Family Duty Day

Japanese have a saying: "Doing Family Duty" - so today that's what we did.

We took Okaasan out for lunch and and exhibition...and tried to bond as a family group.

Actually we took her to a photo exhibition WE wanted to see, and along the way we had a sushi lunch and walked round a Farmers' Market in a shopping center...and came home by 2.30 pm - so she was happy and we had time to do other stuff too.

This was the photo exhibition - old pix of Sapporo in the 1920-1970s period. All from the city records. Last year Yujiro had a part time job taking 100 photos in this area to add to the city records - so it was interesting to see what they have already got.

I was surprised how muddy and rural Sapporo looked right up until the 1970s when the Winter Olympics came and changed everything. And we enjoyed looking at areas we know - like the park near where we lived and the station area.
Okaasan enjoyed it, I think. She shuffled round looking at photos. She often talks about her mother's house as being "just near the first river bridge on the road between Sapporo and Otaru" and we are never quite sure where this is....so there were lots of pictures of bridges and roads to look at and comment on.

And the Farmers' Market in the shopping mall! Okaasan was in her element here. The old Osaka housewife came to the fore and she inspected each and every stall, challenged the sellers pretty agressively about what they had on offer, took EVERY chance to try the free samples and asked pertinent questions.
We managed to drag her away with only some organic garlic. And later I made sure to send her and Yujiro to the front door of the shopping mall so I could bring the car round to the front - so Okaasan didn't get a second chance to get back at the market.

Came home to relax and get ready for next week. Okaasan didn't want dinner - so we could enjoy conversation a deux (football and reality shows)....which is always good for couple life.

Dare I say it? A good Family Duty Day.