Kimono

We only had one night with the home stay; the boys were together in the house of Oka san whilst Trish, Sarah and Cerys went to the Okuda san house. We had heard the words kimono batted about earlier; and were chuffed to bits that we were going to have the opportunity to try one on! The house was lovely – very traditional Japanese style, though very modern and spacious. We had our own ‘suite’ with Tatami mats, sliding paper doors and futon to sleep on, and one room for our clothes. On arrival we were treated to a lovely tea ceremony by Misa san; with whom we instantly warmed to despite not being able to communicate with a common language. We took a lovely walk to the local shrine, and then went for a poke about in the local super market before being treated to a massive and impressive banquet. There was even explosive champagne to celebrate! We were encouraged to eat adventurous things like sea urchin and sea conch (considered delicacies in Japan) though I think we were quite happy with just a nibble! There was a big fish in the middle of the table; which was the equivalent to cutting a joint of roast lamb, and the presentation of all the food is beyond description. A photo will help though. It must have taken ages to arrange.

We all were excited about the Kimono experience and had a really fun couple of hours with Misa san and her very good friend (the Kimono shop owner lady) as we all got to try on the same Kimono. It took about 20 minutes to put on and although we didn’t look like a Maiko, we were all grinning like Cheshire cats at the excitement of trying on authentic Japanese clothes. A superb evening and we were all very sad to leave this home stay.