Getting a bit of Hawaii & Eiko & John 途中で on the way back to the mainland

From Autumn in Japan, and on the way back to California Taka and I go to lay over in Hawaii, at Eiko and John Cusicks. (Thanks Marley~ we got to rest our heads in your space!)

Our first day in Honolulu we got to relax at J&E's until they came home later from work. 

These were the munchies I found in the fridge! Natto with egg whites, KARASHI, sauce and beer...to keep me until dinner time, while Taka napped!

 The neighbors! Over there under the table under the tree. We're told that when they're getting it on, it's quite the ruckus!!!

John and Eiko took us out to the University's "arboretum?" We went on a little hike through the lush forest.

Plants looked pretty foreign!

The roots on this tree were so cool!

The grounds were so wet. Yes, Hawaii. Where I remembered it could rain at least once a day. And rainbows aren't such a big deal.







This thatching for the roof reminds me so much of Japan

 

I have done a double take a number of times upon seeing these photos and thinking they were taken in Japan. Out in the Japanese Alps of Nagano, or in Gifu that I used to see.

John and Eiko... Eiko was the first foreigner we met a week after arriving in Japan. I love the story. Motohiko and I were walking with a stroller carrying Naomi who was  5 1/2 months old, and 

Ischin was 2 1/2. Motohiko, with his big beard and long wavy hair, with John Lennon glasses, and me in my hippie skirt... Eiko jammed on her bicycle brakes by us and exclaimed "WHERE ARE YOU from???" Because those days, there were only seven foreigners in our town. And all of them worked at the one English school in town.   We got to meet John not long after. 

Eiko's brother looks much like Motohiko~ that's what blew her away too. We all became great friends. Eiko was at Sheon's birth, and then also when Zen was born. (Both- right Eiko?! There were so many people!!!)







Well, now, back in Hawaii, Honolulu. Eiko with her daily allowance of ONIGIRI.



And a little later we got to make GYOZA together

cabbage sliced well, grated carrots, NIRA (skinnier than green onions), grated ginger and garlic, and I like tofu and cheese. Lots of people put in pork.

Then steamed or sauteed~ oops, no pic of the final result. Oh, yes, Americans call them POT STICKERS.

The last day we finally got to use our ridiculously, red, rental Jeep. Best thing about it was that it was easy to spot in a parking lot!

We were on our way, for the first time to Diamondhead, along with the very, very many other tourists.

up, up, up and away~

I felt more and more nervous way up there. But it really was spectacular!

There was another reason we really wished to make this trip.

Eiko and John had met me when our lives got started in Japan in the Fall of 1986.

Here we were, in 2013, 27 years later, having finished moving out of Japan, 

and the first people we get to meet are Eiko and John.  

This day up Diamondhead was to get to that peak and~ say a prayer. It's been a long, sometimes hard, haul. But with all these people, friends, family along the way, we can breath a sigh, and give thanks in a big time sort of way.

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