The food at this party was more than I had anticipated. When Maya said it was a barbecue, I was picturing yakitori and yakiniku (shish kabobs). While there were those things, there was also much, much more. The above is one round of more than a dozen, different BBQ sessions. I didn’t count, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me that 30 different things were cooked for this party of about eight kids and six adults. There was salmon, oysters, octopus, squid, beef, chicken (many different parts), pig, shrimp, several other kinds of fish, many different vegetables including corn on the cob, many items I’ve never seen before (nor do I know what they were), and others that I’m probably not remembering. On top of things coming off the grill, there was onigiri, yakisoba, and several other things to choose from.

I think Maya’s mom cooked barely half of what she had purchased and barely half of what she cooked was eaten, even though we were all stuffed. Speaking of moms, I was the only dad there until later in the evening when one of the moms went home and told her husband to join us. He was hesitant to come at first because he didn’t realize I’d be able to speak Japanese. His wife assured him that I was harmless, and we’d be able to communicate in Japanese just fine. Until he arrived, it was rather embarrassing to have five Japanese ladies wait on me. I suppose there are worse fates in life though. 😉

After dinner we had a fireworks show in the street.

This last picture from the party is of my favorite little girl of the evening. She was the little sister of one of Maya’s friends and so darling. She was the only one of the kids–other than Maya–who, from the outset, was not the least bit afraid of us. She introduced herself to my daughter and gave my daughter the lowest (and most respectful) bow I think I have ever seen. She was the first to play with my daughter at the park. She said some of the most polite things I’ve ever heard come out of a Japanese child’s mouth.

During the fireworks she would go around to the adults to ask them if they had any fireworks for her with a cat picture on the side. I gave her all of mine with the cat pictures, and she was most gracious in accepting them. She came back after lighting them off to see if I had any more. I did not, but we chatted about what I did have. Eventually I sold her on lighting off the remaining fireworks I held which had pictures of apples, grapes, and other things. Again, she was so courteous in her acceptance that I wanted to have more to give her just to continue to hear her amazing responses.

The evening ended with Maya, and her two friends who bonded well with my daughter during the evening, walking us part way back to the train station. They disobeyed their moms who told them to only go as far as the first stop light with us. At the second stop light I told them, somewhat jokingly, they had better turn back to go home at that point as I didn’t want their moms mad at me. They did, but it was a tough parting. The girls had gone from complete strangers to near tears at parting in just a few hours, despite no common oral language in which they could communicate.

Posted on September 5th, 2009 under Japan • Tags: fireworks, food, kids, people. • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed