Grandpa, Grandma, Mayu, Mom, and Dad

Week 4: Iijima Town I swear, if you know enough people in enough towns, you can see several fireworks shows each week in the summer in Japan. Each town has its own summer matsuri (festival), and each one seems to have a fireworks display. The day I arrived in Iijima Town in the center of the Chuou Alps, they were having a matsuri. Mayu's mom was going to participate by holding up a mikoshi (kinda like a parade float) with her group. While Mayu and I were waiting for things to begin, there were these large ants under my feet, so I stepped on one. In Phoenix, ants are vicious and won't leave you alone. I didn't know that the ones in Japan will leave you alone if you leave them alone. Mayu said that in Japan, they say that if you step on an ant, it will soon rain. That was an interesting colloquialism. For such a small town, they really had a fantastic matsuri. The lighted lanterns on the mikoshi were beautiful, and I only wish the pictures I took would have done them justice. The finale of the matsuri was a spectacular fireworks display, which we were directly underneath. I put my camera on its tripod and aimed it straight up into the sky. We were so close that I thought that the firework sparks would land on us. Actually, ashes were landing on everyone. It started misting rain! I guess I should not have killed that ant after all.

Mikoshi lit up with lanterns at night

So this is the part of my trip that was the homestay with Mayu's family. It was kind of a whilrwind week, actually. Their house is in the valley between the majestic mountains of the Japan Alps, and every day the clouds roll over the mountain sides. It was so peaceful and green there. It was beautiful. Living in an ugly desert all my life, I truly appreciated how green it is there.

Mayu's father showed me his antiques. He has an actual samurai sword and even a pistol that have been handed down along the generations of the family. He says that the gun doesn't fire anymore, so it's harmless. But the sword was pretty darn cool. I know that during the Meiji Restoration, samurai sold their swords and weapons for money since they were basically out of a job after the bakufu fell. Perhaps that is how the family has them? I don't know. They were pretty cool though.

Mayu's mom drove us around to many places. She took us to some really cool museums in the Okaya/Lake Suwa area, the coolest one being a glass museum. She drove us up to the mountain headlands of Nagano-ken, and she also drove us to Yamanashi-ken to see Mt. Fuji. But since it was the summertime, the skies were too cloudy and we could only see the base of the huge mountain.

Mom, Mayu-chan, and her sister Yukari.

It was a dream come true to be spending so much time with Mayu-chan, my pen pal whom I grew to love from reading her letters. Dating her while I was staying in Matsumoto was fun, but while I was staying with her family, we got to spend all day together. She'd memorized all of my likes and dislikes, and it was apparent that she was just as crazy about me as I was about her. One evening while we were staying at her other grandmother's house, we went for a walk at sundown in the garden. As we kept getting bit by mosquitoes, I held her hand as we talked. She'd never had a boyfriend, and I'd never had a girlfriend. I asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend, and she said yes. I was so happy. I love her so much and she has been such a joy to me over these years.

When it came time to return to America, I was not sad at all because Mayu joined me on the flight home! She did a homestay with my family in Arizona and we took her to see the sights, such as Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, and the Grand Canyon. But that was another story...

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