No. 26 - MR TANAKA

Mr Tanaka is Hiromi's father. My family hosted Hiromi when I was in high school, and ever since, our families have shared a long time host bond.

I have met Mr Tanaka twice, once in 1997 and again in 2004.

In 1997 Mrs Tanaka, Hiromi and I spent most of the day on the train to visit Mr Tanaka's school. He was the principal there and it was their sports carnival day. Never have I seen such a sporty looking principal. I've seen teacher's trying to look sporty but Mr Tanaka carried it off with an elegant style that is uniquely Japanese.

In 2004 Mr Tanaka took us on the best and busiest three day tour of our lives. We visited a historic Japanese town, watched cormorant fishing on the river and ate one of the most exclusive meals of our lives. Mr and Mrs Tanaka took Kevin and I out to a French/Japanese restaurant. It was poshly French using local Japanese produce. We have no idea what we ate because without Hiromi our communication was almost limited to hand gestures, the politest hand gestures of course. We did all find it funny that Kevin and I had the fish and Mr and Mrs Tanaka had the beef. This is all we chose, the remaining 7 or so petite sized courses were put in front of us, as we dined in our private room. One of my favourites, I believe, was a cold fruit soup, possibly nectarine or apricot.

Hiromi and I have each visited each other's home twice. We are certainly living miles apart but our families share a special bond and we know when we are in the other's country we will be treated like Royalty.