Part 6 of my "Journey to fulfill a promise"

Poppies in Focus-3 by Cindy.  This was my gift to my aunt, Tamami-san, painted by Cindy

Part 6 of Journey to Fulfill a Promise
 

What a journey this has been!  Many readers have nailed it right on the head by saying, "Trip of a lifetime," lifetime worth of experience," or simply, "beautiful."  There were many more descriptions of my trip and they were all dead-on, so thank you all for going on this journey with me.  Before I finish the last blog I want to provide you a look at friends, family and other photos taken along my journey in Japan.  Some folks have asked if all the pictures were from me...YES!  Thanks to Allison and Louay who helped me figure out the difference between point and shoot vs dslr.  I am no expert, but will report, yes, there is a massive difference in my pictures using a dslr camera.  Many folks contributed to the beautiful pictures, but no one stepped in more to take pictures than Putter-san.  She would ask to take pictures and it was awesome because I got to see different events through the eyes of someone else.  So, thank you Tomoyo for helping out so much with the pictures. 

The hotel staff was absolutely the best.  The first person I met when I entered the hotel was Maiko-san.  She spoke perfect English and had lived in Renton, WA., attending a local high school, only about 30 minutes from where I was raised in Tacoma.  As discussed in part 1 of my blog, Shoko-san, another member of the hotel staff was also a great help, at times translating for me and my aunts.   Shoko-san spent a year in New Zealand so she too is an advanced English speaker.  Nana-san speaks English too, but it was her willingness to help me so much that blew me out of the water.  Lastly, I met Ayumi Obama in the restaurant as she was recently hired.  She lived 2 1/2 years in Wisconsin and had only returned 4 months prior to meeting me, so her English is advanced also.  She translated for me on a day when Maiko-san, Shoko-san and Nana-san weren't available.  She helped me with my aunts and uncles and I am so thankful she assisted us.  Without Nana, Shoko, Maiko and Ayumi, my hotel stay would have been a disaster.  Working, at times, as translators they all made my journey possible, especially when my aunts arrived.  Ladies, thank you sooo much! 

Nana-san on my right and Maiko-san on my right

 On my right is Nana-san and on my left is Shoko-san with the rest of the hotel staff. 

Yes, her last name is Obama...notice she is pointing at her name tag.  She will hopefully transfer from University of Wisconsin to San Diego State University next year and finish her degree in SoCal.  My son lives in SoCal, soooo, hopefully, I can hook them up. Hope you are listening Yoshi:)  Beautiful Japanese young lady from your Bachan's hometown...c'mon! 

Next are simple pictures from around Kagoshima.  You must start with the volcano, Sakurajima.  The volcano sits in the middle of the bay so it is always in sight while visiting Kagoshima.  Plus, it is always smoking.  Enjoy:

Sakurajima blowing ash again.  The volcano blew ash 90% of the time while I was there

 Random flowers that are simply beautiful

 A group practicing for a boat race

This young couple was doing a photo shoot in the hotel prior to getting married

 This house is located in my mom's village

 Beach in front of my mom's house

 The man in white is the son of my grandfather's best friend.  They said I look like my grandfather.

  

 These 2 pictures are what cigarette packaging looks like.  Surprisingly, many folks smoke anyway

 Met a Japanese Soldier while out riding my bike and just wanted to take a picture with him

 Me leaning on the wall at my mom's childhood home

 

 Niang and Cindy...without these two I would have simply wandered around Kagoshima and never met relatives.  Can't thank them enough!

What added to my journey was my golf outings with my uncle and friends.  Amazingly, Nakae-san, my uncle, is a great golfer, even at 73.  His son, Kouji, joined us on our second outing so it was so nice to golf with Nakae-san, Kouji, Ryuji and Tomoyo.

Tomoyo brought Ryuji to golf with me and my uncle, Nakae-san.  She putted for me during the round, so she got the name "Putter-san," which stuck throughout my entire journey.  Thank you Putter-san!

 Me and Nakae-san.  My uncle can really golf and he loves to laugh and smile

 Nakae-san getting ready to hit the long ball

 The jewel of Kagoshima is the volcano, Sakurajima, which looms in the background.  The course we played had many views of the beautiful volcano

 Ryuji showing great form on his approach

 Putter-san going to work

The next golf outing foursome was me, Ryuji, Kouji and Nakae-san.  Unfortunately, due to the hard driving rain we only had 1 picture that was taken after our round.  Even with the hard rain, rivers of water, standing water, thunder and hurricane-like winds, we all had a great time.  

Cindy had been telling me about a great beach near my hotel.  She expressed how beautiful it was and it was a place I wanted to visit.  Luckily, Tomoyo and her friend Ayami offered to take me to the beach to see the sunset.  It was beautiful to watch the sky change colors over Sakurajima.  Here is the crazy thing.  My aunt expressed to me she doesn't use the internet or computers, so I decided to make a picture book for her and my other aunt.  Problem is I didn't know where to print the pictures.  Turned out that Ayami works at a print store that prints pictures, so problem was solved.  I gave a beautiful picture book of my journey to both aunts, so thank you Ayamai. 

 Visiting the beach with Putter-san and Ayami  to watch the sunset over Sakurajima....beautiful!

Me and Osamu....another hafu (what they call folks who are half Japanese).  He lives in Japan and can cook his tail off. 



My cousin Sayaka went to school to do origami.  Told her about birds my mother used to make and bammm....she made the same exact one, plus an origami ball 

The beautiful origami bird my mom used to make...wow!!  Also, a little dinosaur

These are the hands of my aunt, Tamami-san.  While I watched her as she made origami, her hands reminded me of my moms....cool!

My cousin's daughter in the kitchen helping my aunts prepare lunch.  They made Onigiri or what we used to call ningimamas.  Funny, when I said that name to my aunts they knew exactly what I meant.  My mom used to make the same for us.

My aunts getting busy making Onigiri or ningimamas.  Wow...just like my mom!

Onigiri or ningimamas.  Delicious (oishi desu)

Celebrating the birthday of Teruo.  He is the #1 (ichiban) bartender on the island of Kyushu:

Great night and good laughs

Tomorrow, I will close out my journey to Japan with part 7.  Back in the United States now and yes, I do miss my aunts, cousins, friends and of course the food.  This trip helped me learn so many things and it has made me a better person because I discovered some things about myself.  Hopefully, by the end of part 7, you too will walk away with some life lessons.  Until then....enjoy!