Japan: Day VI - Last Day in Toyohashi

Ali and I slept for what seemed like a millennia. We woke up and had breakfast alone at the coffee shop. The usual. Kinko had already paid for it. Kaz skipped a few hours of work and took us to the city for some sightseeing. We visited one of Toyohashi's public buildings and viewed the whole city from its viewing deck on the 9th floor. We watched the 370,000 members of the city's population go about their daily life. I think Kaz liked having us around so that he had an excuse not to work. He dropped us off at an internet cafe so that we could write some more blog. We had dinner with almost the entire family - Kinko, Tukayuki, Kazunori and his wife Kaori. We also had the pleasure of meeting their two girls, Kotori and Yuuka. Yoshie couldn't make it unfortunately as she had other commitments with the in-laws. We all sat around two uniquely designed tables with gas burners set in the middle. The food arrived raw which allowed us to cook it ourselves. Kinko liked to take control every now and then and dominated the cooking. This was yet another great meal consisting of every type of meat imaginable. I was full as a bull, but still had space for ice cream.

We all returned back to Kinko's house for a special treat. Kaz had fireworks! We played with sparklers although Kinko wouldn't allow me to spin mine. I tried to tell her that that's what you do with them but she insisted it was harmful. So I just held it still and watched it sparkle. We watched Kaz's modest display of fireworks and then retired to the sitting room. I thought karaoke might be next on the agenda but it wasn't. Kaz displayed all our photos from Japan on the TV screen using the DVD player. I wish we had the chance to edit before he decided to do this. At times, we even found it boring looking at all the "artsy" photos.

We gave the family our gift which was a box of candies from Tokyo called "Tokyo Banana" and some goodies from the Expo. I also wrote a thank you letter in Japanese (I had Kiyomi translate it for me on Sunday) which seemed to be appreciated. We were then guided to another room which I hadn't seen before. A door which I thought was just a closet, actually opened into another room. This room was different. It was Japanese style with a low table on wicker flooring in the centre. On one wall there was a shrine. Pictures of the Emperor and his family graced the walls. Carved wooden statues of Buddha and other religious objects were neatly placed to form a display of some sort. Tukayuki also managed to trace back his family tree of fathers and had portraits of each of them. It was in this room where we had photos taken. Kaz but the camera on 'self-timer' mode so that we could all be in the photograph. We were also presented with a gift. Ali and I were each given two beautiful towels, a pair of slippers and a fan. I didn't know what to say. The Baba's have been so generous and kind to us. I only hope they know how much it was appreciated and that it will never be forgotten.