When Amber first moved to Japan 5 years ago, she stayed with this family for 10 days and they have been friends ever since. We stayed one night at their place. They have a big home so they could easily accommodate all of us. He has a construction company and has 150 men working for him. They can speak some English but their daughter, who you see in the picture, is fluent in English. Again they served up a big meal that lasted 2-3 hours. The two main dishes you see on the table are "oden" a type of soup that contains fish , vegetables and other things, and "sukiyaki" which was a delicious beef dish. We were well treated and well fed. The family was very laid back and easy to visit with.


Amber, Mika, and Rebecca. Mika is the daughter and Amber attended her wedding as one of the family.











Before dinner, we enjoyed some green tea, which most Japanese drink every day. Only Jim and I were given green tea though. It is an honour to be given this special green te,especially the first time you are at someone's home.Five years ago the mother,Yurika, couldn't speak any English but she has been studying for the last 5 years and now has a some of the English language, enough that we could communicate a little. She wanted to learn so that she could speak with Amber.