An Australian Family

An Australian family enjoyed a Japanese cultural experience. After they learned calligraphy in the morning, they enjoyed the tea ceremony in their kimonos. The mother, who was a little bit shy, was excited at her and her daughter's beautiful kimono style. They looked so nice in their Furisode-kimonos and when they said "cheese" at the Shinto shrine!

All of us were fascinated with the tea master's elegant carriage and excellent explanation of the tea ceremony. The girl answered,"Kekko desu" in Japanese with a smile after she had drunk the tea.

It was heart-warming sight that the father took a photo of his wife and daughter from behind. They looked so happy and admired the beauty of ladies.

Working as the tea ceremony assistant was a little bit hard even though we started to put a kimono on each guest at 1p.m. and the tea ceremony ended at 3 p.m. I had to start putting a kimono on myself at home at 10 and leave my house for the facility at 11. After 30 minutes, I arrived at the facility and prepared many things about kimono dressing such as several strings and pillow-like items for making the shape of the Obi-sashes, Tabi-socks and Zori-footware. Putting on Kimonos needs a lot of strength and stamina because we tie many strings tightly. Walking in a kimono is quite hard work. Moreover, during the tea ceremony, I have to move sitting on the floor with my hands. I was surprised that the girl also moved in the same style. She was watching me carefully and copied me very well. 

A Smart Girl from France

A smart girl from France, who is studying six languages and is good at cooking, made three types of sushi in my kitchen with her aunt. She loves Japan and knew many things about Japan especially the cooking words. She studied all of them through the Internet by herself. I was very surprised when she shouted 'Tamagoyaki' as soon as I took a Japanese omelet out of my fridge. I hope she will be a good go-between for France and Japan in the future.

Sushi Making is Popular

Sushi might be an internationally popular food now. Foreign tourists are interested in not only eating sushi but also making sushi. After coming back to Japan from my travels in Europe, I have worked as a sushi instructor three times every ...other day. Actually, making a sushi roll and a rice ball is quite difficult for ordinary people. Japanese sushi chefs are said to spend 10 years to master them. We teach them traditional way as the chefs do and the easy way, using a kit, and give the kit as a souvenir. I hope my guests will make sushi in their home countries using the kit.

A Family from Iowa

They were well-educated children from Iowa. The two boys and their father were sitting on the floor without moving and watching the wrestlers carefully for two hours. I was surprised they understood everything, for example, who the stable m...aster was, what the coach advised the wrestlers, who was the strongest, and so on. After visiting the sumo stable, we visited the former Yasuda Garden, the Sumo Museum, and Eko-in Temple and we ate Chanko-nabe, the Sumo-wrestlers' staple food, at a restaurant together. I couldn't help hoping that their one-week trip to Tokyo would be wonderful when I said goodbye to them at Akihabara Station.

Four Boys from Chicago

Four boys from Chicago were very excited and well-behaved while they were watching the morning Sumo training. When the wrestlers started their final exercise, the coach suddenly called to the boys, "Hey, why don't you come here?" The surpri...sed boys entered the ring one after another and rushed against the wrestlers. Their parents cheered them on and they were busy taking a lot of pictures. Everybody looked so happy and enjoyed the brief contact together.

A Family from Californis

A family with very cute girls and their friend from California enjoyed making sushi in my house. The three-year-old and four-year-old girls also tried to make sushi without wasabi by themselves. They were so impressed how delicious the real wasabi was and I was so glad that all of my guests looked so satisfied.
 

A Family from Singgapore

Wearing a woman's kimono is quite difficult because it doesn't have any buttons or zippers and it is longer than the wearer's height. We use two strings and an Obi sash to fit it to us. I taught a Singaporean family, consisting of parents and a daughter, how to put on yukatas, simple cotton kimono for the summer season. After putting on their yukatas, we walked around a nearby Shinto shrine and park to take a lot of pictures. I was so glad to see them taking pictures with each other in high spirits.

 

Nice Couple from Oslo

My guests came from the capital city of Norway, Oslo. They tasted both real wasabi-horseradish and wasabi-paste in a tube, and realized the big difference between them. They have Asian markets in their town so they can buy sushi rice, rice vinegar, and Nori-laver there. However, it's difficult to buy real wasabi-horseradish in their country. They really wanted to take the real wasabi to Oslo as a souvenir. According to a reliable website, they can take it to Norway without any problems but it's impossible to take it to the U.S. I hope they will find wasabi at a nearby department store of their hotel and surprise their friends in Oslo.

