onegaishimasu. This is a phrase you just hear over and over and over and over again in Japan. Getting on and off trains, in and out of cabs, leaving restaurants, and conveniently so, disembarking from a plane. The phrase (wasure-mono no nai yo ni…) translates loosely (and a lot more bluntly) as “don’t forget your crap.” When visiting Japan you hear this phrase so often, in a lovely sing-song and not condescending at all tone of voice, that it lives on, like a bad pop song, in your head for days.
And I’m glad it did. Because I almost had a “wasure-mono” (forgotten thing) of tragic proportions. My somewhat cowl.
The somewhat cowl made the cut for the Jaunt to Japan. That and some sock ends that are a Christmas project. And I was cruising along in the round for on the first two legs of my trip. On the way back (Fukuoka to Narita), I had gotten to the point where I actually joined the round (at the bottom of the cowl). The plane landed. We disembarked. We were stranded on the steps of the aircraft (having just missed the bus to the terminal, awaiting the next one), when “ach!” I thought, “wasure-mono!”
I shove aside nearly 70 people as I raced back into the plane (never, ever, have I been so glad to get back onto a plane), cruised through the cabin, to find my lovely knowknits pouch, with the somewhat cowl ensconced inside. Woot! And, of course, as I made my way back to the head of the bus line, I was reminded by at least 7 flight attendants, “wasure-mono nai yo ni. . .”
Here she is:

I’m about ready for the ribbing! I’m using Frog Tree Sport Alpaca Melange, and I’m loving the texture, the softness, and the heathery color. Can’t wait to finish this puppy. I think she’ll be my Stitch N Pitch project.
Meanwhile, I thought I’d treat you readers to some photos from Japan, seeing as it’s not a country on everyone’s “weekend trip” list, as well as some wedding pix.
First, here’re my SIL and new BIL, in their fancy wedding kimono. Actually, his is called a “hakama.” Although it looks very kimono-esque, the bottom half is actually pants, not a skirt. It only looks like a skirt.

The photo is taken in the holding room at the wedding palace. Before we parade out to have the enormous family photo taken (all relatives in attendance from both sides, in one photo). Please note the huge grin on G’ma Sato’s face. She never thought this day would get here.
At the wedding, the food was actually delish. This is unusual for a Japanese wedding; typically the food is traditional, beautiful and not so tasty. SIL did a nice job of picking the food, which was served in many teeny, tiny portions all afternoon. Much of it consisted of good things from the sea:

This was squid, sushi, octopus (see the tentacles? in the background?), and tofu. The stuff in the glass is fish jello. (it’s tastier than it sounds). Then we had:

This was more sashimi, delicately sliced vegies, and more glutinous sea jello. Again, much yummier than my description.
We also had live tempura:

When I heard “live tempura,” I actually thought the food was going to be fried alive, and was wondering how that’d go over at a wedding. Actually, “live tempura” means that the tempura’s made ala benihana’s with the chef chopping and frying right in front of you. Naturally, this was a hit. And I’ll have you know that I wasn’t being some dumb “gaijin” (foreign person) by misconstruing the meaning of “live tempura.” Many of the old people in attendance were also confused. It’s nice to know that I’m old.
Families of five are somewhat unusual in Japan, and to get to the wedding we had to march off to the train station to get a cab that would fit all of us.

The Things clean up nice. I forgot Thing 1’s tie. Considering the nightmare involved in getting to Japan, only forgetting the tie is a fairly nice accomplishment.
Taxi’s in Japan are super fancy:

Thing 3 thought we were off to heaven. Notice the gloves on the driver? They all wear ‘em. And, (and this is the part I like best), the driver has an automatic door opener, so that passengers don’t have to open the door to actually get in the cab. The doilies are the best though. Thing 1 thought if we moved to Japan, I could actually knit taxi doilies for a living. That would be excellent.
Japan’s not big on zoning. I think their philosophy is “it it fits, you can build it.” This is the view from the wedding hall:

Yes, directly below our window was a neighborhood. Sorta in the middle of the photo is a school, just squished right in there. And there are factories and parking lots and neighborhoods just all mashed together. And, keep in mind, this is a small city with mostly post-war construction (but we won’t get into the reason why). The water in the middle is Nagasaki Bay.
I think one of the shining moments of our trip was this:

The view from the train station! Finally, after four days without, I got my venti skim latte. Amazing how that can make the day brighter.
We finished off our trip to a famous ramen shop. It’s an odd spot–you buy your meal ticket in a vending machine (and if the crowd hadn’t been so impatient, I would have taken photos), then you sit at this booth, and hand over your tickets. The booth is curtained in front, so you never see your server, or the food being cooked, but then it appears. And it’s sooooo yummy.

Thing 3 and DH were having a great time.

It was only slightly disconcerting. But lots of fun.