Today was the first of our many side-trips, traveling to western
Japan. I was up late last night packing my small suitcase for the 8 days
that we will be in Tamano City and Hiroshima, so I was a little sleepy.
We started the day with a short goodbye to Ei-chan and her husband and
caught a train to Okyama, the area in Western Japan that we were heading
to. This was our first bullet train experience and it was pretty neat.
Once
we got to Okyama we took a shorter train to Kojima the town where the
tatami tape factory, Takata Orimono, we were visiting was located.
Tatami mats are woven mats often found in traditional Japanese
households. Tatami tape covers the edges of the mats to extend the
lifetime. Takata Orimono produces all different types of patterns
through automated looms. Some looms are computer automated but the
majority of the looms were run by a punch card system that has been used
since the inception of the company. The Takata family maintains control
of the business, with it being run by Mr. and Mrs. Takata. It was neat
to tour the factory that was punch card controlled.
After the
factory tour we headed for an afternoon at the beach. I would have gone
swimming but it was a little chilly and overcast so I just sat and
relaxed. Stapp even let us bury him in the sand.
After
the beach Madison’s host mom picked us up and dropped me off at the
Watanabe family’s home. Before I met Shoko (the mom) I had been very
nervous. Last summer I was comfortable with the Martial family because
of their extreme hospitality and friendliness, but mostly because of the
children. Aude, Pierre-Alexandre, and Solène were the best part of last
summer; I love kids. However the Watanabe family did not have any
children listed. I was jealous of my friends who had 2 or 3 children in
the household. But when I met Shoko for the first time my fears
disappeared. She was awesome! We talked for a while, getting to know
each other and it was great. She reminded me so much of my own mom, if
my mom was 10 years older and Japanese. After talking, we took her
extremely cute dogs for a walk. Coco is a Pomeranian and Cookie is a toy
poodle.
That
night she hosted 12 (!) people over for a dinner party. Madison and
here host mom, Ms. Ayonara, came and so did Shoko’s mom and lots of
family friends. One of the girls who came, Naomi, was Japanese but had
been living in Australia for the last 11 years. There was so much food!
I really like Tamano and I think that I’m going to have a lot of fun with the Watanabe family.
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Read more from Stephanie at http://stephsadventuresabroad.tumblr.com/
Find out more about the U of A International Business in Japan program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/wcobjapan
