August 11

This morning our alarm actually woke us up.  We were told last night that we’d leave at 9:30am and have breakfast at 8:30am, so we got up at 7:45/8:00am, got ready and we were there on time for breakfast.  At breakfast, Oto-san gave us maps of where we are going today and also gave it to us as a reference to show where the city that the Rotary program was about.

Today we are going to Chusonji - a famous temple in Iwate-ken.  I think I’ve been there before, but I am not sure.  Also, we are going to go to the Cattle Museum in Maesawa.   

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After breakfast, we drove to Iwate-ken and spent about two hours at Chusonji.  It turns out that I have been to Chusonji before; Tokiwa took us when my parents came to visit.  This trip was much more pleasant, however.  We stopped for iced green tea (which was wonderful), we spent lots of time looking at some of the 150 temples and shrines dotting the hillside, we visited an outdoor Noh stage that has been designated as a National Cultural Site, we even saw something that I had not seen on my previous visit - Konjikido, a temple that four very powerful and rich men from Iwate were buried in hundreds of years ago.  The entire temple was plated in gold (except the roof, which was wood) and the inside was made entirely out of gold, precious woods, and inlayed ivory and mother of pear.  Also, when they excavated Konjikido, they found Lotus seeds, the descendants of which were in bloom around Chusonji.  After coming back down from the moon-viewing mountain, we picked up a couple of gifts and some sake for Mr. Oshima as a thank-you gift.  While we were there (on the hill, not specifically in the gift shop), several of the Japanese there were staring at Dan and myself.  Apparently foreigners are more common in Sendai, enough so that we really didn’t cause much of a stir.  But apparently not so at Chusonji.  We didn’t create a huge stir, but we both noticed all the stares. 

At about 1:00pm, it was off to the cow museum.  We got to Maesawa at about 2:00pm and wanted to grab some lunch, but the restaurant was full with a 30-minute wait.  We put our name on the list and then went to the Cow Museum.  The front desk lady said that she actually recognized me from 7 years ago, but I doubt it.  Of course, how many gaijin can they really get in there?  She apparently told the museum curator that two Americans were walking around and so he came out with a short one-page paper on pig evolutions and genetics and asked us to proof read it.  Since it was about time to go eat, we took the paper with us and read over it while waiting for our meal. 

Dan and Mr. Oshima ordered a 100g piece of sirloin steak.  It cost 45 dollars!  Mrs. Oshima and I had a cheaper, nine-dollar hamburger steak.  Dan’s steak was phenomenal!  Very marbled and with a wonderful taste.  My hamburger steak was pretty good, too!   

After eating, we went back to the cow museum and saw the rest of the displays as well as returned the corrected paper back to the curator (with only minor changes).  In return, he gave us a little bobble headed gold cow from the gift shop.   

We left the Cow Museum to return to Sendai, but we had to stop at a rest stop since Oto-san was getting tired.  Everyone except Dan had iced coffee.  Dan had Calpis Soda.  (We even made the Oshimas let us pay for the drinks.  I don’t know how “correct” it was, but everyone had been spending way too much on us!)   Because of the coffee combined with Oto-san’s self-named “kamikaze” driving on the back roads in the mountains to get back to Sendai, I got a bit sick.  Okay, I got very sick.  So we stopped and walked around Ichibancho shopping pedestrian mall and did a little calm shopping instead of going to eat sushi like we had planned.  I don’t think I could have kept anything down, even sushi.   

Walking around, we stopped at Daie where Oka-san got me a tamago-yaki pan so I could good that the proper way back home.  I also picked up three packs of furikake and a paper case for my crochet patterns at the 100 円 Shop.  Then we went back home, stopping by a sushi bar to get some take out.  

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After eating sushi tonight, Oto-san whipped out the Konjikido sake Dan and I had got him.  This inspired him (well, that and a few cans of beer before the half bottle of sake they downed) to give us a very amusing lecture on the purpose and quality of Japanese sake.  Oto-san’s lecture went as follows:

He believes that low-grade sake is the best because you drink it warm and therefore it makes you drunk faster. That is the main purpose of sake, “of his sake” according to Oka-san.  He is an economist, he says, because since he gets the low grade sake and drinks it warm, he gets drunk faster and on less sake than he would need with high grade sake which is best served chilled.  The sake we got for Oto-san (and my dad) at Konjikido is of a finer type that is more similar to wine, so it should be chilled.  This need to be chilled is a “degradation” of Japanese sake.  All of this was said with a good bit of laughter and humor.  Regardless of the need to drink it chilled, Oto-san did very good at getting drunk on the Konjikido sake!

He also mentioned that every sake brewery as a specialty – the Konjikido sake has gold in it, Oto-san’s sake from the other night is made in wooden barrels, giving it a special color and taste. 

While drinking, Oto-san said that Dan is a good person to get drunk with and was like a true son because his sons (he has three) would never drink with him.

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 We did so much today and spent quite a lot of time at Chusonji and Konjikido.  It was wonderful – a whole lot better than when I had gone with Tokiwa.  We took lots of pictures even though we are still learning to use the digital camera correctly.

Today, sadly, was our last day in Japan.  There are so many things I’ll miss.  I know I will cry at the station. 

On to August 12 Journal Entry

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