Last time we were in Kamiyama, Hopper met Chinami. She was working at one of the satellite offices and had turned up to a dinner that all the resident artists were invited to. They hit it off immediately, and their bond was obvious.
We've been in contact with her on facebook ever since, exchanging photos and messages, and sending each other surprise packages. Hopper would speak of her from time to time in the last year and a half, sometimes breathlessly, and though she had moved back to Chiba with her family, she promised she would come visit us on this trip.
So she came to town for Golden Week! We got to hang out with her a few days doing different things like eating soba and special deserts on a mountain top, chasing kites in the park, and eating pizza. She brought lovely gifts, and won him over all over again. In fact, the shinkansen t shirt she gave him quickly became his favorite and he refused to take if off for over 2 days. When I asked why, he said it was because he loves shinkansens but also because Chinami gave it to him.
We feel so lucky that she came to see us, and it was lovely to see her mom as well. Chinami, thank you for coming all this way to spend time with Hopper (and us), and for helping make this trip special. And for bringing fantastic gifts! We hope to see you again sometime soon!
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| 30 min drive to mountain top, handmade soba noodle soup and warabimochi desert (Nik, Hopper, Iwamaru-san, Reiko [Chinami's mama], Chinami, Chinami's friend whose name I forget) |
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| How's this for a rest stop? |
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| warabimochi = gelatinous bracken rhizome starch (fern bulb, for lack of better word) + sweet toasted soybean flour powder +sweet shoyu sauce = totally effen special delicious |
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| road leading to nature walk behind soba/warabimochi restaurant |
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| Jack in the Pulpit |
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| Nik standing next to shitake growing logs (I never knew. google it, quite fascinating.) |
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| Hopper being a gentleman, giving her a hand picked flower |
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| fields of small purple flowers, no idea what, but we were about a week too early for blooming |
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| reed sword fight |
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| back seat squeaky swordfight (welcome distraction from nausea inducing road) |
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| those wooden handles have been banned from use |
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| 2nd day in shinkansen shirt, duckling slippers he insisted on getting despite being 3 sizes too small |
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| okonomiaki night with Chinami, Neo, Yama, and Valery |
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| Hopper loves frogs. Chinami does not. Hopper does not understand why she runs away from his new friend. But chasing is fun so it's still a win win situation. |
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| Yusan Pizza with Chinami, her mama Reiko, Yama and my boys. Such yummy scrummy pizza! |
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| parking lot shenanigans while waiting for our desert pizza |
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| with pizza chef Luca and our desert pizza (with honey and dried fruit) |
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| sounds weird, tastes great |
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| old boats at the park |
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| they went on a pretend journey |
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| some good chase sequences |
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| Is there enough wind? |
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| Yes go go goooo! |
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| rock garden with good puddles, removed pants and shoes for stomping, and he found a big frog so happiness abounds |
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| a beautiful day calls for a BBQ so we got some meat and stuff and invited the gang and Chinami and mama |
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| morning coffee meet up before they flew out, Chinami overwhelmingly happy with her small drawing |
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| such lovely sweet people, we are so lucky to know them (Hopper has good taste!) |
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