To Osaka, After a Detour and a Japanese Magician

So my original plan was to get up this morning and take the express train to Osaka, where I would hang out for a couple of days. However, Miki and her family convinced me to change my plans. At 8:30 this morning Miki woke me up with a phone call to ask if I would meet her and her family for coffee and then go to Kure city (which is not too far from Hiroshima.) I hadn’t reserved a train ticket yet, so I once again said yes. I really felt so lucky to have been adopted by this random Japanese family… it was really turning out to be such an amazing experience.

So after dropping the kids off at school, Miki, her cousin, his wife, and I all piled into the family car to drive to Kure city. Instead of looking at the scenery as we drove, I pretty much couldn’t resist watching the TV that was in the front dashboard of the car. They had it hooked up to some sort of satellite system, and so we were watching Japanese TV programs. Japanese commercials are often hilarious. I’ll try to find some youtube clips of some of them to post later.

When we got to Kure city, we went to the house of Miki’s great uncle (on her mother’s side.) This was the first time that Miki’s cousin had met this man, because the cousin is on Miki’s father’s side of the family. Anyhow, Miki’s great uncle is 83 years old, which I didn’t know until we met. Every time I see an older Japanese person, I must admit I get a little worried… I can’t help but wonder if they were involved in WWII, or had lost close relatives or friends because of it, etc. But in this case, I needn’t have worried. Great Uncle was a very polite, very charming man who welcomed me into his home. He and his wife served us green tea and sweets, and then I learned what he does in his retirement. It turns out that Great Uncle loves doing magic tricks, so he goes to elementary schools and other places as a volunteer magician! He showed us a couple of his tricks, as well as how to perform some of them. One of the tricks included producing a live dove out of thin air. Really, folks, I know this all sounds so random, but there is no way I could make this up :P Great Uncle let me video a couple of his tricks, I've put some of those at the bottom of this post for you to see.After about an hour, we left Kure city to head back to Hiroshima. We picked up the kids and grabbed a late lunch of “oyakodonburi,” which is basically rice mixed with scrambled eggs, chicken, and pork. Very tasty. Afterwards, we got a few pictures all together, and then Miki dropped me off at the train station before she began her long drive back to Fukuoka. On the train, it took me only about an hour to get from Fukuoka to Hiroshima; Miki said it would take her between 3 and 4 hours to drive it. I really think that if public transport were faster in the states, more people would use it.
Right now I’m on my way to Osaka, where I will be for two nights. Not sure what all I’ll be doing there, but I’ve heard that it is a really beautiful city. Until next time!