Byron first went to Japan in 1963 to meet Sakiko’s family. The venue was the famous Eiheiji Temple near Fukui. Sixty-two years later, he and Barry spent 36 hours there and had a photo taken on the same steps.
Mikuni is “our” village. Sakiko grew up there and we spent many summer weeks with family in the 1970s and 1980s. We often rode the “densha” out from Fukui through the rice paddies. The house is gone now, replaced by a small parking lot.
Nagoya. Cormorant fishing by night including “bento” on a small boat. Then afternoon at one of the national sumo tournaments. Each “box” had space for only four people, and because we were nine, we were joined by Shigeko, her son Yuto, and her grandson Satsuki from Tokyo. More on the Family Chino on the “Tsumagoi” page below.