Today began with a hike and picnic in a nearby park.  We walked along a path around a pond, and up quite a lot of stairs to get to a viewpoint across Nara.  Many of the Japan club members hiked with us, including their oldest member — who we think we heard was 85.  It was amazing seeing her climb all those steps.

For lunch the Nara club had packed us our own separate little lunch bags, complete with ice packs.  (This was emblematic of the care they provided for us every moment of this trip.)  We each had yogurt, a banana, cheese, and crackers — and then they handed out hamburgers from Japan McDonald’s!  Some people got teriyaki burgers, and some had fish.  They also brought each picnic table a plate of more traditional Japanese food (totally unidentifiable to those of us at our table, but we gamely each tried a bit of each item).

After lunch we traveled to a Japanese cultural center.  It was a traditional Japanese building with tatami mats on the floor and Japanese paper walls.  As we moved down the hallway, we were enthusiastically welcomed by other club members who hadn’t been on the hike.  They were dressed in beautiful kimono, and whisked us into a dressing room to be prepared for a Japanese tea ceremony.

The members had brought their own kimono to share with us, which made the event even more special.  Non’s friend Toko brought me a kimono to wear that had been hers when she was 20 years old — over 50 years ago!  It was still in perfect condition.  Toko used to work in a kimono shop, so I had a real professional taking care of me.  I have no idea how women manage to put on a kimono by themselves — both Toko and Non were working hard, one in front and one in back, to get me strapped in.  There were innumerable belts and ties to hold the kimono (and your ribcage) tightly in place, and many many different layers of fabrics.  We felt a bit like the women in the old movies who had to hold on to the bedpost while their maids laced them into corsets.  My kimono fit me reasonably well, but I couldn’t take a very deep breath and had to take very small steps.

I’m not sure what kind of shoes were traditionally worn with kimono, but nowadays it seems to be flip flops.  We were given special flip-flop socks with a division between the big toe and the other toes.  Unfortunately, the Japanese flip flops are not designed for our big American feet, and most of us were hanging off the back by multiple inches.  (We only wore the flip flops when walking in the hallway or on the pathway to the outdoor garden — we had to take them off when entering any of the rooms.)

The building featured a beautiful Zen garden with lovely landscaping and the ground covered with stone raked into a spiral pattern.  The traditional tea ceremony room looked out onto the garden.  One of the members led a traditional tea ceremony, with others helping to serve.  We had the customary sweet Ichigo Daifuku, which is mochi (a rice dough) stuffed with sweet bean paste and a whole strawberry inside.  This was meant to counteract the bitterness of the bright green matcha tea that was served next.  We all really enjoyed the whole experience and were so grateful to the Nara club members who worked so hard to make it happen.  (We were also grateful to get out of our kimono and back into our own comfortable clothing after a few more pictures!  It was amazing to watch the Japanese ladies pack up the kimonos so efficiently and yet with such precision — it was almost like they were doing origami.)

For dinner, I went out with Non and Toku to a yakiniku restaurant walking distance from their houses.  At this restaurant, there is a small charcoal grill at your table when you arrive (with coals in just the right state; you have to reserve ahead).  You order various kinds of meat, fish, and vegetables, and grill them yourself right at your table.  Non and Toko ordered us a nice variety of things to try and everything was delicious.  We’ve also been sampling sake at each of our dinners — this time we had sweet sake, served warm, at the end of the meai.  As a special treat, on the way home we stopped for tea and to check out the house that Toko rents out on airbnb — highly recommend if you are coming to Nara!