Not Just Ninjas

We have long been looking forward to our first visitors from home: our college friends Nik and Vivien. Upon arriving in Japan, they spent a few days in Tokyo, where Vivien gave a talk on low-temperature physics at Tokyo University and Nik managed to finagle a business meeting with some Japanese companies. But disaster struck when a business emergency called Nik back to Los Angeles on zero notice, on the very day they were to get on the train to Noshiro.

Vivien made the best of a bad situation and hit the tracks by herself. We met her in Akita City and headed with guarded excitement to a new Mexican restaurant we had heard about mere days earlier. Imagine our surprise and somewhat resigned disappointment when we discovered that it was yet another standard (although nice) Japanese restaurant — called “Amigo Amiga” for no apparent reason. At least it had a great view!

Steph had work the next day, so I showed Vivien around town. After about three Shinto shrines it hit home that there really isn’t much to show a guest around here. We swung by Steph’s high school for an impromptu school tour: “This is our computer lab. This is our other computer lab. This is the staff room.” We met the principal and received some neat little cookies with the school’s emblem branded on them. Vivien kept hers as souvenirs, but I was foolish enough to try one. They tasted like sand, with maybe a few grains of sugar mixed in. I decided to keep my second one as a souvenir too.

Thursday was a more exciting day for Vivien. Steph was scheduled at an elementary school, which is fun because the kids are young enough not to have had the life beaten out of them by Japanese conformity, and since she only visits each elementary school a couple times a year, it’s a big event for them. Vivien got to serve as assistant-assitant language teacher for the day.

Since we were missing Second Friday this month due to our Sapporo trip, we gathered all our gaijin friends for a Thursday night outing instead. After all, Vivien’s visit wouldn’t be complete without a night of grub, grog, purikura and song. After some skepticism, Vivien succumbed to the allures of karaoke, and I must say our duet on Gangsta’s Paradise was an event to remember.

Friday morning it was train time again, as Vivien and I headed for Sapporo. Steph and the gang joined us Saturday morning after their overnight ferry right from Akita. Steph’s already covered that, so I will simply leave you with a few pictures from Viv’s visit. Thanks for being our first guest, Vivien! We hope you can come back sometime, perhaps when it’s warmer, with Nik.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Festivals and Events, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.