My First Inaka Experience

I stayed with Yoshiko and her parents last weekend, in a rural, or inaka, part of Himeji. Yoshiko's parents are very nice people and we had a lot of fun, but I barely understood what they said due to their accent, so I had to look at Yoshiko to translate most of the time. I was the first foreigner they had ever met---her parents are 67 and 71. Most people who live in this area rarely leave it. Yoshiko's father knew that America was a big place and thought there were 100 states! I had to correct him on that one. Here is a photo of us the morning I left (I am half awake). Note that I am taller than both of them :-)





Another one of my mom's former students (and friends with Yoshiko), Keiko, lives in Hirakata with her husband and two kids. Her house is about a 15 min. walk from the university. Yoshiko and I went to her place and had lunch. Keiko's husband works for an alcohol distribution company, so we had champagne and wine as well! There was a lot of reminiscing and laughing about things Yoshiko and Keiko remembered about my family when we lived in Kyoto.

Keiko and her husband have a son, 5, and a daughter, 2. They are constantly moving and all over the place all the time! I finally got the little one to sit down and I read her a book:

Here's a picture of the four of us on the couch:

And here's me with Yoshiko at the Kobe harbor:


That's all for now!

-Monica