Today was a big day in the Nagai household, with a huge birthday lunch being planned for Otosan’s 60th. While his birthday was actually in May, the family decided to hold off the celebrations until I arrived, which was sweet. The event was being held at a hotel on the Noto Peninsula, about 2 hours drive away. So we piled into a couple of cars, and picked up Satomi’s grandma and uncle on the way.
The hotel itself was very opulent. Beautiful Japanese water features greeted us throughout the sprawling complex, as we were led into a sort of waiting room to drink tea, have a smoke and a chat. Before long, the lunch room was ready and we were led in. What great me was a table completely full to overflowing of small dishes comprising almost every fish product known to man. After the formalities (speeches, pictures, etc), we got down to some serious eating. From lobster, to crab, to sashimi, to pumpkin tofu, to all manner of pickles, the food varied from “interesting” to just plain delicious. Accompanied by an ever-flowing supply of beer and sake (thanks to Grandma, who was insistent on me getting pissed), the day was thoroughly enjoyed by all. I did, however, slightly offend Otosan by refusing to go to the onsen (steam bath) with him. I had resolved before coming to Japan that onsen were not really my cup of tea: while I consider myself to be fairly open-minded and comfortable enough with my body to be naked, I resolutely decided I did not want to be naked around my father in law. Just not my cup of tea.
Satomi’s grandma was, as they always are, very sweet. A gentle, charming old lady, she was keenly interested in Australian life, and fired question after question at me through Satomi about where I lived, and all manner of details about my life at home. Little did I realize it at the time, but she had presented Satomi with a very large sum of money a couple of weeks back… sort of pre-payment for all of the special moments and events in our lives that she will unfortunately miss out on due to us being in Australia. One feeling I couldn’t shake, and still can’t, is the desire to have Satomi’s grandma, and my grandma, sit in a room for an afternoon and have a natter over endless cups of tea about their respective lives. Both are around the same age, and would have had some interesting comparisons about their experiences. I’m not sure if that would ever be possible, but it would be great to see.
Anyway, we headed back to Inami and settled back to home life. As we sat down for dinner, Satomi and I decided now was the time to officially tell the family of our wedding plans and show them the ring. Unfortunately, Otosan has downed a few beers by this stage and was a little drunk… he did not like or appreciate the way we had gone about this. He wanted to be asked in the traditional way for his permission to marry his daughter. Realising we’d stuffed up, we decided to leave the matter go for the night, and approach it the next morning with soberness. So we headed off to the next little town, Fuchuno, where a cute little hippy festival was on. Much the same as hippy festivals in Aus, it offered a range of homemade novelties and foods, as well as some cool music. Certainly not something I thought I’d see in country Japan.
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