Meeting the In-laws

Today I met the in-laws...not mine, of course. Today we went to grandma and grandpa's house. They were, of course, very nice and asked me a lot of questions about California. They got out an atlas and asked me to show them where I live, etc. We also had this interesting conversation as we sat around a coffee table eating cake:
Aunt: Kelley, do you like sweets?
Me: I love them! (a huge understatement.)
G'ma: But you're slim!
Host Mom: We've had 5 other exchange students, girls, stay at our house.
Aunt: They were all fat.
Me: Were they Americans?
Host Mom: Yep.
Me: Of course they were.
I was watching the grandfather play with my little host brothers and remembered something my Dad said: that not too long ago this grandfather and my grandfather would have been pointing bayonets at each other. War sucks.
We went out for sushi for lunch. Raw squid was offered to me, and I couldn't turn it down without being rude. It tasted pretty much the way it looked: like eraser covered in fish slime. I've been learning to appreciate the taste of whatever is offered to me without thinking about what it might be made of. Sometimes it's better not to know. But on the other hand, we also went to a pastry shop, and I could have eagerly gobbled down everything in the store. They make the cutest little cakes here.
Around the corner from my house is an awesome little shrine. It's so quiet and peaceful, I think I'll go there whenever I need a breather.


In the back was an old cemetery. It was so crowded. A Japanese just can't get a break, I guess. Someone put a pink lace cap on one of the statues.


Walking around my neighborhood, I noticed how modernity and tradition co-exist in Japan:

That's it for now.