rooms were full, however they had a handicapped room available on a non-smoking floor and would upgrade us. I thanked her kindly, and we moved to a new room! It was huge since it was wheelchair accessible, and we finally relaxed for the night. We planned our next day, and went to sleep.

Daily Step Count: 9,631
Total Step Count: 114,872

Jason's Falls: 1
Harry-chan's Falls: 0

Harry-chan's Kaarage Count: 7


This post had a lot of Japanese words so: Japanese Lesson Time!
~san: The most common formal Japanese honorific is -san, and it translates (approximately) to Ms. and Mr..

~kun: Japanese honorific that is generally used when referring to men in general, male children or male teenagers, or among male friends.

~chan: Japanese honorific that expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, friends, grandparents and adolescents. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, any youthful woman, or between friends.

Ocha: Japanese for tea

Sensei: Japanese for teacher

Matcha: Green tea powder

Oniisan: Japanese for older brother

Fugu: pufferfish known for having a deadly toxin inside it's body. Only a licensed chef can prepare fugu for consumption.