Written by We arrived in Nishiwaki today, after a comfortable bullet-train ride across Japan.
Here are some images of the morning in Tokyo, the good-bye to our great friends in Tokyo (we shed a few tears when we left them), our arrival in Nishiwaki, and gathering some edible plants for a very special dinner.
We are really enjoying Nishiwaki, and it has been great to experience more traditional Japanese family life.
We joined the rest of our delegation from Renton tonight, as they each met up with their host families. Tomorrow, after everyone has a good night’s rest, we will join up again, do some touring, and then have some formal presentations in the evening. Right now, my host, who with his wife is extremely gracious and accomodating, is busy translating the speech I plan to give on behalf of Renton tomorrow (while we are both partially watching James Bond– Die Another Day).
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I liked this utility cover
fun with reflections in front of our hotel
Coffee with good friends at the Imperial Hotel before leaving for Toyyo Station
(For those who know them, this is Mutsumi’s family, and Koji’s family)
This is out our train window…all our friends waving good-bye to us
Inside the bullet train
2.5 hours from Tokyo to Osaka, at about 170 MPH
Susie is asleep in this picture
Nishiwaki!
More scenes from Nishiwaki
Nishiwaki
Our host shows us the BEST dinner!
A real bamboo forrest! He gets sprouts here!
Harvesting mushrooms that he farms
Cherry blossoms over Nishiwaki’s irrigation reservoir
Awsome…
The man-hole covers are delightful. One of the really cool things about Japan, are the magical touches that are put on everyday things.
You could be walking under the dreariest of train tracks, and they put magical looking lights into the pavers.
If you ever go to the Kubota gardens near Renton, you’ll see some new immigrants harvesting bamboo shoots in the winter time.
Renton delegation
How about some pictures of the other people in the Renton delegation who are touring with you?
Beautiful!
So many beautiful trees over there…try to find out about their tree retention traditions so we can copy them! 🙂
Host families
That is so great that you can visit the families of the students that you hosted. What a goes around really does come around! It looks like you guys are in for a great dinner with fresh bamboo and mushrooms. Thanks again for sharing your trip.
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Keep up the good writing.