A day with Keiko and Hirose

Had a fairly relaxed morning then jumped on a train to Niimi. We weren’t able to book seats for the 44 min train so hoping for the best we boarded and then had to stand the whole way 😕 But Keiko and Hirose were waiting at the gate so it was worth it! First up we went to a supermarket to get a few supplies for lunch and then we were off to a tea ceremony master’s house (Nakamura sensei) for a sushi lunch and a tea ceremony. Very exciting!

There are lots of beautiful views in Niimi. Nakamura sensei had a very beautiful garden and there was a huge bee in the living room! Keiko gently encouraged it to leave the house and then we were ushered into Nakamura sensei’s tea room for lunch. This is a special room lined with tatami mats for tea ceremonies. There was also a small section of tatami mat that could be removed to reveal a lined area where you can put the coal burning stove in winter to help keep the water boiling. However, we were treated to a sushi lunch first. Our lunch was sushi rice with potato added – a family recipe from Nakamura sensei. On top of the rice was a variety of meats and veggies. All of that was presented in a lovely lacquered box. We had miso soup as well. Everything was delicious and plentiful and we even had fruits for dessert.could not move afterwards! After lunch we had everyone introduce themselves (in English!) and say something that they liked. We talked about jobs a little bit. My job was difficult to describe.

Next was the tea ceremony! Ogawa san prepared the tea and her friend Yamamoto san helped serve it. We had sweets first and then a lovely cup of matcha in antique bowls anywhere from the 15th century up to the 18th century. Every bowl was handmade. They were brought over by Tamaki san from Korea. After the tea we talked for a bit with Nakamura sensei. She goes to Hawaii every year and had been doing the tea ceremony for over 60 years. Everyone was very nice and were quite taken with Kylen. Nakamura sensei said that Phaedre was beautiful! It was an awesome visit!

Next Hirose drove us out into the country where Keiko is going to live, starting in February. The colours and scenery were fantastic! There is a lovely river, a crazy narrow road and a barn for Keiko to keep cows in (if she so desires!). We then drove to Kurashiki for a yakiniku dinner. It was great! We had beef, pork and pancreas cooked over a small BBQ at our table. The pancreas was interesting…very soft and somewhat indescribable flavour. It was also very hot sitting beside the BBQ. We had yuzu sorbet for dessert and exchanged presents. Keiko gave us tea that is grown and roasted in Niimi. After dinner Hirose battled traffic to get us to the Okayama station. On the way, after I found us an earlier train, the pocket wifi decided to die even though it was still showing that it had power! Nerve wracking! We did manage to get on a train back to Shin-Okayama and even managed to get seats! After the wifi had been plugged in for a bit it decided it was happy again so I found us a train from Shin-Okayama to Kyoto. At the station we tried again to get reserved seats to Fukuoka but everything was still full, even the green car seats 😕 We headed back to the house, packed up and fell into bed so that we got some sleep before getting up early to catch trains for Fukuoka (on a holiday, no less).