We were invited to a tea ceremony by our friend Satoko (nicknamed Frau Sugane by me) who is doing this as a hobby. I always find it nice to hear that people do traditional things like these as a hobby, for example Naomi recently started Ikebana and we always have a nice flower in the hallway. But back to the tea ceremony. Apparently the teacher of this tea house is quite famous, it is near Mitaka, I have to check the exact location. Once a year they hold an event, where they show visitors what they have learned. Since I hadn’t seen it in Japan, I was keen to go and I enjoyed the two sessions and of course the interior and surroundings of the actual house.

Afterwards we went towards the station and as a snack stopped at this yakitori place, which was full of people, even though it was only afternoon. When I looked at the photos later I realised that even though this was the same day, those things going on in parallel are quite intriguing. First the quiet and graceful tea ceremony, and then the loud and smoky yakitori-ya-san. Then it occurred to me that these seem really like male or female aspects of life, apart from the fact that the customers or guests at those locations were also in reality mostly male or female. I just found this a nice aspect of Japan, that these things can and do co-exist. It is the same day, however one might think these were Two Sundays.