Dark Night

Immersed in culture. A lot of culture.

Mom and Dad arrived with Stan in tow, and we were shown to a larger table where a conveyor belt ran past with little plates of all kinds of sushi. There was a touch screen at each seat for ordering most beverages; there as also a container of green tea powder and a hot water tap that provided unlimited green tea. I ordered a beer and water and a side of edamame. Grandpa had some miso soup, and other sides like a savory egg custard were ordered to try. They also came on the conveyor belt, marked with a little flag for our table. You simply chose the sushi that came by that looked good. Chopsticks, soy sauce, pickled ginger, and little dishes for the soy sauce were on the table, so we happily ate for a bit before conversation really started up. The conveyor belt was really fun.

"What's wrong with your leg, Stan?" I asked once I'd sated my hunger pangs. I chose a cucumber roll that looked especially good.

"I tore some stuff," he said with a sigh before eating nigiri. "I'm going to need surgery. I go back  tomorrow."

"We're going with him, Dad," Mom said. "You and Delia stay and have fun. We've been here longer than you and I know you'll have plans."

"I could use the time to rest up a bit," Dad said. "We've been doing a lot of sightseeing too. Where did you two go today, Joe?"

"Hiroshima,' Grandpa said. "We went to the Peace Museum, the beautiful floating shrine, took another cooking class, and went to Hiroshima Castle."

"Japan is turning out to be our big culinary tour," I said, smiling at Grandpa. "So many places that produce food also have tours where they teach you how to make the things. There was a tour we could have taken where we could have made these little cakes made in the form of maple leaves with a filling of sweet red bean paste. They're delicious." The souvenirs we'd gotten were mostly food related; addictive lemongue, or small lemon meringues made with local lemons and the minimum amount of sugar possible, ginger syrup made from local ginger as a tasty way to treat colds and flu. I'd gotten Mom and myself beautiful cosmetics bags made of vintage fabrics from obis that had damaged parts. We'd gotten Stan a miniature vermillion torii gate for luck in his plans and Dad a small pottery tray made with sand from the sacred island, perfect to corral the pens on his desk at work.

We had interesting things to say about our day, which was much more interesting than Mom and Dad and Stan's, which had revolved around Stan's injuries. Once he got home, he was scheduled for surgery the next day. Great. Jet-lagged and recovering from surgery, Stan was going to have a fun time this week. Finally full, we stacked our plates and hailed one of the few servers; she came over, counted the plates by the color and design, and totaled up the bill based on the number of plates we'd had. We collected our things, paid at the front, and went out. Stan went back to the village in one taxi and we went back to the hotel in another. I went with Mom and Dad to their room to watch the pair's long program; Todd and Nancy were in second going in. Grandpa wanted to shift around our itinerary some and joined us later. We'd gotten some of the maple-leaf cakes and shared them (somewhat begrudingly) with the family as we watched the competition. Todd and Nancy skated a strong program and absolutely earned their silver medal. I texted congratulations as soon as they  won.

Grandpa and I were going to check out early the next morning for our next adventure, which he refused to tell me what it was. Grandpa's a bit of an imp; we had four days left so anything was possible and there was so much to see. Mom and Dad were collecting Stan from the village a little later than that, so we arranged breakfast again. Fortunately, figure skating doesn't require a lot of awkwardly-shaped equipment, just the skate bag and practice gear and costumes. Mikhal would get Stan and his stuff out of the village, which was closed to everybody who wasn't directly participating, and the parents would take it from there. I felt kind of sorry for Stan; Mom and Dad would fuss. Much better to be going off on a fun expedition with Grandpa. And since the hotel could easily fill the rooms even though our reservation was for longer, Grandpa didn't even have to pay any cancellation fees. We made an early night of it, and I prepacked as much as possible to allow for as much sleep as I could get in the morning.