Meetin' Da' Fam'

So, it was interesting meeting all of Sanami's family. I won't lie, I was quite nervous. I asked her if she was nervous meeting my family for the first time. And of course it was. It was also around the same time last year, near Thanksgiving day. Well there was no turkey waiting for me in Saitama, but there was a Zoo and another surprise. I will save the big surprise for the end. I am not quite sure why we went to the Zoo. It was just Sanami, Sanami's mom and me. Sanami's father was at home watching TV (not a fan of the Zoo) while her sister was working. I think Sanami's mom thought it would be something entertaining to do. Well, not more than 30 minutes into our visit to the Zoo did Sanami's mom get bored. She left just the two of us to wander, like a date.

I forgot to mention that Saitama and this zoo is in the middle of farm-country. I am used to living in the big city of Tokyo, and Saitama was more like... Indiana. Really flat with lots of farms and a couple big cities.

After the zoo we went to see Sanami's sister at her work, a clothing store. I was surprised by two things in this store: (1) Clothes in the country cost a lot less than in Tokyo. (2) When buying clothes in Tokyo I am a L or XL. In Saitama I was a XXL or XXXL. Is it because I am fat? No, my shoulders are wide and my chest is big. I learned something new, I guess. Japanese men also have small chests, just like Japanese women. But really, everything here is just a little bit smaller. Now getting back on track.

Later that night I had dinner with Sanami's mom and dad. While Sanami's dad did not talk much (we exchanged 5 or 6 short conversations), I guess he talked more with me than he usually does. As a "gift" for our visit to the country, I took home an old kotatsu. They offered to mail it to our apartment near Yokohama, but I couldn't stand the thought of wasting money. With a few ropes and my very limited craft skills, I was able to carry it on the trains for our 2 hour trip back to Tokyo. I am glad we have it though, it is really warm.

So, the big surprise. Sanami and I were waiting for Sanami's mom outside near the train station in Saitama. This was before going to the zoo. Well, to our great surprise, we see 40-50 people all dressed as anime or video game characters. We had stumbled upon a Cosplay Mixing event...in the middle of nowhere! They were part of COS-MIX, an internet group that meets to show off their costumes. Needless to say, I was shocked. I was able to take one photo with Sanami's cell phone and will try to upload the photo later.