travel asia japan nagano kinami family... perfect hosts
Here, in Nagano, my son Ryan and I had one of the most memorable events of our trip to Japan...
We were invited to a traditional Japanese dinner at the best restaurant in town by a young school principal, Fumio Kinami, and his beautiful family.
They had traveled many miles from the west coast of Japan just to meet us in Nagano on our tour.
Some time before, we had been last minute hosts in Oregon to both he and another teacher when their scheduled exchange hosts had become unavailable.
We dined in a private room with "geishas" serving us a multi-coursed traditional Japanese feast including the infamous, poisonous blow fish.
The whole Kinami family stayed over-night just to wave us goodbye as our tour bus left... the other tour members were in awe.
None of the Kinami family spoke English, and neither Ryan nor I spoke more than a couple words of Japanese... yet we communicated on a whole other level.
What a great experience. What great hosts.
TRAVEL: 1998 -
This location has earned an over-all five-and-a-half star (excellent+) rating from
Travel Fanatics Unlimited
*****1/2
unless noted otherwise all images copyright d. holmes chamberlin jr architect llc
Ryan and I with the beautiful Kinami family, Nagano, Japan, 1998.
Part of the sumtous traditional Japanese banquet put before us, Nagano, Japan, 1998.
The Kinami girls enjoying the spectacular dinner, Nagano, Japan, 1998.
The beautifully dressed hostess at the restaurant, Nagano, Japan, 1998.
The whole family came to the hotel in the morning to see us off, Nagano, Japan, 1998.
Beautiful hand-made cards made for us my Sakika and Moena, Nagano, Japan, 1998.
copyright d. holmes chamberlin jr architect llc
page last revised march 2020