Host Family Weekend

Today was my first day at the Nakayama residence (my host family). I was pretty nervous about the homestay weekend, because I wasn't sure if i'd be able to communicate well enough. To my surprise, I am doing fine and am thoroughly enjoying spending time with the Nakayama family. I am coming to find that this is my favorite experience so far in Japan!

The Nakayama family lives about an hour outside of Tokyo in a town called Shin-Shiraoka. Tadashii Nakayama (the father) came to pick me up in Akasaka this afternoon. He used to live in Los Angeles for five years so he knows some English. I think he was excited to have the opportunity to practice English with me even though my sensee (teachers) told him to only speak Japanese with me. ;) In the cab, on our way to the train station, I was asking him questions in Japanese and he was responding in English. It was an interesting conversation, but beneficial for all as we helped each other practice. Nakayama san insisted that he lives in the countryside (inaka) and continued to apologize that it was so far away. However, it is a relief for me to get out of the busy city streets of Tokyo and see another side of Japan.

Tadashii and Mikako (his wife) have two children; a five year old boy named Riyuu and a 10 year old girl named Miku. I was worried the house was going to be a very small space and maybe slightly uncomfortable accomodations. However, their house is very spacious and very modern. They even have Western toilets which I was more than overjoyed to learn! No tricky squating toilets for me luckily! Upon arriving and changing out of my outside shoes to indoor Japanese slippers at the front door, we sat down at the table and had okasi (sweets). They were very delicious and came fresh from a nice bakery. After that, they showed me to my room. I am staying in Miku's room for the weekend. How generous of them to share their space!

Shortly after settling in, I gave my host family their omiyage (souvenir). In Japan, it is customary for foreign visitors to bring a small gift from their hometowns as an act of gratiude for the host family's hospitatlity. I gave them a Las Vegas sign that lights up and flashes bright colors. It was my mom's idea and boy did they love that gift. (Thanks mom!) Riyuu especially liked it and would not stop playing with it all night. I think the best moment was when he was looking at it with his dad and I overheard him reading the letters; "N-E-V-A-D-A" he sounded out in his cute 5 year old nihongo accent voice. At that moment I thought, "Wow this young Japanese boy is learning something about another culture, another country, from ME!"

Miku showed me how to make a turu (crane) origami. We also made origami stars together. That was more difficult than the crane and took us about an hour to figure out. Miku is a very patient and detailed oriented girl. I was ready to just fold it any old kind of way, figure it out by trial and error, but she patiently persisted on following the directions and they turned out beautiful!

Next, I showed them some of my pictures of family and friends back home. I also showed them pictures of my architecture projects and they were very intrigued. I think Miku appreciated it the most, because she is very interested in art. The entire family in fact seems to be exceptionally artistic and into arts and crafts. Riyuu and his father were making paper sculptures on the floor while Miku and I made our origames.

For dinner, Mikako cooked up quite the feast. We had hand rolled sushi. There were lots of dishes and plates of different kinds of vegetables, meats, and fish all over the table. But the thing that impressed me the most was a huge bucket of rice in the center of the table. It was quite the experience hand rolling my own sushi rolls. I ate clam, egg, beef, shrimp, umeboshi (Japanese plum that is sour, not sweet like American plums), and scallops in my sushi rolls. My favorite was the beef and egg. I normally don't eat beef/red meat, but Japanese beef is soooooo much more tasty than American. I can't get enough of it! In Japan, it is usually cut in very thin slices or eaten in small pieces as opposed to in America where portions are huge and big, fatty steaks are considered delicious (not by my standards!). The beef here is very lean and flavorful! We also had Miso soup with clams. It was delicious. Miso soup is one of my favorite Japanese dishes! The Nakayama family was impressed with my use of the ohasi (chopsticks) :) I made it through dinner without completely embarrassing myself as a foolish gaizin (foreigner).

After dinner, Riyuu taught me how to play Nintendo Wii. I am not that skillful at video games, but I was excited to play the Wii. Of course, they only have Japanese games so I was struggling at trying to figure out how to play the game. There was a lot of text explaining the game that Miku kindly read aloud for me. However, she was speaking so quickly that I didn't understand much. Riyuu and I played a few games against each other. He tried to explain the game to me but again, it was difficult for me to understand. I guess I never thought in a million years that I wouldn't be able to understand a five year old. However, he is very smart and speaks Japanese well. I could probably learn a lot from him.

Mikako taught me the Japanese system of bathing which is very different from Western customs. However, I made it through with no problems!

We also went to visit Miku's elementary shcool which is within walking distance from the house; about a 5 minute walk. Riyuu wanted to ride his bike while the rest of us walked. Mikako told me that he has been practicing how to ride a 2-wheeler, but is not very good. However, he wanted to impress me so that is why he begged his mom to allow him to ride his bike. I thought that was soo cute! He did alright but his steering is a little shaky. We went to the playground at Miku's school and there were a bunch of old wooden boards on the ground. I asked Miku what they were for and she said they practice jump rope on them.

Tomorrow, we are going to Toshogu-ji, a temple in Nikko. I actually studied this exact temple in my Japanese Art&Architecture class last semester so it should be exciting to see it in person!

More info and pics of my amazing host family to come!