Most of you probably already know, my sister Megi took my son, Chad and I to Japan, from June 9-21. We had fun visiting relatives, and sometimes, instead of a souvenir, don’t you wish you could bring people back with you instead? This blog is about the visiting with my cousin, Macomo (Ma as in like mum, co as in coke, mo as in more), who is my cousin Izumo’s (Is - ooh - mo) sister. Here are the links to the other blogs, in case you missed them.
In the above picture, Macomo is across from me. She is the Salsa Dance Instructor, teaching in Japan, and gets to travel sometimes for the salsa dance conferences. I think that is super cool. I really do have some really neat cousins, and yes. I am bragging because they are really very neat people to know. I used to get comments that Macomo and I look alike, but, I think she is so much more beautiful.
We started off going to this one place which makes the ties for the Obi (the decorative belt thing that goes around the waist of the kimono), so that it can be secured to help hold the kimono in place. It was really neat to see the different machines that are used to make these things, and we even got to have a hand at making our own, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
One of the older machines to make the obi ties.
Another machine to make the ties. The spools are carefully weighted to keep the tention of the thread.
Miniature replicas of other contraptions used to make the different types of ties.
Another old contraption to make the ties.
The different contraption makes different style ties. Each are unique, choose your own colors.
Of course, we can’t go to a place like this, and not have our hand at making our own. But, of course, we had the choice of making a bracelet, a key chain, or a strap. My uncle, Masaki, chose to make a strap, perfect for back pack zippers, cell phone carriers, etc. The rest of us made key chains. So, here we are, being crafty, and some people were laughing because we looked so serious. But, I wanted mine to come out good.
Macomo and I, working on our ties.
My sister and I, with our backs turned, and my Chad.
My, aren't we a bit serious? It was fun to make these.
My son and my uncle, making these ties.
Of course, we had to show off, you know?
My sister's, at the top, my son's in the middle, mine on the bottom.
These are cool looking key chains, aren’t they? Of course, mine has to be mostly green, because it’s my favorite color aside from black, and I don’t recall black being a main choice in the mix. How come we don’t have cool activities like this around here? We should have more things to do for visitors, really.
But, of course, there are always so many other cool things, you know? Like these.
A nice ornamental vase with flowers as we walked into the store.
Chad, posing with a female ninja manikin.
After making these, we went for lunch. We went to one of those places that specialize in making soba noodles, and we have the choice of cold or hot noodles with our favorite combos. Of course, I ordered the udon soup with tempura. It was delicious.
Chad, enjoying his soba with tempura.
Megi, enjoying her cold soba with tempura.
Me, enjoying my udon soup with tempura.
After lunch, Macomo took us to the official Ninja museum, which was super interesting. Ninjas are cool. If we can be adults, and still have a goal of what we want to be when we grow up, I would want to be a Ninja. Too bad I’m not delicate and limber. I at least have the stealth, which is a good thing, but, stealth alone isn’t good enough. As a spy, I’d have to moonlight, er, actually daylight as something else. Maybe I could be a street musician.
Ninja lesson 1. Or maybe 5.
Chad and Macomo, paying attention to the Ninja demonstration.
Ninja demonstrations.
We ended up learning a lot of things. One was that ninjas are usually loyal to whom ever their leader is, whether it was the Emperor or some other overlord or faction. Ninjas were mainly spies, which is why they moonlighted as musicians, or street actors, or street vendors, or a butcher, or something. By night, they would defend the living space and area for those they serve. Only the rogue ninjas were assassins, and female ninjas were the ones who served closest to the Emperor to defend the royal family, while male ninjas were the ones to defend the perimeter or go out to do preemptive strikes for possible intruders or other assassins. It was pretty cool.
Ninja Museum news board. See anyone or anything familiar?
Have a closer look... President Obama is the 4th person from the left.
The people who were manning the Ninja demos recognized us as being Americans, and showed us the picture of President Obama coming and seeing the museum about a month before. They thought it was very neat and were honored. We thought it was just too cool.
But, of course, we can’t just go to watch demos. We like to experience the whole deal. I got to try a reversible door. But, of course, Chad had to one up me.
Chad got called up to be a student participant during the demo.
At the end of the show, of course, Chad went to get 10 stars, to throw at the target, and did a very good job, considering he’s never done it before. The 10th one came in the circle just outside of the center of the bull’s eye.
Before leaving, of course, we had to find out if we could fill in as Ninjas. Do you think we’d fit right in? I think maybe we were having too much fun, and I am so thankful that Macomo took us here to this museum. This was my favorite field trip.
Ninja Chad & Ninja Lika - Silliness in the making.
As if the day time field trips weren’t enough, we went back to my aunt and uncle’s for dinner, and had a very enjoyable meal while there. The hospitality of my relatives are 2nd to none.
From left to right: Chad, me, Macomo, Uncle, and Aunt.
Next, more about our stay with Masaki-san, our uncle, and Takako-san, our aunt, who took such good care of us for the second half of the whole trip. We love them so very much.
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