Welcome to Japan

If you had wandered into our home around 6:15 p.m. this evening, you would have been greeted by a hearty "Welcome to Japan!", you would have heard the Japanese national anthem on the CD player, you would have been handed a kimono (it may have actually looked like a bathrobe, if you lacked imagination) to put on, your shoes would have been removed and you would have been given slippers to wear, and a place would have been made for you on the floor around our low table. Well, actually we don't have a low table--no coffee table in our living room--so we used stools instead...but we would have generously shared one with you!

The inspiration for the events of this evening was a book we read in Learning Time this morning, A Pair of Red Clogs--a great book about responsibility and honesty, as well as an interesting view of Japanese life and culture. After we read the book, I started thinking about having a Japanese night; and as the day went on, more and more ideas started popping into my head. Unfortunately, because I didn't plan this in advance, the menu was decidedly non-Japanese (chicken alfredo pasta, homemade salsa, and guacamole chips--international, but not Asian). :) But my original idea of sitting on pillows on the living room floor to eat supper expanded into wearing kimonos and slippers, listening to Japanese music (actually, the national anthem was the only piece of Japanese music I could lay my hands on at such short notice, so we listened to it over and over :) ), and having napkins decorated as Japanese flags (Josiah was the artist who drew those). Jeff, who had no idea this was coming until he got home from work, was able to contribute at a moment's notice by teaching us a few Japanese phrases--which I have, regrettably, completely forgotten by now!

All in all, a very fun experience, requiring little except a bit of creativity and imagination!