From Kanazawa to Tsujido

On our last day in Kanazawa, Yui’s uncle, Akio, took us through the temple that is attached to their home. The temple has a lot of history and is linked to the Maeda family - a famous samurai family from that area. I can’t really tell you more as I didn’t understand any of the story and it was difficult for Yui to translate. Akio-san took us from the altar into the “realm of the priest” or the area behind the altar where normally only priests are allowed to go. This area had statues of the deities associated with that “sect” of Buddhism. There are so many layers of teacher and student in Buddhism; it is difficult to keep track of who taught whom. I think I would have to take a course to keep it all straight!
After the tour, we had to make our way to the station. We had the longest train ride of the trip ahead of. Having learned a few lessons the last time, though, we sent the luggage ahead of us via a delivery company and we made darn sure we knew exactly where all the cars were stopping! Saying good-bye to Aunt Yoshiko was a bit more emotional for both of us than we thought. I’ve said good-bye to family before, but never to family that lives so far away.
The trip took us to Tsujido, a surburb of the suburb Yokohama. Yui’s Aunt Yuko lives in Tsujido wth her husband Shoji and her daughter Yumiko. Sachiko came to meet us at the station with her husband Tomoteru. The train ride took up a big part of the day, so there wasn’t much time to do anything when we arrived in Tsujido - or so we thought! In Japan, you can always squeeze in more things to do! Before going to Aunt Yuko’s, we went to visit another cousin that Yui hadn’t seen for nearly 20 years! We spent some good time chatting, catching up and of course, eating!
The eating contiued when we finally arrived at Aunt Yuko’s and ate some more okonomiyaki! Aunt Yuko’s third daughter, Tomoko, was cooking okonomiyaki for us on the hotplate in their living room. Tomoko, by the way, is a brain surgeon. For what may have been the first time in my life, I refused food. :O We had eaten cookies at Mitsuteru’s, and then he brought out dessert, so after a couple pieces of okonomiyaki, I was SO FULL!
After dinner, jet-lag was setting in quite heavily so it was time to make our way upstairs (where our luggage was patiently awaiting us!) to settle in for the night. Once more, we were treated to Japanese style accomodations, including cuddly, warm feather duvets. Mmm...zzzzzzzzz

Today's photos

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