Japan 2005

In april 2005, Silke, Sven, Andy and Volker went to a series of kitefestivals in Japan.
On the scedule were the festivals of Aomori and Uchinada.
After the pickup at Narita Airport, wer were transferred to our hotel in Tokio, were we stayed the first night. Right at the arrival, we were told to grab sth. to eat at the hotels restaurant.
What a pleasure after many hours of travelling and airplane food. After the meal, we had the possability to take a rest (which we used to promenade around) and the to meet after 2 hours again, to go for dinner.The dinner was at the Modegi family owned restaurant in the Nihonbashi district, the center of both Tokio and Japan. The food was great, and we enjoyed the evening. We also had the chance to see the Kitemuseum of Mr Modegi. During his trips to many kitefestivals, Mr. Modegi managed to collect a unique selection of kites from all over the world.

The next day the whole group flew to Aomori, were we stayed for some nights in the house of Ms. and Mr. Sato. Right at the arrival, we got some food, and after a one hour walk around the local town, we had dinner a the Sato‘s home. Concerning the food, we definately could not complain, and I will stop writing about the ca. 6 meals a day, which we had on average. Together with Jos and Kaatje Valke from Belgium and Kelly Reed from USA we spent the next days during the Kite Trip. The next day, we had a Workshop in 2 schools and taught our cooking skills to some local women. They later prepared the German, Belgium and American dishes for the banquet the same night.At the workshops in the schools, we flew our kites with the pupils and were invited to play games with the kids. In the evening, there was the
banquet, with the obligatory barrel of Sake, which was opened at the stage. The next day, we had the local Kitefestival in Aomori, and then the next day we spend the day in a park having a picnic with BBQ with several local kitefliers. Flying the kites was not the the main focus
of the day, but rather... The food. The next day, we went back to Tokio, were we again spent a night before heading to Uchinada. The Uchinada Festival is bigger than the Aomori one, and the the venue is a vast beach. After two days of flying our kites between huge Edo-style kites, we had again a banquet together with all the Kitefliers. This time, Sven was asked to attend the Sake openeng
ceremony. After consuming sushi and sachimi in many variations, the banquet came to an end just before midnight. We were a bit sorry for that (for the No Limits) early ending. But we understimated the japanese hospitality: We (the international kitefliers) jumped into a bus and met some of the local kitemasters again a few minutes later in their local kite workshop. There we had a midnight BBQ. In the
workshop, we admired all the stored kites, tools, raw materials and of course the food. Thanks a lot to the local kiters community!!!
On the next day, we went again back to Tokio, were we had our last night before departing from Narita Airport the next day.
This kitetrip was a great experiance and all of us still have many memories to those 2 weeks.