Sendai

The calm before the storm (and the earthquake):


We left Tokyo Friday night by means of Shinkansen. Eki-ben are lunch-box style food found at all train stations. Each city/region/station has different varieties and this has become a big part of any trip for many citizens. For some baby-boomers, eating on the train is more exciting than where they are actually headed to. I chose chicken, which I suppose is fairly in par for a Friday night.

Japan's worst typhoon was set to hit this bank holiday weekend, and there were already reports of destruction in the South of the country. It wasn't supposed to reach the Northern parts of Honshu (the main Island) but the rain was going to be fierce all over.

It was nice to see Keiko's parents and, of course, Taffy. Mrs Terui's obsession with dressing him up had gone one step too far, sadly, with this pink number. He was already being accosted by other dogs thinking he was a girl, and this can't have been helping.

My mission had become clear - I needed to assert his masculinity.

As expected, the rain continued all through Saturday and Sunday so we didn't do too much. A brief interlude meant we could go on a drive to a nice park with a foot onsen.

The place had hydrangeas galore, and I even felt like a cool nature photographer, with this close up:

We ended with a brief stop in front of a cool waterfall in the countryside.


Saturday evening, I went to the public pool with Mr and Mrs Terui. Most people looked at me as if they'd never seen a foreigner before, and some were brave enough to talk to me: "American?", "Nice long strokes" etc, although the second was definitely grounded on sarcasm.

We had nice food, although it took some encouragement to eat a grasshopper. Very crunchy, but honestly it wasn't bad. It wasn't good either, but it was covered in so much sugar, that it was just sweet. If I hadn't known, it would've been just like a hard toffee. Still, Mrs Terui swallowed one but a leg stuck in her throat. Think I'll stick with jacket potatoes.


I also managed to get to pet shop, where I completed my mission. For as much as dressing up dogs is dumb, if it has to be done, it might as well be done in style:



Taffy's new favourite game was humping his favourite toy, 'Love-chan':




Sunday night, we all went to karaoke. I found out this was the first time Mr and Mrs Terui have sung together during their 26 years together. It was a lot of fun, and Mrs Terui was so excited she was writing down songs for next time. She's been on the phone quite a few times asking when we can go again!

The bad weather was actually a good chance to relax. Saturday night I slept for 12 hours and felt so refreshed come Sunday. I also read a whole book - jPod - sent by Dad (thank you!) which I haven't done for a long time. However...

Monday morning, I was eating breakfast at about 11am when the whole room shook. It was quite clearly a strong earthquake but it was only a few minutes later on the News when I realised how serious it was. I think 10 people died, and to imagine how strong it must've been for roads to be demolished and houses to collapse is quite scary.

The rain eventually stopped by the time we arrived home, and we dropped our stuff at home before heading to the festival...