Koriyama Post Two

I have been enjoying Koriyama for several days now. People have mentioned this summer is cooler than usual; but it is still not as though one needs to take a coat along at night. As a Canadian, I am enjoying the balmy 24C day in, day out, compared to the soul-crushing humidity Honshu can experience in the summer.

I am so completely accepted at the Tsuchiya house that I consider the experience normal and unextraordinary. There are even chores to do. But because things do feel so normal I haven`t really felt the pressing need to take out my camera, thus the lack of pictures in this post. And this house is so busy. They have so many callers everyday it's staggering. Every morning it starts at exactly 8:30 AM, which I guess is the earliest time most delivery companies feel is accecptable. It continues through out the day tapering off around 3 PM. This week the Tsuchiya's have been receiving lots of summer gifts - mostly beer, but there is some variety - I had never even known about this Japanese tradition.

We had wonderful steaks for dinner last cooked tenpanyaki-style. The steaks were courtesy of Ito-san, my former counselor as a Rotary Exchange student in Koriyama. He runs a beef/pork/chicken distribution outfit for restaurants and hotels in the area. So he has the great connections. Tenpanyaki-style is much thinner than a normal Albertan steak, it is also completely and perfectly marbled. It was as soft as tofu and could be easily cut with chopsticks, something that shouldn't be tried on an Albertan steak without a steak knife. He asked a lot of questions about why I came back to Japan and what life is like in Hokkaido. It was great to catch up with him and hear about his successful and expanding business.

Today, shopping and later soba with Okawara-san at his snowboardshop. Tomorrow, I will be spending the day with two of the Tsuchiya's nieces and then probably out for sushi that night. The big thing on my plate comes Thursday with a return to my host rotary club. Something I have really wanted to do. I have to write a short speech in Japanese which is something I am going to set out to do directly.