A Nice French Couple

A nice French couple made sushi in my house. They bought a block of fresh tuna and wasabi-horse radish at Tsukiji Market and I prepared the other ingredients such as shrimp, scallop, salmon, mackerel, avocado and so on. I usually show my guests how to make sushi-rice, makizushi, nigiri and battleship shaped sushi. Many foreign guests have eaten sushi in their own countries but don't know how to ma...ke sushi-rice. They are very impressed with the delicious sushi rice which they make with me. I have also eaten sushi in several foreign countries and I was always disappointed with it. The most important thing to remember when making sushi-rice is not to mash the rice grains. I have several helpful hints for making good sushi-rice. If you want to know them, please visit my house. Let's make delicious sushi together!!

 

An Australian Couple at Oguruma-Beya

I guided an Australian couple to Oguruma-baya sumo stable. During the morning training, high ranking wrestlers called Sekitori wear white loincloths and the others wear black ones. When I visited that stable last summer, four wrestlers wearing white loincloths were practicing hard. Today, I found only two wrestlers wearing white loincloths. The two wrestlers had been demoted from the Makuuchi divi...sion to the Makushita class. It's a severe society. The next tournament will start on the 12th so another Sekitori wrestler from Mastugane-beya came to the stable and they practiced together, as both stables belong to the same group. There are 44 sumo stables now and each stable belongs to one of six groups. The stables in the same group usually cooperate with each other in things such as morning training and kind of roadshows. The word 'stable' sounds strange for English native speakers but we say 'sumo stable' because wrestlers live together like racehorses in a big building with a sumo ring.

A French Couple and their Daughters

A nice French family came to my house to make sushi after walking around Tsukiji Fish Market with an excellent French speaking guide. All of them really enjoyed traveling around Hiroshima, Hakone and Tokyo. They told us that they would visit Japan someday in autumn to enjoy the beautiful colored leaves. After the sushi party, I guided them to the top floor of my condo to see the view of Tokyo and the Hello-Kitty shop near my house. They are going to back to their country with a lot of nice memories of Japan.

Kokonoe-Beya with My British Teacher

Kokonoe-beya is a sumo stable run by a former popular and strong Yokozuna, Chiyonofuji. I visited the stable with my British English teacher, her American husband and their friend from South Africa. The stable building is quite modern and about 15 other people including children were watching the training. Today, Kokonoe's stable master and the other coach were absent so the wrestlers seemed to be relaxing; still, the matches between the Sekitori wrestlers were very exciting. — at Kokonoe-beya Sumo Stable.

Keiko-Soken with a Couple from Australia

The Yokozuna Promotion Committee is the most important sumo-related board which recommends a strong sumo wrestler to become a Yokozuna, the highest rank of sumo wrestlers. Before a tournament held in Tokyo, high ranking wrestlers called Sekitori do their morning training in front of the members of the Committee, which is called Keiko-Soken in Japanese. Sometimes it is open to the public. I guided a nice Australian couple to this event in Kokugikan Arena. Luckily, we could get a box seat near the ring. My guests and I really enjoyed their exciting matches. — at Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena.

An American Couple from Texas

A nice American couple from Texas visited my house to make sushi. The husband was really good at cooking and I learned how to dice an avocado in my hand, not on a cutting board. After the sushi party, I guided them to Ikebukuro Station through the busy Sunshine City shopping center and shopping mall. They were so interested in the many stores and crowds. Near the station there is a big specialty store selling beautiful Japanese paper with colored patterns. The wife got so excited at the many kinds of sheets of paper.

the Tokyo National Museum and Kyoto

I worked as one of the guides who took care of over 800 employees of an international company. Our guests attended the meeting held in Tokyo and a Japanese travel agent provided many kinds of optional tours in Tokyo and Kyoto. I guided my guests around the Tokyo National Museum twice and on a one-day tour in central Kyoto, where we walked from Yasaka Shrine to Higashiyama Street through Nene-no-Michi and Ishibei-koji in the morning and enjoyed making sushi at a local cooking school near Nishiki-ichiba. In the Tokyo National Museum, they enjoyed a tea ceremony in a Japanese garden behind the museum at first and then appreciated the Japanese art exhibition in the Honkan gallery.

Sushi-making with an American Family, Arashio-Beya in Ningyo-Cho, and Kasugano-Beya

I worked as a sushi instructor and guide for three days in a row.

