Rice Paddies

Michelle runs a small adult English tutoring operation here on Oshima when she's not working in Tabuse, and a couple weeks back one of her students invited Michelle and I to come visit her home and to meet her family. Finally this last Friday everyone's schedule was free and we were able to meet. After work Michelle and I drove to their small town, a farming village that lies between Obatake and Iwakuni stations. Her house was literally surrounded by huge, flooded rice fields. After we parked our car we still had to walk a good 500 or 600 meters along a narrow path among the rice paddies to get to her house. It felt like we stepped back in time hundreds of years! The tranquility of the place was incredible. Her house and small family were beautiful. They made us some of the best Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki that we had ever had. Then, after dinner, and even though we were on a rice field in the middle of nowhere, we played a couple games on the Playstation 3. Big win.