Dec 18
What will we do when we return to Canada. The selection of sake in Japan is staggering and from my recolection pretty limited in Canada. One of the events from the United Way Campaign was a Sake Tasting Evening.
This event hosted 6 different sakes from breweries around Japan and a restaurant in the Ginza prepared a meal to complement the sakes and used Canadian Maple syrup in all the foods. It was a tremendous evening as the both the food and sake were excellent. Following the sit down portion of the evening, there was then the opportunity to sample even more different sakes. There were sakes flavoured with other ingredients including my favourite Uzu (A citrus orangy-lemony like fruit in Japan).
At the end of the evening there was a draw for prizes and I was fortunate enough to win two prizes. An apron with the name of a brewery on it and a pagoda light made of Japanese cyprus. There were a number of people gunning for the pagoda which I found quite amusing. There were offers of money for it but I decided that I would like to keep it.
Our family friends who live in the city of Fujiyoshida at the base of mount Fuji also drove in to attend the event. My parents have known Michiko since she was in high school. She and her husband are in the food business so this was a good event for them to attend and also a good chance to see them again before my parents left Japan.
Tagged with: Event • Family • Party • People
Nov 11
The website problems are more or less solved now. I’m still working on the visual formating of this page to something I like but now I can spend time on content.
So time to start catching you up. Thanksgiving this year was a special one because both Mika and my parents were in Japan. We had quite a full house with other friends attending as well. I cooked a 24 lbs turkey which turned out great. There are more photos from this in the photo albums. At the same time as Thanksgiving I was also doing my Shihan (teacher level) examination in tea ceremony. I haven’t quite got the pictures sorted out yet so I will post that a little later.
Since the embassy participates in the annual Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign, we have had a number of events going on at the embassy as well that I have been volunteering in. Our Halloween party this year drew over 400 people and I hardly had time to see anything as I was serving drinks at the bar. Sorry, I don’t have any photos as I was too busy slinging drinks. The event raised about $8,000 for the campaign and there are still more events coming including a Steak and Lobster dinner, Sake tasting, Casino night, Traditional Japanese dance class, Tole painting class and more. It’s a busy season.
This coming weekend Mika and I will also be going back to Kitami for their curling tournament. Once again we were selected to be on the team. Should be fun except that I have to teach 3 people how to curl (from the ground up) in a little over an one hour on Friday.
Tagged with: Family • Party
Aug 02
July has been a busy month for visitors. A teaching friend from Nepean H.S. in Ottawa and his fiancé arrived at the beginning of July for a month long trip in Japan and my older brother and his wife are presently here doing the same thing. There was overlap too so everyone was able to come to Happy Hour at the embassy. I think everyone is having a good time and it is nice to see people from home since we won’t be returning to Canada again this year.
Next on the list is my father who arrives next week. Instead of retiring from the foreign service he has elected to do a 4 month temporary duty as the head of the political section in the embassy. Just to keep thing exciting for him, the Japanese seem to have arranged a general election too. My mother will be coming in September and Mika’s parents will also be visiting in September and October.
So if you were thinking of coming to Japan in the fall and staying with us. Sorry, we’re Full.
Tagged with: Family • People
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