Nagasaki Road Trip '09

Nagasaki
As always when we visit Japan, we took a weekend trip to Nagasaki to spend time with the siblings of Michiyo’s parents. The siblings of her Mom, Chieko, live in Nagasaki city, which is always an afternoon visit involving tea and snacks. The bulk of our time was spent in the countryside in the house where Michiyo’s Dad, Minoru, grew up.

The trip started with a ferry ride from Kumamoto. This year, we didn’t encounter many seagulls; rather I spent a bit of time talking to a group of sixth graders from Ubuyama, a country town, on a field trip, and entertaining them with English and gags such as magic and fake cockroaches.
We spent the afternoon at the home of Taiske and Sachiko, Chieko’s younger sister and her husband. They have several shrines, statues, and antiques that captured Hiro’s attention.

Chieko’s older sister, Toshie, has a daughter, Yoshie, who has a new daughter, Manami.

Then it was off to the countryside.
I learned that this house was built in 1909, making it an even 100 years old. While they did add a second floor at some point, it’s the same house. Also, this year, I noticed that the corner of the roof contains the first part of Michiyo’s family last name, Ishizuka. The Kanji for Ishi means rock, and even Michiyo and Masae had never noticed this before.

Hiroki wasted no time showing off his baseball skills for Uncle Kanji.

Hiro and Daddy took a much-needed nap.
We took a walk around the area; I love these views! Barbecue time—one of my favorite parts of the Nagasaki trip.
Hiroki regaled us with stories of his adventures, and we were riveted.

Hiro loves motorcycles and scooters, so he posed with (but DID NOT ride!) with Mommy.

Highlight of the Nagasaki road trip:
Hiroki’s Grandpa Minoru woke us up for the sunrise, and what we saw was pretty incredible. A steady rain the day before had created a mist that settled over the valley where the Ishizuka house is. What a beautiful scene!
Uncle Hitoshi, Minoru’s younger brother, and his family did not make it to the Nagasaki house this year; instead, they paid us a visit in Kumamoto after we arrived home. I told him I missed the delicious squid he usually brings.

We enjoyed some pool time around Hiroki (he was the only one naked), he enjoyed the family Chihuahua. Aki, the younger sister was heading off to Malawi, Africa, at the end of the month to begin two years of Peace Corps-type work.

Nagasaki Road Trip, Getting there

With a national holiday last Monday, the weekend was the perfect chance for a family reunion in the Nagaski countryside. Michiyo`s Mom Chieko has several siblings in the city, and Michiyo`s Dad Minoru has an older brother that still runs the family orange farm. Spending time with these relatives is always a good time, and the added bonus of most of them seeing Hiroki for the first time made us very excited for these couple of days.

Just outside of Kumamoto, we had to take a ferry. Usually, you can stand on the balconies and have seagulls eat right out of your hand, but this year, Hiroki was eating and then sleeping, so we stayed inside when the birds were there. Later, we went out for some great views.

On the way there, we stopped at "Gammadasu Nagasaki," a delicious food shop run by the woman in this picture holding Hiro. See the resemblance? (FYI for any Japanese speakers: Gammadasu is Nagasaki-ben for Ganbarimasu)