Visiting the In-laws

Mom and Joan wanted to go down and see Hiroshi's mom, so we all piled on to the shinkansen (bullet train) this morning and headed down to Hamamatsu. Today was beautiful, and very clear, and for the first time ever on the shinkansen, I got to see Mt. Fuji! It was awesome! The shinkansen goes right by it, so we got really nice views. That was a nice treat!

When we arrived in Hamamatsu we went out for eel, which is the specialty of the area. It was really good, and both mom and Joan liked it. That was good! Then we headed out to the cemetery to do a small ceremony for Ichiro, Hiroshi's brother. In Japan, you hold a memorial service at the three year mark (as well as 1, 7, and some others).

Following that we went back to Hiroshi's house, where Yoshiko, my mother-in-law, had some friends over who entertained us with dancing and by playing traditional Japanese instruments. It was really nice. Then we had tea and exchanged gifts and things. She gave a ton of food to Hiroshi and I - I'm pretty sure she was passing on the winter gifts to us (Japanese people send food gifts during the summer and winter). I'm not complaining.

Then it was time to come home, so we all piled back onto the shinkansen and had a little nap on the way home. When we arrived back in Tokyo, we went out for dinner at Outback. Mmmmm, baked potato! It was weird - there wasn't any wait at all. Usually it is busy at that time. Maybe it was too cold out for anyone to venture very far. The wind was freezing! Anyway, tummies full and having that "ate lots" sleepy feeling, we all came home and fell into bed.