Kitasaku-gun

Hot, sweaty and tired. We were in a pretty sorry state when we arrived to greet our HoHo hosts. Despite our exhaustion we managed to offload our bags and make ourselves look presentable....ish. After some "brief" introductions from Martin, we performed a rendition of 'Calon Lan' and 'It's not unusual', that was met with applause.

Only slightly nervous, Steve and I were introduced to our family. Any nerves were wiped away as we were met with smiles from Mum, Dad, Miko and Junior.

The mum spoke little English, but greeted us warmly. The dad can only be described as the most charismatic man I have ever met, and always had a grin on his face. The daughter, Miko, was an adorable toddler who always wanted to play. And last, but not least, was Junior, a shy and Mario-loving Cub Scout.

After our introductions we were ushered off to a local scout group where we met up with fellow Kimono Dragons. We all introduced ourselves individually; We were then taught a song about a Sakura Tree...we think? We were a little unsure as their English wasn't great and our Japanese was far worse. Then, every Kimono Dragon was presented with a necker from the group and were then shown a Japanese scout call which we awkwardly responded to with a BRAVO. We were very confused.

The next day, Steve and I were taken to Ueda Castle where we met ninjas and toured the museum in slippers, that true to their name were slipping off our feet. Japanese rituals were performed at different shrines, and both Steve and I felt it was a truly spiritual experience. However, when it came to the fortune bags I only had mediocre luck, whilst Steve had excellent luck.

Later that night, our Hoho family hosted a BBQ with Carwyn, Adam, Phillipa and Emily along with their own HoHo families. We all sampled lots of different foods, and liked a lot of it, except for the dried plums, which were far far too sour for myself.

Unfortunately, our experience had to end. We had an early start to be at the train station for 7:30am and as we met up once again as a unit we shared a teary goodbye with our family.Read more