We enjoyed our weekend with Dave and June. I took them on a brief tour of Tokyo on Friday night. Here we are at Asakusa temple and shops with Flat Stanley. (By the way, Flat Stanley is quite famous--when another American couple saw him, they said, "Is that Flat Stanley! We know him!"
We had dinner with Akihiro's parents and enjoyed the artful autumn display of foods.
Another highlight was a tea ceremony with Akihiro's aunt and uncle. The tea ceremony originated as a meditation and relaxation for the samurai soldiers at the end of a day of training or fighting. Everyhting has symbolism and is done in just a certain way. The most challenging part for we Americans was sitting on the floor for an extended period of time--even though we didn't sit on our feet like we were supposed to!
Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Hokkaido--around the Sapporo area on a business trip. The business kinda fizzled, so we ended up doing some sightseeing. This sightseeing centered mostly around food! We went to the hall of fame for ramen and an all you can eat seafood restaurant. The crab is especially good this time of year.
