Gretchen's Arrival in Japan

Robert and his host mother Sumiko and his host brother Yoshi.
The table set for Robert's last dinner at Sumiko's house: sukiyaki, fishcake rolls, fried herring, miso soup, and daikon salad. (See Sumiko preparing it below. The photos got out of order when I added new ones.)
Robert was pretending to drink the raw egg that Sumiko served us to dip our boiled meat in. I was a bit hesitant at first, but it actually didn't taste too bad. Her sukiyaki was one of my favorite meals in Japan.
Robert and I standing in a pedestrain mall in Sapporo.

Wax/plastic food in the restaurant windows or display cases. It's usually how we had to pick our restaurants and our food as Robert didn't always know the kanji on the menus. It was kind of like a "game of chance" and we often got a surprise to eat! (Like chicken livers on a stick or fat wrapped around mushrooms.)
This is Robert giving his end-of-the-semester presentation in front of all the exchange students and their families. I don't know what he said-- it was in Japanese. :)

Sumiko had so many dishes! Every meal had to have lots of little dishes for each item. She sounded really offended when she told us how her host family (when Sumiko visited the U.S.) only used one large plate for everything!

Robert's little bed was a futon that was piled high with blankets that served as a mattress (not really well, though).
This is Robert is a five-story, very busy Japanese store! It was a little overwhelming, but they have everything you can think of...

Susukino is the area of downtown with all the lights and busy commercial area. It reminded me of Times Square in NYC.

Sumiko was Robert's host mother in Sapporo. She was so great and such a sweetheart! In this photo, she was preparing sukiyaki for our last dinner. She showed me how to prepare a few different things (sukiyaki, unegeri, yuri) and sent us home with lots of presents!
She and her son Yoshi drove us to the train station at 6:15am on Friday morning. So early! We hope Sumiko and her family will come visit us in Portland or Chicago!