Shortly before 9:00am on Tuesday we were ushered into a most official-looking meeting room at City Hall to meet Nanao City Mayor Bunpei Takemoto. After his short welcome speech, it was our turn for an official greeting. Kai rattled off his speech to much applause and delight by our hosts. He then presented the mayor with our gifts of a bronze sculpture of an otter in a kelp frond, newly canned Monterey Bay sardines (you may have seen a recent article about them in the Monterey County Weekly), Sees candies, and a book in Japanese about the Japanese immigrants in Monterey over the past 100+ years. He seemed to be geniuinely touched by the gifts. This was followed by individual greetings by each of the students.
I couldn’t help but smile to see each of your children individually introduce themselves to the assembly and separately to the mayor in strong, clear, confident voices. Please see the video in the photo album linked above. You should be proud of your child. We certainly were.
Once the official business was over, we piled onto a bus to drive up into the nearby hills to a Camp Herman-type outdoor lodge where the local chapter of Soroptimist International hosted us for an afternoon of activities. It was Kaitlyn’s turn to greet our hosts on the group's behalf. She, too, did very well and received a very warm applause.
Activities: we all made a pottery dish in the shape of a large leaf. The students all seemed to have fun making the dish, but even more fun making small bugs,frogs, and other micro-creatures to put on their leaf. The plates will be glazed, fired, and delivered to us later in the week.
Next up was making mochi (pounding rice cakes). Here is a case where pictures tell the story (see web album). The rice is a blend of regular steamed rice and sweet sticky rice. It is put into the “usu” (mortar) and then pounded with the “kine” (mallet). It is a two-person process: one person does the pounding while the other turns the rice after each blow and pats it with water to keep the rice from sticking to the mallet. When done properly, the team work in a regular rhythm while chanting, “Pe-tan, pe-tan, pe-tan.” The rice is pounded until it forms a smooth, dough-like consistency. It is then formed into small balls and either rolled in sweet soy bean flour (orange) or slathered with sweet bean paste (red). Hand-made mochi eaten while still warm speaks to the Japanese soul very much the same way fresh bread just out of the oven speaks to us.
One other fun thing about mochi is the moon. Instead of seeing a “man-in-the-moon,” the Japanese see a rabbit pounding mochi. Look at the web photos, then see if you can find the rabbit at the next full moon! (Hint: the rabbit has just completed the downstroke with the mallet.)
Following lunch we went down to the nearby lake for a fishing derby with prizes to be given to the team of three that caught the biggest fish or the most fish. We were each given a bamboo pole and udon noodles for bait. I shouldn’t have been surprised at the intensity of the competition! Nothing less than cut-throat! While everybody caught fish, Matthew Grebing caught the biggest fish at 15.2”, then Cedric at 14.4”, and Darcy at 13.2”. The Joey-Matthew G.-Vincent team won the team prize for the most fish. Everybody had a good time (except maybe the fish, but all were released!).
We finished the day at Fishermans’ Wharf, a large, two-floor pavillion with souvenir shops, restaurants, and a fish market on the first floor and sit-down restaurants on the second. I don’t now how they found it as fast as they did, but we were there all of five minutes when I saw half the kids lined up at the gelato shop! We will be hosting the Farewell Party at the Fish & Chips Restaurant on the second floor on Saturday night. Just as we walked back to City Hall, it started to rain, but otherwise we have had very good weather.
The chaperones went to dinner with Mr. Yachi at an "okonomiyaki" restaurant. Okonomiyaki might be described as a savory pancake with vegetables cooked on a large iron grill, then topped with various toppings such as a thick worchestershire sauce, flaked nori (seaweed), dried bonito (jack tuna) shavings, and pickled ginger. The pancake itself is "as you like it" (okonomi): Frances had shrimp, Darcy had tofu, and I had squid.
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