the bullet train is busy!

This is a long weekend so I figured the shinkansen (bullet train) would be busy, but I didn't realize how busy. We left early this morning and the only thing available was first class (what they call Green Car here). The seats were much nicer and you had more space, but I don't think it is worth the extra 3500 yen they charge! We didn't have any choice though. We had to be in Hamamatsu by noon, because today is Hiroshi's dad's 1 year memorial service.

Hiroshi's uncle came to the service and I was able to talk to him for a bit. We had a conversation despite the fact that I only understood about 25% of what he said. Of course, that is 20% more than I understood when Hiroshi's mom was speaking. I spoke to her the other day on the phone and it was good, but for some reason she was mumbling and talking in circles today.

After we went to the cemetary to wash the family headstone and pray, we went to Hiroshi's ancestral grave yard. (Mom - you would have been in heaven - lots of great tombstones for you to run around and look at) All of the tombstones bore his family name, and even the family seal. I didn't know his family had a seal. It looks kind of like a trillium actually, with three stems at the bottom and two leaves going diagonally towards the top "corners" (the seal is round so there aren't really corners). Anyway, it was interesting to see all the old stones.