Tea and Karaoke

Japanese tea ceremony is an art that is truly unique and foreign to the western world. Last Friday, Michelle, Jamie, and I were invited to another experience that is not usual to common visitors; a private tea ceremony. This ceremony was conducted by a tea master that is in Jamie’s adult class and was attended by four young Japanese that we are good friends with. As I was sitting formal Japanese style on the tamami mats I found myself thinking how simply wonderful it was for this women to invite seven young individuals into her home and life. She was teaching us a piece of Japanese culture while also bring the pure form of internationalization into reality.

Granted this wasn’t a very formal tea ceremony but lets just say a beginner’s introduction. I have been to a formal tea ceremony in the past but have to say that is one was much more fun and all in English definitely helped the enjoyment of the situation. A Japanese tea ceremony is a ritual procedure that includes a tea master performing the art while others enjoy the sweets and macha tea. First a sweet is given to lessen the bitterness of the tea, then the master brings out beautiful tea ceremony bowls and begins the form of ceremony. Each movement is carefully planned when washing, pouring, stirring, giving and receiving the tea. It is simply beautiful how the combination of movements reflect the Japanese ways. The receiver of the tea bows with appreciation, admires the bowl, turns it a precise way, and savors every flavor before returning the bowl to the master.

After she conducted the ceremony Jamie, Michelle, and I volunteered to learn from the master. We whipped up a beautiful bowl of foaming macha tea for our four other friends! This was hilarious and with our joker Japanese friends we turned it into a marriage proposal instead of an appreciation of the delicious tea!

After our cultural event we moved on to dinner and drinks. She had prepared lots of Japanese food with beer, sake, wine and chu-hi to wash it all down with. At dinner our conversations mixed between American pop music to sharing stories of love and life. Listening to others share touching stories about past and present is always wonderful and especially when an elder is enlightening the young ones. Again, another amazing Japanese experience that I will live from and take with me.

What a combination: nomihodi, tabehodi, and karaoke! (all you can eat, drink and sing) This is where the entertainment took place on Saturday night in Joestu. Watch out when the foreigners come to town because we can order more beer, wine, and kiwi sours than anyone around! We can also make far more racket than anyone around as well! About 20 foreigners and Japanese gathered for this event which brought dancing (yes, basically on the table), demands for the server to bring 24 kiwi sours every 10 minutes (so sorry new trainee), and singing (being heard from the bathroom).

The night certainly wasn’t finished after leaving this fabulous creation. We danced on to a small club called Nova to dance the evening away! The dance floor was basically ours and we sure did make great use of the space. Dancing into the morning hours was just like Tokyo however, we didn’t see the sunrise this time. Sunday was spend over a fabulous lunch with Liz, Tiff, Carrie, Aaron, Michelle, Jamie and myself. When I say fabulous I am referring to the wonderful salad bar at this is cute Italian restaurant and four hours of talking about every topic imaginable. It was a much needed reunion enjoyed by all! I can’t tell you how great this group is and sadly how infrequently these amazing times occur.