Watch Out! Old Broads on the Town! (and some older photos added!)

 Saturday, March 22,2025

Ginger and I are sitting in the great room, doing our computer stuff, when Sachiko brings us hot tea and then a huge piece of buttered toast and three tiny baby sausages.  So cute!  I use her phone to tell her that she is spoiling us and she says we didn't eat enough dinner last night!

About ten thirty the three ladies set out to meet Kyoko and their friend Sachiko (yep another one!) so that the five of us can go paint the town red!  (Note - I've finally got the spelling right to Sachiko and Kyoko)  Sachiko has already gotten Ginger and me one-day transportation passes and we initiate them on the bus to the train/subway station. There is so much giggling and chatting that if you closed your eyes you'd think you were in a pack of teenagers.  It's so much fun!  Kyoko's app lets you talk into it and that lots easier than Sachiko's.  You have to type on that and the keyboard is miniscule!! As many characters as they have, I don't quite understand how it works.  I think the various buttons in the top row bring up different sets of characters?  Anyway, she's really proficient with it!

Such beautiful colors of roof tiles!

Gulp!

We arrive at Uso, a suburb of Nagoya, where Kyoko went to junior high.  There are many covered pedestrian streets that intersect at right angles and have interesting ceiling decorations and there are millions of tiny shops selling everything you can imagine. Kyoko asks if we have anything like this in Tampa and I tell her that it most reminds me of the Grand Bazaar in Instambul - but much cleaner and less crowded!

The girls are moving ahead full tilt!  So much to see, like the stunning obis and the fun hair pins. We stop at a little shop for warabi mochi which I can't quite describe.  It's covered in flavored soy powder and the material itself is like what I see in my tissues, but it's really good!  And you eat it with a little stick which is also a challenge!

Bless the translator apps!

There is a very large temple along the edge of the area and we all go in and throw in a coin and say a prayer.  There is also a pot with incense sticks burning and we all catch come of the smoke and put it on our heads.  Sachiko says she isn't very smart so she always puts the smoke on her head!

The girls have decided that it's lunch time.  We assure them that all we want is a drink but would be happy to sit with them while they eat. They smile and nod and ignore us completely!! We are in a tall tower with lots of restaurants and they've chosen a very elegant one.  We have our own private room, with a table in the corner for purses and jackets. They convince us to have a beer and we think that's all.  Then comes a beautiful little tray with a small salad and a think, almost custard-like soup. We finiah that and think, there now, we're done.  What fools we!!  The hits just keep coming!! We get to sample Kyoko's beef which you almost don't even have to chew, and whatever it is the Sachikos have and then, oh my goodness, comes the Spanish mackerel with it's own salad and Spanish rice and carrots and broccoli.  These little ladies are polishing off everything and finishing ours, too!  How in the world do they do that??? We relax, secure in the knowledge that there can be no more, when the mango custard dessert appears!! Oh  My  God!!  I think I will burst!

After the Great Eating Adventure we go to one of the department stores so that Sachiko can get some more embroidery kits.  She has made each of us a beautiful set of embroidered placemats and now we see their origin. There are so many craft and sewing supplies!!

Cool art in the subway

The day is wrapping up and we return to the subway station, change trains once, and find our bus.  And then it's time to walk home, saying good-bye to Sachiko II first, and then to Kyoko.  As we turn down our street Andy is waving and Sakurako runs up to hug Sachiko and I think we hear, "Oh good!  They're back!  Let's go!" We were supposed to take everyone out to a really nice dinner tonight;  but I'm not sure whic h is more appalling, the idea of eating, or moving!! Tae made reservations for five.  That's just fifteen minutes from now!!  After some discussion, we thankfully agree to postpone until tomorrow evening.

I don't think I stayed up much past our arrival time.  I certainly passed on whatever was going to be for dinner and i just wanted to lay down my weary head - and other body parts!  I got up a bit later to sticky my head into Andy's office where he and Ginger were watching Sakurako playing a video game and Iori drawing on the white board. I bid everyone a fond good night and am down for the count!!