Happy New Year!
Thank you very much for your support last year.

How did you spend your New Year's holiday?

Our 'son' who stayed with us this October, and who is much older than us, sent his thoughts about his stay. Time flies! I can't believe it's already been two months!

The harvest season for black edamame has come again this year! Every year, we offer a harvest experience to foreign residents in the prefecture, and this year, we had a lively group with both familiar faces and new participants.

It's been a week since the arrival of the visiting delegation, and today is the day of the farewell party. Yesterday, they toured an elementary school in the city, enjoyed lunch there, and in the afternoon, they went to a high school to interact with students and participate in club activities. Afterwards, they even made wagashi (Japanese sweets)!...

Fun times keep flying by.
Yesterday, everyone took a bus to Nara, and today we only provided transportation while the group had quite a packed schedule. They harvested the seasonal black edamame from Tamba Sasayama, made Japanese character bento, visited a Tamba pottery kiln, and toured a swordsmith's workshop! They had a busy day!

This morning, we had a courtesy visit to Tamba Sasayama City, followed by a walking tour of the castle town area. In the afternoon, they experienced the Forest Adventure! I joined the courtesy visit and assisted one student as a translator for his medical check up. In the afternoon, John participated as an interpreter for the instructor at the...

Well, on the last day of the three-day weekend, today is the day of the welcome party. It was a potluck gathering, a casual get-together. This was also the first opportunity for all the host families and the visiting delegation to gather together after their arrival!

Today, we went to see the Bunpoji Temple and Futamura Shrine festival from the morning. Last year, I brought an Australian boy to carry the taiko (drum) float, but this time, we decided just to watch.

Second day of homestay. We let our guest relax in the morning and chatted over breakfast about various topics—Walla Walla city, the sister city project, his family, his home, his farm, etc.

A group from the sister city project has arrived again this year. Last year, due to the 50th anniversary, many adults and high school students came, but this year, we welcomed six high school students and two chaperones for a short-term exchange program.