Japan in Thirty Days

Saturday - Week 3

07 Nov 2010 1 Comment

by bjoelle in Brianne/ブリアンヌ

This morning, the last at the Yamaguchi’s, was another day of much packing and scrambling to leave another home and another city. These days are getting to be awfully sad for me. Moka was especially cute, bounding around my bed and licking me. Breakfast was wonderful. I am getting skilled at eating filled-open fish with chopsticks! Airi came into my room and handed me presents “for your brother’s children” she said. She also had a bag with paper soap presents for the other GSE group members. I said goodbye to grandmother at the house, but the rest of the family, including Moka, came in the van to the hotel to say goodbye.

All the families were there. Windy’s little host sister Ami was there and apparently really liked our dog! So… Moka isn’t coming with me to America after all

I was really sad leaving. Yes, I even let fall some tears. Soon, we were on a large bus headed for Hamamatsu city, our last big city before Tokyo and heading home! Hamamatsu is famous for Yamaha musical instruments, barbequed unagi (eel), and the Jubilo soccer team.

In fact, we went to a Jubilo soccer game in the afternoon with one of our friends who translated for us too, Mai. She bought us tickets. It was wild. Cheering is almost as precise as the sport. Entire songs and movements are done by the crowd waving Jubilo towels and beating full size drums. The opposing side taunted with an angry-style Elvis’ ”I CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE” and we sang back “The Entertainer” to la la la’s… I couldn’t understand the words so I sang what I guessed the words were like one: ’Jaba the Hut, the Hut’ I sang over and over. I waved a blue scarf around, and jumped when they jumped. Jubilo was down one goal most of the game, but in additional time, they scored and the place went absolutely ballistic.

Afterwards, Mai found us a Mos Burger, which is supposed to be famously good. It’s like In and Out, but Japanese-style. You can get burgers with rice patties instead of bread, but I went for the classic with cheese. The meat was both pork and beef and mine had a marinara type sauce with onions. Craig’s had salisbury sauce on his jumbo size.

Back in Hamamatsu I karaoke’d with Craig, Jillian, Mai and Jerry and we had a good time, but nothing beats the night before with my wonderful host family who I miss so much already.