We had a whirlwind of a day on Saturday, December 22. There were three separate events on our schedule. In order, the morning consisted of a Namban Rengo photo shoot at Yoyogi Park, followed by a karate demonstration in Saitama Prefecture, then finally a Christmas Party in the town of Kanamecho. 
We left home early that morning by car around 9AM and fought through traffic to get to Yoyogi Park. Traffic was a mess, a lot busier than usual though we made it in time with less than a minute to spare. The Namban running group in which I am a member, will be featured in an upcoming Japanese runner's magazine in Tokyo. A reporter and photographer from the magazine came to do the interview at the location where we do our Sunday long runs. Rodney and Markus came along to take some souvenir snapshots of the team.
Before noon, we whizzed back home to drop off the car then trained it to Minami-Oshiwa to watch a karate demonstration. Rodney's co-worker Ota-san invited us to the year-end presentation at the dojo to where he and his three children are enrolled. In my opinion, you don't have to be a martial arts expert to enjoy and appreciate the technique of karate. 
We witnessed a variety of age groups in several belt levels perform their Kata (prearranged training sequence of moves), and sparring matches. We were certainly intrigued by the event...so much that I'm really considering enrolling Markus and I here in Tokyo.
Upfront and center is Ota-san's daughter, Chihiro-chan
Ota-san in focus as he prepares to karate chop wood for the first time...
...A success. YATTA!
Ota-san with his children (L-R): Chihiro (orange belt), Kohei (green belt) and Yusuke (green belt)
Finally after watching karate, we headed back toward Tokyo to attend the Front Porch Players Christmas Party in the town of Kanamecho. Enroute, Markus napped on my lap on the train; by then it was most needed. We arrived at the hall in time for dinner to enjoy a food fest of traditional Japanese holiday cuisine. And it must be said that no Japanese Christmas dinner is complete without Christmas cake. Along with the delicious cake, we enjoyed many new kinds of tasty desserts. Following dinner, the Front Porch Players jammed to Christmas carols. Markus enjoys listening to all sorts of music, so this was a definitely a treat. Besides drinking, mingling and meeting new people, we also played Bingo and delightfully, everyone left a winner.
Ebara-san announced the numbers while Markus was the designated Bingo ball-cage turner. As you can see, he had a blast with his duty!
It's all about keeping the PEACE!
Happy and attentive while listening to the band play some familiar Christmas tunes.
The musically talented couple Kenta Ebara and Ryoko singing in a duet
The expert at pounding the drums...or anything for that matter!
An enjoyable night was had by all! Special thanks to Meiri-san for the invite to the wonderful party.
It rained heavily that evening so we ended up taking a taxi back home. It was only a fifteen minute ride. I just remember us being exhausted by the end of that Saturday night that the three of us nearly dozed off in the taxi cab.
Sunday was our day of rest.
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