Dinner with the Chairman

What do the following things have in common?

Jellyfish.
Plum seed powder.
Lillypad blossoms.
Lotus roots.
Bamboo.
Fungus.


Give up?

These were just a few of the ingredients of the 7 course meal Chairman Tachikawa Tatsuo and his entourage served us upon our arrival in Niigata-ken. The meal was delicious with attentive service, uniquely tasty dishes (oishii), and a private room. We finished up conversation threads of the day and had fun passing around some pictures of past exploits I had laying around.

Our sumptuous meal at the Tendan Chinese restaurant in Hotel Niigata was the capstone to a long day of amazing company and surreal pastimes.

Michael and I decided to talk to some of the local shop owners this morning and set out to find him a wallet that would not scrunch up the yen notes that we are wielding like Press credentials everywhere we go.

Starbucks is still Starbucks in Japan. It's just a little harder to order; which is an accomplishment in and of itself when a half n half no caff double whip triple cafe mocha java is just one of a million options at a Starbucks to begin with.

Shopping is a tag team sport here in Japan, as it takes two Gaijin to formulate any complete thought in Japanese. Michael and I were eventually able to successfully buy a coffee, breakfast, a wallet with an amazing inscription on it (ask him about it), and an ironing board cover...

Ok, so maybe not everything went exactly according to plan.

The charter bus, yes just for us GSE folks, from Niigata arrived at our hotel in Narita this afternoon. Tachikawa-san was all smiles and as down to earth as anyone I have ever met. In a land where ritual and caste are so inherent in everything a person does, he made interaction seamless and relaxed despite the language barrier. Nothing less than would be expected from a seasoned Rotarian and a qualified Chairman.

Tachikawa-san was accompanied by several other Rotarians: Goto-san, who, much like me, has a reputation for having fun; Nobuhiro-san, who speaks English much better than he lets on; Masanobu-san, who has a lovely singing voice; and Kurihara-san who is kind enough to be hosting Claudia at his families home for some parts of the trip.

Oh, and the bus... also a karaoke bar on wheels. After an hour of conversation we all broke out microphones and directory books of songs and sang our way through 5 more hours of bus ride to our destination.

Dan sings a mean Cindy Lauper.

We talked heavily about school, children, travel, friends; nearly everything that we could squeeze in between songs.

The very pleasant surprise for the day came in the form of Hiromi-san, a former GSE team member from the 2560 district exchange with Brazil in 2002. Hiromi speaks English with a European accent, impeccable Japanese, and some decent Portuguese to boot. She was one of the welcoming committee along with the 4 other gentlemen that comprise the GSE committee here in Niigata.

Hiromi-san had alot of great insight in working abroad, having spent the last two years in Australia and Europe, and was more than happy to share her experiences. Hiromi-san is back visiting her home town, Niigata, on holiday while she waits for her work visa for the Netherlands to be approved so she can return to work abroad. Definitely our good luck.

I'm fading fast, as I am still trying to kick this jetlag thing, so I'll make this short. The day was great, the singing ranged from frightening American howling (me) to hauntingly beautiful Japanese ballads (Hiromi), and everything in between thanks to our seasoned group or Rotarian karaoke experts extraordinaire.

We have some great pictures. I'll see what I can do about uploading them tomorrow morning.