On the first day, a family with three daughters from California visited my house after they had bought a block of tuna and wasabi horseradish with my excellent coworker. Though my kitchen was a little bit small for seven people, I had a wonderful time making sushi with them.

On the second day I guided an American couple to Arashio-beya sumo stable in Hama-cho. It was raining so hard and there was a line of foreign people in front of the stable. The sumo tournament ended about ten days ago and it was also a period of a kind of road-show so only a few stables were doing their morning training on that day. Only several visitors can enter the training room at one time and the others usually watch the training through the window facing a narrow road. Unfortunately, it was raining so the window was clouded with moisture. The visitors were allowed to enter in turn so my guests could enter and enjoy watching the training. After that I took them Amazake-yokocho, an old shopping mall. The couple was really interested in the Japanese confectionery, so they took many pictures of beautiful sweets, which depict the spring season, and they bought some traditional sweets.

On the third day, I guided a German gentleman to Kasugano-beya. After their hard training my favorite wrestler, Tochinoshin, allowed us to take pictures with him and I could touch his muscular arm.

One Day Guiding in Tokyo

I guided two businessmen from London and Brussels around several places in Tokyo on the 23rd. We bought 1,000 yen one-day subway tickets and visited Asakusa, Ginza, the Imperial Palace, Omotesando, Harajuku and Shibuya from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was very tight to walk around all these places in one day but I hope the itinerary satisfied their requests. Luckily the cherry blossoms were in full bloom ...as they started to bloom much earlier than usual this year. For the busy businessmen, who are traveling in several cities in Asia to attend meetings in a short period, their interests were not historical places. They wanted to see some buildings designed by famous architects such as Omotesando-Hills by Tadao Ando, girls and boys dressed animatedly in Harajuku and the huge crossing in front of Shibuya Station, and they were really impressed with block lines for blind people and safety guards in subway platforms.See More

— at Asakusa,Ginza,the Imperial Palace, Omotesando,Harajuku and Shibuya.

A Professional Canadian Chef

A professional Canadian chef visited my house with his expensive sharp knife which he bought at Kappa-Bashi shopping district, where they sell many kinds of food related items, to experience Sushi-making. He also wore a chef's uniform and b...rought his own chopsticks, which he bought in Asakusa, and his own cooking tools such as a spatula and a grater. Oh, my...! I'm not a professional chef. How can I teach him to cook? "Please, learn how an ordinary Japanese housewife makes home-made sushi." He laughed, "OK, I understand. I'm really interested in Japanese home cooking." I taught him how to make the sushi-rice and he showed me his wonderful knife cutting technique. Anyway, we enjoyed cooking and of course our sushi was so delicious. He was born in a small town near Vancouver and didn't know the word 'chef' until he first went to a big party at the age of 9. He was very surprised when he spoke with a chef who earned a lot of money by cooking at the event and decided to be a chef. He loved to see his mother cooking for his family but he couldn't imagine how people can earn money by cooking. He has been working as a private chef in several European cities for 10 years and always pursued the best way to create a good taste. For him, the number one city is Barcelona, and London is the next. Tokyo is the third and Kyoto is the fourth. Anyway, we shared a wonderful time today.

He sent his comment.  ↓
☆　sushi class as brilliant!!!
she is very knowledgeable and nice
i learned a lot
thank you :-)

Kasugano Beya

I guided three foreign guests to Kasugano-beya sumo stables. Kind Takenawa- Oyakata, a coach, guided us to a space facing the dohyo-rink and prepared cushions for us to sit on. Just in front of us, strong sekitori-wrestlers were fighting ea...ch other. My favorite wrestler, Tochinoshin, lost every bout. "What happened to him? Is he in poor health this morning?" After I happened to find his interview article on a website the other day, I became his fan. The Georgian boy struggled through many difficulties such as language difference, home sickness and loneliness, and became a high-ranking wrestler two years after he entered Kasugano-beya. All of the members helped him. I'm looking forward to seeing all Kasugano wrestlers, especially Tochinochin's, progress in the March tournament. After the morning training, I took one of my guests' pictures with Takenawa- Oyakata, who was a former wrestler, Tochinonada, because he is a fan of him.

An Australian Gentleman

I guided an Australian gentleman to Oguruma-beya. He had been skiing in Hokkaido with his family for two weeks and the 6th was his last day in Japan. He was really interested in many Japanese things and he participated in the Sumo program alone while his family members were sleeping in the hotel.