とうじさんはここ

well I am back in the neighbourhood of makuharihongo now after spending a few days in the beautiful oceanside city that is Ito, Japan. I can`t imagine eating more food than I ate in the last 3 days being stuffed to the brim by Naoko`s amazing cook of a mother Emiko, and I`ve never been so excited to eat more new foods even when my stomach is completely full. Natto beans are amazing, boiled raw peanuts are great, tofu steak is something else, and I have to say that the japanese know how to make delicious sweets or cakes. In Ito we walked around the old city and I got the same feeling I get walking around the waterfront at redondo shores, with a few more sushi and soba restaurants. Ito had palm trees shipped in at some point in history so it does have a bit of the san diego feel to it. People are very friendly in the town and unlike tokyo, the don`t run into your shoulder every 20 ft. Even if something like that did happen they would probably actually stop and say, `excuse me, I didn`t mean to hit you` nice people. The first night at Emiko`s house, some of Naoko`s old friends came to visit and we had some snacks (mainly pocky) and souchu (a weaker sake). It was fun to talk with people that Naoko grew up with but they may have been a bit shy. We had some simple japanese talk for about 10 min. and then their camraderie takes over and I feel stupid because I can`t speak enough japanese to participate. frustrating!!! It actually feels like I know less of the language now compared with in seattle, merely because It is around me constantly in this country. So that night of the stay in ito was very fun, but then the next day brought me more fantastic surprises. I went to a public bath!!!!!! it was awesome. initially, naoko and emiko and myself were going to get a private bath and be naked together!!! but, it was a tad busy so We had to split up into the women`s bath and men`s bath. It was very humorous going into the bath solo and having every short man in the place look at me and probably think, `what is this guy doing`??? so naturally I just gave them the same sort of look and shortly thereafter we stumbled into funny conversation. definitely one of the best times of my life, honestly. Part of the spa was outside on a deck and the bath had no ceiling, basically on the roof. You could loooook out into the ocean while relaxing and chilling out in the hot water!!! so good. I`m so excited to have that memory that I can`t tell you anymore, here are some pictures. おやすみなさい！！！　　タイラー