From Kamakura we went back to Shinya's parents house in Toke, a nice little town in Chiba prefecture outside of Tokyo. Shinya's parents were both extremely nice--we had a fun time practicing our Japanese with them as we enjoyed some stupendously delicious home-cooked Japanese meals like the one pictured.
Shinya had planned a big BBQ and invited some friends of his from elementary school who were also back in town for the holidays. We went to the local grocery store for supplies. I couldn't not get a shot of this half-a-tuna fish that was setting out. We went back later and a guy with a huge sword-like knife was whacking it up very skillfully into uniform slabs while shouting out a steady banter to the crowd to come and get some.
Here's Caitlin and company in the driveway of Shinya's house. The paper cups were half-full of a soy-sauce based dipping-sauce. Everybody grabbed the small cutlets of different meats that were cooking on the grill with their own chop-sticks, dipped them in the sauce and ate them down. It was really delicious!
Bar-B-Que-O-Rama. That's Shinya, in his master chef's apron, on the far right.
Later that night, we all ended up at the neighborhood bowling alley. That's one of Shinya's buddies watching his ball go down the lane. I had to get this shot of the decorative English on the bowling alley wall. It says, "How are you doing? I've got the pleasure zone where makes you comfortable. Just come over here, and feel it. Are you ready for life in the fast lane?"
