Tonight we had a farewell dinner. This farewell dinner was the last dinner that we had as a group in Japan. All Wind Ensemble members were in attendance along with our 2 accompanying professors, Dr. Hancock and Dr. Wachmann. Additionally, Kiyoshi Miyamoto (our translator/tour guide/ good friend of the WE), Dr. Wachmann’s previous host daughter, and Mihashi-sensei the band director at Saukshin  Guakin High School in Utsunomiya  were in attendance. For dinner we walked from the Hotel Metropolitan through the Tokyo Metro station to the street Sunshine City 60. This is a route that my friends and I knew quite well because we often ventured through the Tokyo station’s west side (where our hotel was located) to east side to go and shop and eat at the Sunshine City Mall. No one knew what type of food we were going to have for our farewell dinner, so when we arrived at the restaurant it was to great avail that were eating Korean BBQ! Once we got to the restaurant we had to take off our shoes and put them in a locker and then sit down at grill top tables to eat and cook our food. There were many different types and cuts of meat including: beef brisket, pork, hotdogs, steak bites, and chicken. We started the dinner with the Japanese “cheers” called Kanpai.

According to a website Japan talk, “The simplest way to say cheers in Japanese is ‘kanpai!’. This can be translated as ‘cheers’. The literal meaning is ‘dry cup’. In the old days, cheers was done with small cups of sake — dry cup essentially means ‘bottoms up” or “drink it all’” (https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/cheers-in-Japanese). Then we cooked and ate our food.

After the eating portion of the dinner was over, Dr. Hancock issued well deserved thank yous to members of the band as well as our accompanying counterparts/hosts. After this, the game master Bri Schares commenced the last installment of the tour games between Kassie Hennings and Johanna Kluck, where they were competing to see who could write the word japan in cursive white holding the writing utensil with chopsticks. Johanna won this game, and our dinner was over.

When researching the significance of a farewell dinner in regards to Japanese culture, there was not much information to be found. Basically, a farewell dinner is not a cultural thing, rather than a nice send off.

When trying to research background information on a farewell dinner, Quora.com provided a great definition as provided below (https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-real-meaning-of-farewell-party). “Farewell party is more like a memorable way to say goodbye. It could also be likened to a get together where lasting /refreshing memory of family, friends and well wishers is created. People always cherish the last time spent together because it tends to overshadow other times.”

In reflection, the farewell dinner was a great experience and provided a wonderful time for us to end our trip to Japan. The food and then company were great. We were able to have fellowship with members of the band for the last time in Japan and to start to reminisce on the good times that we have had on our trip.