Home Stay

Going clubbing the night before the home stay wasn't the greatest idea in the world. A painful wake up and a not-so-refreshing shower managed to get me out the door and on my way to school with Mike and a few others. I grabbed some coffee and headed up to the meeting room with Daisuke, a Japanese student who was self taught in English. After a while just sitting around we finally split into our home stay groups and headed out.

Brett, Tyler, and myself met Hisako Katagiri, a wonderful woman of over 50 years that doesn't look a drop over 35. She is the only one in the family that we're staying with that speaks English, so it was set to be an interesting weekend from the get-go. Hisako's son came and picked us up in van (think American mini-van, now think smaller). We then drove to their home, located in a village which is nestled into a valley in the mountains.

After snacks at the house we went to the prefecture police station (like American State Troopers or Highway Patrol) where Hisako's son works as a motorcycle patrol officer. There we were given the special privilege of seeing their various patrol cars and motorcycles up close. They had an unmarked car with a flashing light that popped up through a trap door in the roof. They also showed us the 3 different kinds of patrol motorcycles used. The highlight of the visit was the station's RX-7 pursuit vehicle. Hisako's son gave us each a lap around the parking lot in it.

RX-7 Police Car

After the visit to the police station we went to a nearby city to have lunch at a traditional sushi restaurant It was a bit hard communicating what kind of sushi we liked, especially since I don't know what most of it is called, but we managed. Hisako and her family thought it was odd when I didn't eat as much as everyone else. I was honestly full, but I couldn't convey this. They found it hard to believe a 6 foot American could eat lightly.

Next we drove to a local sawmill so Hisako's husband could pick something up. Here we parted ways with her son and went to the super market (like American grocery store, only very different food, like squid) to buy food for tonight's dinner. We then headed back to the village where we went to the family's old house. This house was built in 1898 and was filled with the family's oldest possessions. We would have dinner here later but first we walked back to the new house where we relaxed while dinner was prepared at the old house.

Around 8 we walked over to the old house where we joined Hisako, her husband, her parents, and a family friend. We sat around a firepit, warmed by burning bamboo charcoal. Dinner consisted of miso soup, a sort of pork on a stick with onions, Japanese radish, a delicious salad with sliced beef, rice from the family's fields, and the main dish, tempura Japanese pumpkin, mushrooms, and mountain vegetable.

The village

About a half hour into the dinner Nabe-chan showed up with a six-pack of sake. Evidently the Katagiri family were old friends of his. The rest of the night was filled with laughter as Nabe-chan as his usual self. Just having Nabe-chan's company for dinner made the home stay worth it.

We all called it quits around 11:30 and headed to bed. Tyler, Brett, and myself would spend a peaceful night in the old house. It would be the first full night's sleep I'd had in 3 days.


The next morning I woke up a little after 8. Tyler was out for the count with a hang over from the previous night (6 big cups of sake) and Brett was already up. Hisako came and brought us over to the new house for a Japanese breakfast (greens, beans, toast, and yogurt). Tyler went back to sleep while Hisako led Brett and myself to the village shrine. The shrine sits hidden in the trees above the village on the mountain. Its 108 steep steps to the shrine. Hisako explained that it was built 600 years ago by her ancestors. She then led us down a mountain trail, showing us the various plants that could be used for food or medicine. All the greens used in our meals are either picked from the mountain or her garden. Hisako took us to her husband's shop where we saw the equipment used in the rice paddies.

Shrine Steps

Back at the house we relaxed until some family friends came over to help prepare lunch. Then we went back to the old house and made soba noodles. Not being good in the kitchen I went outside and helped with the fire for boiling the noodles. Funny how men can stand around a fire and without saying a word, communicate what they think, even if they are from completely different parts of the world. Once the noodles were boiled we had a soba noodle lunch with leftover tempura.

After lunch Tyler and Brett laid down for a nap while I had green tea with Hisako, her husband, and her friend who designed Japanese houses (architect I guess). Hisako took me out to where her father (ojee-san) was making bamboo charcoal in a kiln. She then took me up the mountain ("yama" is Japanese for mountain) to chop bamboo saplings. Then helped her pick greens from the family garden for dinner. On the way back to the old house we took the long route around the town and she did her best to be a tour guide, despite the language barrier. Then she headed off to prepare dinner so I wandered around the town for a bit. Only about 100 people live in the village, so walking from one end to the other is nothing.

I made my way back to the new house where I relaxed until dinner. Dinner was Chinese won-tons, although Hisako had a completely different name for them. We enjoyed a wonderful meal while telling the family about our own families and lives back in the States. It was a great evening and after group pictures Hisako drove us back to the apartments. I spent the rest of the night relating my own experiences with the other students who had returned from their own home stays.


This ends my first week in Japan. For an entire week every day presented a new challenge which I could have never experienced in America. Each morning I had to tell myself that I wouldn't be afraid of new things, despite how culturally different they might be. My mind can't even begin to comprehend the amount of amazing things I have experienced. I can already feel myself becoming a different ("chigaru"), braver person. Tomorrow will bring even more challenges, and after the first week, I'm more then ready to face them. "Ganbate!" (Go for it!).

Hisako and her family, me in the back middle.