Mikijo
After the beads lesson we boarded the subway train for the long ride to the far north-west of Kyoto to meet her cousin Mikiyo and his family, including his father the Tokugawa who lived with them.
Mikiyo had wanted us to come Saturday evening and stay the night, but Misato said that she was too busy. He then ask that she forget the beads lesson and come earlier on Sunday so that we could spend more time together.
We needed to transfer to another train and there was a girl running and jumping and yelling loudly on the platform. Quite unusual in Japan and she obviously had a learning or mental disability. No one minded her, which was good. And she seemed to be having a great time playing around. Luckily, she lives in a country where she can safely ride the trains all by herself with minimal worries that someone might harm her or otherwise take advantage of her.
We finally exited the subway station after Misato called Yoshiyuki for directions, but we still managed to get lost and go the wrong way. It was late and she called again, this time we exited and Mikiyo was there waiting for us. We jumped in his new Mercedes (gotta love the health insurance system in Japan!) and he drove us to their new home.
Yoshiyuki and his girlfriend were there; she is a very cute young woman. His sister, her husband and their 3 month old son were also there from Osaka, where they now live. Mikiyo is quite the happy grandfather and spent a lot of time with his grandson.
After dinner I ask Mikiyo is he could give us a tour of their house, which he was glad to do. There was a bedroom and small living room downstairs for the grandparents. A large open kitchen adjacent to the main living room, a bath tub & shower and another bathroom with a toilet. All the rooms were spacious.
Up a steep set staircase and there were four bedrooms. All between 6 and 7 tatami in size. A nice and spacious house. The Tokugawa and Misato's other aunt are lucky in that their children have upheld their social contract and taken their again parents into their homes.
Since it was Sunday night and everyone had to work the next morning, some of them traveling close to an hour to do so, Misato and I left just before 11PM. Yoshiyuki drove us to the subway station, we said our goodbyes and then we boarded a train back to Osaka.
Once near her condo we stopped at a ramen-ya and ate once again. We really had not eaten that much at Mikiyo's house.
Mikiyo had wanted us to come Saturday evening and stay the night, but Misato said that she was too busy. He then ask that she forget the beads lesson and come earlier on Sunday so that we could spend more time together.
We needed to transfer to another train and there was a girl running and jumping and yelling loudly on the platform. Quite unusual in Japan and she obviously had a learning or mental disability. No one minded her, which was good. And she seemed to be having a great time playing around. Luckily, she lives in a country where she can safely ride the trains all by herself with minimal worries that someone might harm her or otherwise take advantage of her.
We finally exited the subway station after Misato called Yoshiyuki for directions, but we still managed to get lost and go the wrong way. It was late and she called again, this time we exited and Mikiyo was there waiting for us. We jumped in his new Mercedes (gotta love the health insurance system in Japan!) and he drove us to their new home.
Yoshiyuki and his girlfriend were there; she is a very cute young woman. His sister, her husband and their 3 month old son were also there from Osaka, where they now live. Mikiyo is quite the happy grandfather and spent a lot of time with his grandson.
After dinner I ask Mikiyo is he could give us a tour of their house, which he was glad to do. There was a bedroom and small living room downstairs for the grandparents. A large open kitchen adjacent to the main living room, a bath tub & shower and another bathroom with a toilet. All the rooms were spacious.
Up a steep set staircase and there were four bedrooms. All between 6 and 7 tatami in size. A nice and spacious house. The Tokugawa and Misato's other aunt are lucky in that their children have upheld their social contract and taken their again parents into their homes.
Since it was Sunday night and everyone had to work the next morning, some of them traveling close to an hour to do so, Misato and I left just before 11PM. Yoshiyuki drove us to the subway station, we said our goodbyes and then we boarded a train back to Osaka.
Once near her condo we stopped at a ramen-ya and ate once again. We really had not eaten that much at Mikiyo's house.
posted by Aaron at 8:35 AM
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