Visiting Shuta

Our friend Shuta, who is a fellow MBA student at Brandeis, came home for the holiday and invited us over to his house in Gotanda for dinner.

His house is over eighty years old, which means it survived the firebombings of WWII. It was a beautful, traditional style Japanese house. Lots of bamboo, paper doors, etc. It was beautiful and I'm thankful to him for inviting us over.

Here is a look from the street:















And this is the fence that separates the front yard of the house:















After lunch the Aoki clan (Shuta, his brother and his mom) took us to the local shrine, which was one of the better maintained ones I've seen in Japan. Also, check out Matt's new fur-lined coat.








































The grounds and buildings were all ready for the influx of people expected for New Year celebrations, one of the few religious events that most Japanese people participate in.



























































































Thanks again to Shuta and his family for a great day, Pam and I look forward to returning the favor in the U.S.