みかんや家族 (Clementines, Family, and the like)

This Sunday I went to a town called Yokohama (横浜) which is wear the majority of my host mom's family lives. My host brother had a competitive soccer-related event and my parents went with him, so it was just my host sister and I. We left the house at a refreshing 7:45 in the morning on Sunday and after a few train transfers and roughly 1.5 hours, we arrived at our destination.

We were greeted at the station by most of the people who I would end up seeing that day. For the sake of convenience, I will refer to familial relations as if I were actually a member (ie. Kaho will now be referred to as my "sister", host-mother as "mother", etc.). So here is the group that met us at the station:

Aunt: I can't remember her name, but mom's older sister picked us up there
Hasashi: Uncle, mom's younger brother
Ayane: Cousin (Aunt's daughter), son's birthday was yesterday, providing the occasion for us to visit
Haru: Cousin (Uncle's daughter), approximately 12 years of age
Sou: Cousin (Uncle's son), approximately 7 years of age
Ukyou: Second cousin (Ayane's son). Turned 5 yesterday

Don't worry if the family tree seems difficult to keep track of: it is. Either way, the underlying point is that we had quite the group to greet us upon arrival.

The very first thing we did after that was head to the mikan (みかん) fields. Mikan are essentially clementines (I'm actually not sure if there is a difference, they taste about the same), and apparently Yokohama is famous for them. It's rather reminiscent apples in Michigan actually. There was a big field absolutely field with clementine trees, and everybody was given a bag and free reign to run through and pick/eat whatever they wanted. As we entered, we ran into an older gentleman who seemed to know a lot about clementine horticulture: signs of sweetness, which trees were best, and so on. As we were picking he came by us at one point and mentioned that the clementines at the top of the tree were always the sweetest.

Now, given this new tidbit of information, how else was I supposed to respond than by immediately climbing as high as I could in the tallest tree I could find? What else would we do, have sub-optimal climentines!? I think not (although fortunately for me, clementine trees are rarely more than 10 feet tall). If I had photographic evidence of this adventure I would share it; it must have looked rather humorous. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and the high-up clementines sure were delicious, although I can't be sure if they actually tasted different of the struggle just added to their sweetness.

The clementine field in Yokohama.

After clementine-picking, we went to a variety of seemingly-unrelated stores that together formed an errand-running excursion for Ukyou's 5th birthday party. We eventually went back to Ukyou/Akane's house and began getting everything ready. As preparations were being made I met a few more people: Grandmother (who's name I never learned), Akane's husband Yuta, and a seemingly-unrelated high school boy name Reika (or something like that (in case you haven't guessed yet, I'm bad with names, particularly Japanese ones)). The party consisted of a barbecue, other general foods, and typical family mingling. It was very small scale, by no means elaborate, and yet really nice. We all sat around the food while chatting and enjoying the company (I also lost a few times at arm wrestling to the other men in the room). Everything continued on in this fashion until the time came for us to head back, at which point we hopped on the train, I immediately fell asleep, and then a few hours later we arrived home.

All in all everybody was very nice and interesting to talk too. I realized that yesterday was actually the first day I've been in Japan were I haven't spoken more than a sentence or two of English. While I only speak Japanese with my host family, I'm almost always speaking English at school or with my friends in the program. Yesterday, however, it was all Japanese (minus a few sentences of English when talking politics with the uncle). It was a great way to spend a Sunday, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next chance I have to visit them all again.