3 year service

Yesterday, I wrote about the "freshers". I forgot to mention that on the first day of April, schools gather in their gyms for a ceremony of sorts and listen to speeches by the principal and other top people of the school.

As for big companies, they gather at halls and listen to speeches by their top people. I have a feeling that these speeches are "pep talks" for a good year. (I've never actually experienced this so, it is based on what I've seen on the news.) Satoshi was surprised that our first day of school is actually "no big thing", we just go to class. I'm not sure what private schools do in Hawaii, but this was what we used to do in public school.

Anyway...previously, I mentioned that we got together for FIL's 3 year memorial service this past Sunday. (It is actually the 2nd year since his passing, and there is a certain way to count how many years have passed and then when you start to think about how they count it, it gets all confusing...sigh)

So, this service was performed at the temple and it was a small gathering of immediate family.

We still had to wear dark colored clothing and it was still a bit on the formal side.

It just so happened at the same time we were arriving at the temple, the Emperor and Empress of Japan were visiting another temple on the grounds, so there were police everywhere!

We didn't get a glimpse of the Royal couple, but could feel the excitement in the air.

There was a beautiful shidarezakura (weeping cherry tree) as we walked up to the temple.

And there were also some drops of rain here and there but for the most part it was just cloudy.

After the service, we all went to Sara. I've written about this place before here.

The food was good, everything fresh and in season. I only took a few photos since we didn't have lunch and by the time we ate it was nearly 16:00 and I was starving!

Here is a steamed rice dish topped with seafood & sashimi (sliced raw fish).

We were glad that the service went smoothly, the next service will be in 4 years (which should be the 7 year service, I think).