We arrived at the Kansai International Airport in Osaka after a nine hour flight (a breeze compared to the 35 hour ordeal it is to get to Naples) to be met by Kazuyoshi. Kaz and I were at high school together in HatYai in southern Thailand, way back in 1987. I remember Kaz as a tall, shy young man who attracted the attention of the Thai teenage girls for his prominent eye teeth and mysterious air. As a fellow exchange student, trying to cope with the cultural and language changes, I always marvelled at Kaz who was learning Thai and coping with communicating in English at the same time.
The last time we crossed paths was at an AFS reunion in 1993. Since then, we have both married, lived in more foreign countries and Kaz now has two children. It was the children who greeted us with enthusiasm and smiles at the front door of their apartment, Hanami is 9 years old, into pink and ballet, and Take is 6 years old, a boy who likes playing sport. As we struggled out of our winter coats and boots, Kaz's wife Takako was at hand to usher us inside.
Takako had dinner waiting, and it was just the first of many lovely meals that we would share with the family over the following week. Gigi was delighted to find tofu burgers on the menu, and Takako really went out of her way to accomodate for his vegan diet. After unpacking, Takako gave us a lesson in laying out our beds, futons rolling out onto the tatami mats, then the sheets and the double layers of quilts. This photo is a little shrine set up in the corner of the bedroom, and as the three weeks unfolded we would come to better understand its significance.
With only hours of our Japanese holiday behind us we were already thoroughly enjoy ourselves.
