Shinenkai & Farewell

I want them to bring back Santala!

We got a great little canucks toque and mitts from Jon in Hamamatsu whom I do a little work for sometimes. Anyway- we had the toque on Santa one day perfectly but he slipped it by time the camera was ready... too bad- it was funny.

Here the tradition is to hold "forget the year" parties- known as shinenkai. As December was pretty hectic for me and I was a bit hobbled- I wound up attending no parties at all! Well, one class that I was finishing up after teaching for 2 and a half years- we felt it was important to still have a year end party- so we held a shinenkai party(or New Year party) on Saturday night.

Tom, Chie, Mr. Yamamoto

We met up at a place called Fujiichi, where he had the traditional round after round of extremely delicious food and were able to all share a laugh for the last time together.

Miyoko, Mr. Ito, Tomo, Taeko

I had to quit the class to claim back a little peace of mind and some rest, as I was through the end of the year working 13 days in a row and then having a day off (the class was held every second Sunday). I decided it was important to ensure that I had at least one day to spend with Ken and Ritsy, so I had to move on.

Emperor Shu and Keiko

It was a tough decision though, they were the first regular class I started to teach in Hamamatsu and were always very fun to talk with and to teach. So if any of you are reading, thanks again for everything and don't be strangers!

The always serious Chris and Pete

Chris was out that night too, hosting his friend that was visiting from Macau. I forgot his name, but it was nice to meet him and catch up with some of the boys briefly before heading home.Upon getting home I was greeted by Ken giving the "what's up" sign.