Naoto's Mother's Family- Yamagata

[Naoto's father's family] [Back to Tokyo]

That afternoon, we hopped on another shinkansen and traveled to Yamagata prefecture (right next to Miyagi and also next to Iwate where I went the first time I was in Japan) and visited some of Naoto's mother's relatives in Tendo. We met them at a sushi restaurant for lunch (actually the third meal and twentieth cup of tea that morning) and then went on to house. It was fun meeting some of Naoto's younger cousins and answering questions about myself NOT related to how well I speak Japanese or use chopsticks. (I swear, if I have to explain ONE MORE TME that we sometimes use chopsticks in the U.S. I may have to kill someone).

After the sushi, we hopped on a local train and made it to Shinjo (still Yamagata prefecture and still Naoto's mother's family). There we met about four more aunt and uncle combinations, as well as various cousins. It all gets rather confusing with the way of addressing people in Japanese and because some of Naoto's cousins are old enough to be his father! In Shinjo we first went to a mah jong parlor run by an aunt whose husband was involved with a scandal with the family business and who couldn't come to the main party. Then we were driven to another huge Japanese traditional house to meet the eldest son's family. This includes Naoto's aunt, her husband, their eldest son's family including two teenage children and a single uncle all living together under one roof and all involved with the Sato family (my mother-in-law's maiden name) business. It was mind boggling. Of course that night I got a chance to see more naked relatives as we went to another onsen for our evening bath. I guess not many foreigners come to Shinjo as some of the other bathers couldn't stop staring at me. (me, self conscious? no way!)

We woke up the next morning and ate breakfast for about three hours. (I am not exaggerating) It was all local vegetables and traditional Japanese food the like of which I haven't eaten since I was at my homestay in Morioka years ago. There was pureed mountain potato, salmon roe, unidentifiable japanese vegetables with konyaku (gelatin thing) and that bane of foreigner's existence -natto. (natto is fermented beans and very nasty) We then went and ate lunch with the disgraced aunt again, checked our email at the newly built Shinjo shinkansen station, and then hopped on a train for a four hour ride home.

Back to Tokyo for more friends and family...