The cuteness meter.

A neighborhood rooster could be heard crowing early in the morning.  After a hearty breakfast, Takemi took us to a Buddhist temple in Tajimi (a neighboring city) called Eiho-ji.  It featured a pavilion like the ones we saw in Kyoto, only this one was unpainted and featured a beautiful walking bridge that was sadly under repair.  The nearby temple structure had been burned down only a year ago and was slowly being replaced by a replica.  The grounds around the pavilion were gorgeous, including all of the features we’d grown accustomed to seeing in these gardens: Japanese maples, cherry blossom trees of all variety, lanterns, and ponds.

We then stopped for a lunch in Seto (to the south of Tajimi) on our way to attend a recital.  Mizuki, Takemi’s niece’s daughter, Mizuki, was performing as one of a group of girls aging between 8-16.  Dressed in blue dresses with white bows and black mary janes, they sang a collection of well known songs.  In Japanese.  Kristin giggled more than a few times as they sang Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.  They didn’t allow photos.  Cory said it was because the cuteness meter would shatter the lens.  After the intermission, the girls performed a rearrangement of Cats.  In Japanese.  They were joined by the graduating seniors in the lead roles. Andrew Lloyd Weber, indecipherable in Japanese, never sounded so good. Humbling and flattering for us was seeing how  people surprised and proud people were to have foreigners attending the performance. Mizuki bowed shyly many times when she was introduced to us, but didn’t try a word in the English she’s been studying in school. Later, she translated out commentcard (one was given to each concertgoer) and wrote us an enthusiastic e-mail.

Andrew Lloyd Weber, indecipherable in Japanese, never sounded so good.

After the performance, we visited the ceramics museum in Seto, this area being well known for such things.  Afterward, we headed home to begin the gyoza wrapping party.  After Takemi and Nobuko prepared the fillings, we got to work combing the ingredients for three types: vegetarian, chicken, and pork.  Ginger joined us to wrap what amounted to 120 gyozas.  Takemi cooked them and we gleefully dipped them into the sauce Nobuko had prepared. while sipping on warm sake and Asahi beer.  Just when we thought we couldn’t have even more bite, Nobuko offered us rice.