An Evening Reception

After the busy day of meetings and presentations, we went to a house near the government building for a reception. The house is made to resemble a house that would be in the Tokaimura sister city of Idaho Falls. It has a grandfather clock, western paintings, a wooden beam roof, etc. I think it was a very noble effort to convert a house to look like one from another country. The reception was quite an event because all of the local government and school officials were there, along with the host families. All of us got to meet the family that we would be staying with for the home stay later this week. I think I am lucky because I am paired with a 31 year old guy and his family. He actually has the same music likes as I do, and has even seen U2 in concert (the 1989 Lovetown tour in Tokyo). Although he has his own apartment, we are actually going to stay with his parents and sisters because they have a larger home. But, to continue with the present, the reception was great with traditional Japanese music and lots of food. The welcome from the Japanese present was just about as warm as a welcome could ever be. They have been preparing for our visit for a long time, and now that we are here, they are very excited and ready. The evening closed with a rendition of the Hokey Pokey demonstrated by us, and joined by the Japanese. Then, they showed us the traditional way to end a Japanese reception (it involved clapping in a pattern and yelling something I did not understand!). It was a really great evening that did show us how welcome we are here. The picture I attached shows the traditional Japanese music performers.