Day 03 - 30/12/1997: Sleepy Street: Waking up Ritsuko's parents house in a sleepy street in the sleepy city of Kobayashi was quite surreal. It was the first time I got to say "ohaiyogozaimasu" (good morning) to lots of people in the one house. Everybody asked me "yoku nemuremashitaka?" (did you have a good sleep?). Since New Year was approaching Ritsuko's brother and his wife as well as their two children were staying in the house also. New Year (1st of January) is a family gathering time in Japan.
We all (8 of us) gathered in the dining room sitting cross legged (men) or kneeling (women) on mats at a low table. The breakfast was traditional Japanese style consisting of rice, miso soup, egg roll, and salmon roe along with cups of Japanese green tea (the real stuff, not from a tea bag).
After breakfast I went for a walk down the street with Ritsuko's sister-in-law, niece and nephew to fly kites in an empty car park.
