Visiting the Host Parents in Ishikawa, Japan (Dec 1 - 4, 2005)

During the Japan Tent conference in early August, I promised one of the host families to visit them after I move to Tokyo. So I finally did it. They were the sweet old couple that lived in Noto city of Ishikawa prefecture: Sadatoshi and Teiko Gyoda. They're both in their mid-70's and are as active as ever. They're both very active senior citizens and are in great health.

It was kinda weird for me to go from such an urban and crowded environment like Tokyo to a REALLY rural area like Noto. I found out that I'm definitely a city boy and enjoy the city lights, noise and crowdedness.


So I took a plane from Tokyo Haneda airport to Noto. Seeing them again was very nice. They treated me like I was their own grandson. So when I arrived they told me that we were going on an onsen (hot spring). So I was like okay sure, thinking it was somewhere local.. that sounds good. They ended up driving over 2 hours from Noto down south past metropolitan Kanazawa (the capital city of Ishikawa prefecture)to some southern city. I was so amazed at my host mom for driving for so long without getting tired. And shes over 75 years old. She told me shes been driving since 1950 so it was no problem for her and that she enjoys driving. We arrived at a traditional Japanese style hotel. The hotel room was like my dorm room in Yokohama but of course much larger, with a living room, shower, the works. Then we headed to dinner at the hotel. It was this gigantic buffet with all-you-can-eat crabs. It was mucho yummy. And boy do they both LOOOOVE drinking. My host father had 3 glasses of beer and a half a bottle of Japanese liquor. My host mom drank orange juice because she drank too much the night before. hahahaha. Afterwards my host father and I went to the hot spring in the hotel and enjoyed the steaming hot pool of water. I was more careful this time to prevent myself from getting a big headache.

Me and my host grandparents at the hotel in Ishikawa prefectureYummay dinnerI'm getting fat from all the eating... I'll lose it once school starts again

Supposedly it snowed the night before but it seemed to have melted. The street snow/ice-melting sprinklers were on in the roads. The next day after breakfast, we headed to Kanazawa city and went to the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of History. It was very interesting and thank goodness there were English audio guides available. I even got to dress up in ancient samurai armour. The both of them are very into art, culture and history so we ended up spending over 2 hours in the museum. By the time we left and headed back to their house in Noto it was already 7 pm. So we had dinner and chatted about our lives, Japanese politics and current events. Their house was freeezing cold. In Japan there's no such thing as central heating. And being out in the boonies, they needed to place portable heaters all ove the house. The last time I came here, it was the complete opposite: it was steaming hot. Why wont the Japanese get with the times and build their houses with central heat and air conditioning?! I couldnt take a shower that night because the house was too cold so my host mom recommended me to take one later.

Road snow/ice melting sprinklers

The next day we headed off to somewhere local. Well it ended up being over an hour away so I dont know how "local" it was. hahahaha. It was actually snowing an area on the way to where we were going. This is the very first time I've seen snow in Japan. It's nothign compared to the level of snow we get in Canada though. We ended up at the Ishikawa Nanao Art Museum. They had paintings and drawings from famous artists. The art was very gorgeous and it took me a while to fully appreciate it. My host parents absolutely loved it. We ended watching this hour long video about the paintings in the museum after we finished browsing. The drive home was nice because the snow was gone and there was a goregous rainbow in the sky. After returning to their house and had a gigantic dinner: Japanese hot-pot, my host father set up a hot bath. The water was scalding hot so I had to release some water and put more cold water in. My host father told me that in Japanese culture, what I should have done instead was, without releasing any water, let the water up to the tip of the tub when I get in some water spills out. This helps get rid of the grime of the previous person that took the bath. In Japan they use the same bath water for everybody, unlike western countries. So the next day after breakfast we headed off to the airport and said goodbye to them. Even though it wasnt the most exciting weekend, I had a great time with them. They are after all senior citizens so I can't expect too much out of them. And after all, the purpose of this trip was not to come sight seeing but to spend time with my host family. I will definitely keep in touch wih them through letters and phone calls after returning to Canada. They are absolutely an amazing couple. I consider them my Japanese grandparents.