My birthplace

We are now in my birthplace, Osaka, and now I am catching up with my Japanese friends and family. I had dinner with Hidemi and Naoko and their families yesterday. It was great to see Naoko after her years living in Singapore and we missed seeing her on our last trip to Japan. I have a checklist of food items that I must have while I'm in the Kansai area - have checked nikuman and takoyaki off the list now. I haven't been able to convince the others that okonomiyaki really is better than it looks in a picture. Maybe I'll have to go for a late night snack on my own. But I think I've realized that it is possible to have too much sushi and sashimi. My stomach was rebelling against me last night and I was having dreams about too much sushi - my subconscious is trying to tell me something.

Went to Nara yesterday and prayed to the great Buddha. Again there were lots of school children but as far as I know, none of the students asked the others to help them practice their English. No one asks me for impromptu English conversation - sigh.

We had some crazy lady on the train tell us to talk in "small voices". Initially, I thought she was being rude to the gaijin but then we later saw her relaying a similar message to other people who got on the train who she thought were talking too loudly. Mind you, she was also plugging her ears every time another train went by with a loud noise. There was another lady that sat down right beside Cathy (even though there was lots of room otherwise) and literally stared at us, up and down, like we had landed from space. I thought for sure we must have been on the train line that had it's own "Queen West Mental Health Centre" (or CAMH or whatever it's called now). I think they needed to pray to the great Buddha.

Going to visit with my dad's family today. They are always good for a laugh or two - because they are so "Yamada" or like our father. At least they don't expect us to be "proper Japanese" - I guess our family has always been a bit of a novelty to them - their crazy Canadian cousins. I'm sure all of their friends and neighbours can't share those sort of stories with them.