This is the first day we met Mr. and Mrs. Yamamoto because they had been hiking in the mountains and came home this day. So we all went out for a beautiful Italian lunch at a place right around the corner. Then after many “thank yous” Brandon, Tsukasa and I went to Tokyo proper. We met Keiko, one of Tsukasa’s friends from a university, and visited Meiji shrine. Here we threw our prayers and wishes into the shrine with a coin.
Then we went to get drinks at a café and met up with Shiho and Hannah, two more of Tsukasa’s friends from his university
After that we returned home and went to a community center for our rehearsal. The center is part of, and owned by the University of Tokyo. We were originally going to have a rehearsal but since we were staying with the Yamamotos for free and since Tsukasa hadn’t seen his friends in a while we decided to give a performance as a gift. As the night went on we were joined by Mrs. Yamamoto, Kojiro (their son), Hannah, Shiho, and slowly but surely students that attended the university. The owner of the university walked by, watched, and then told his students that were around, “You don’t just go to a university and study for four or five years and miss this…get inside!” So with an audience of about 15 people Brandon performed love songs, I performed my, “Find a Cure” solo and we all performed our collaborative piece “My Chinese Parents” written by Tsukasa himself. It was beautiful…and hot! Then we returned home to an incredible meal made by Mrs. Yamamoto. There was sushi, noodles, and tempura.
Then once Mr. Yamamoto found out we shared the same passion for wine, he brought out bottle after bottle of expensive tasty wine from France, Italy, and Japan. Surprisingly my favorite was from Japan.
After too much to drink, and then some Sake, we all went to sleep so we could wake up early in the morning to travel.
