Welcoming Inkai

And this was just the start. There were seven cold dishes on my plate: 1) sashimi in cabbage salad, 2) crab claws, 3) a whole fish, cut in half,with fish cakes 4) octupus, 5) sweet beans, 6) a whole shrimp with vegetables, 7) salted herring (I think!). In the front middle you can see a beer glass and a saki glass (the little blue one turned upside down): whichever one you chose, they would keep filling for you. If you wanted tea, they could do that too. Right behind the glasses is a glass bowl; this has the sweet beans in it--not baked beans mind you, something completely different.

Later they brought everybody a steak (I think, I didn`t try it) and I got a salad with tomato wedges and eggs. After that they brought us a small bowl of soup with sprouts and chicken. Then they brought us two slices of melon (they call it pumpkin but it was green--I think pumpkin is a catch all phrase for melons). Finally they brought us some sweet rice cakes.

They were really upset that I could barely eat half! I kept trying to tell them I was full but they didn`t believe me!




This was the welcoming Inkai for me and the farewell for my predecessor, Eric (August 9, 2007). Our immediate supervisors came, as did the community center manager and the principal and assistant principal from the jr. high school. Also there were a bunch of people who I didn`t know. They were, apparently, principals from the local elementary schools. Guess they were there as functionaries.





Two days later was the real party.

The community center had an Inkai too, this was not only for Eric and I, but also another girl who was leaving. Almost everybody from the community center and its library showed up--about 18 of us. The food was delivered in increments. Beer was ordered by pressing one of the buzzers around the wall (you can see one way in the back of this picture with its accompanying sign). We spent the night eating, drinking and butchering each others` langauge. Great fun. This is Tahara and I. Kampai!!!