自分の母は今年青森に来る予定はなかった。日本に来る目的は母さんの姉（僕の９３歳の叔母さん）が入院してたの。医者が手術しても、叔母さんの年齢を考えるとリスクがかなり大き。喋ることが失うかもや、身体の一部が麻痺になるとか。お母さんが凄い心配で、姉を会いに行くことを決心したの。うちの叔父さんが８月中に退院する予定。母さんが７月の２９日、アメリカを出発して直接実家に帰りました。入院してるはずの叔母さんが元気よく夕飯を食べてた。喋りもちゃんと出来てるし、元気バリバリだった。母さんの兄弟たちがせっかく日本に来てるから、自分の息子も会いに行くべきと。入院してた叔母さんも、私は元気だから、心配しなくて良いよと母さんに言ってくれた。８月２日、お母さんが朝早く実家の舞鶴を出発して青森を目指した。
My mother said she would be arriving in Aomori around 6pm and would call me on my cell phone when she gets here. As my wife gets off work at that time, I said I would go see my mother at the station and we would wait for my wife to come pick us up. I went to the station a little early and just walked around for a bit. My mother-in-law suggested taking out my mother out for sushi. We would go to conveyor belt sushi shop called Hamazushi.
母が青森に着くのは夕方６時くらい。着いたら、僕の携帯に電話する。自分の妻が丁度その時間帯にバイトが終わるので、僕は駅で母を迎えに行って、駅で妻が来るまで待つ。義理の母が今夜は回転寿司で夕飯を食べようっと提案して、賛成。６時前に僕は駅に向かった。まだ時間があったので、駅周辺をウロチョロ。
Mom was coming at a good time. Today is the beginning of the Nebuta Festival in Aomori City, one of Tohoku's biggest festivals which starts today and lasts until August 7th. The school I work for is closed during the Nebuta season so I could spend my holidays with my mother.
母さんが良い時期に青森に来た。今日からねぶた祭りが開催する。東北の三大祭りの一つ。自分の職場もねぶたの期間は休みなので、お母さんと一緒に行動することが出来る。
Wall art at Shin Aomori station.
新青森駅の壁にある絵。
While waiting for my mother, I treated myself to a dakekimi (brand name corn) soft serve.
母を待ってる間、獄きみソフトを食べた。
I noticed I had received a call from a public phone (I didn't hear my phone ring) and figured it was my mother. So I went to the waiting area for the shinkansen and met up with my mother. After a bit of small talk, I asked my mother what did she have for lunch. She replied....sushi!! Oh no! I said we were planning on taking her out for sushi tonight, would she mind eating sushi again. As she doesn't have a chance to eat sushi very often at home for the simple fact that my father doesn't particularly like Japanese food, she was happy to go out for sushi again. She said she has never eaten otoro (fatty tuna) and that was something she wanted to try tonight.
自分の携帯に知らない番号から着歴があり、あっ、これは母さんだな。新幹線の待合室に行ったらお母さんと会った。ちょっと落ち着いたところで、母さんにランチはなにを食べたのと聞いたら、母さんが。。。寿司！え？今夜寿司を食べに行くのに！とりあえず母さんと話したら、また寿司が食べられるのは嬉しい。大トロが食べたことないから、今夜は絶対大トロを食べるとか。
I hadn't realized I take a lot of things for granted. Such as this robot server named "Pepper". It was all new to my mother. The robot greets you and you make your reservations for a table seat or counter seat with him.
自分が当たり前のことすぎて驚くことがないのに対して、自分の母はなんでも新鮮に感じる。はま寿司の店員のペッパー君に超驚いたそうです。面白すぎて、パッパーのツーショットを撮った。
My mother loves the atmosphere of a conveyor belt sushi shop. Just watching the different types of sushi pass by was entertaining for her. We had to remind her not to take the plates that are set on top of a bowl that says "注文品" (chumon hin), "ordered item". The touch screen system was new to her as well.
母が回転寿司の雰囲気が大好き。寿司ネタを見るだけで楽しんでる。母に”注文品”を取っちゃ駄目だよなどと説明し、注文するタッチスクリーンにもびっくり。
What's great about this sushi shop is they have dessert items on their menu like this blueberry cheesecake.
この寿司屋に寿司以外なものもあるので、嬉しい。例えば、こういうデザートなど。これはブルーベリーチーズケーキ。
The cruise ship ASKA II was in port tonight so we went on a short drive so my mother could check it out as well (only from a distance though). Then it was back to the house to relax and take it easy. Tomorrow my wife is working so it will be a mother and son day.
今夜丁度青森に豪華客船のASKA IIが来てたので、ちょっとしたドライブで見に行った。そのあとはうちに帰ってゆっくりした。明日妻が仕事なので、母と息子の日になる。
On Saturday, I had my wife drop us off at near Aomori station. My mother said my sister talked about a ramen you can only eat in Aomori which she wanted to try. I easily guessed that it was the miso curry milk ramen. So I decided we would start the day off by having lunch there. There are two branches of the ramen shop that created the miso curry milk ramen. The name of the shop is Aji no Sapporo. The large one that gets a lot of attention is Onishi. The other is Asari which is located just down the road from Onishi. We first went to Onishi but this being the Nebuta season, the shop was very crowded. It would be at least an hour before we could even get into the shop. I told my mother not to worry, we can walk to Asari. They serve the same ramen. As I suspected, there were no long lines. In fact, there was only one other customer when we went so we were immediately seated.
土曜日、妻がバイトのため、青森駅まで送ってもらった。母が以前自分の妹が青森に遊びに来たとき、お母さんに美味しいラーメンの話をしてた。青森にしか味わえないラーメン。あっ、と思った。それは味噌カレー牛乳ラーメンだな。じゃ、今日のランチはそれを食べる。味噌カレー牛乳ラーメンの発祥の店は「味の札幌」。青森市には２軒がある。”大西”と”浅利”。同じ系列で同じ道にもある。大西のほうが外国人に人気があり、結構宣伝されてます。最初に大西のほうに行ったらやっぱりねぶた時期でもあり、超行列が出来た。店に入るまで一時間くらいかかりそう。母に”心配ないさ！浅利のほうが絶対空いてる。そっちに行こう”。思い通り客はまだ一人しか入ってなかった。私たちもすぐ席に座れた。お母さんが話にしか聞いてない味噌カレー牛乳ラーメンを堪能。
Aji no Sapporo "Onishi" / 味の札幌 ”大西”
Aji no Sapporo "Asari" / 味の札幌 "浅利"
Miso Curry Milk Ramen / 味噌カレー牛乳ラーメン
My mother saw the size of the bowl and said something to the effect that she probably won't be able to eat it all. With absolutely no encouragement from me, my mother was just eating away and when I looked over, her bowl was empty!!
ラーメンが出した瞬間、母が丼を見て、”私、食べきれませんかも”と言いながら、ちょくちょく食べたら、僕が覗いたら母さんがラーメンを完食してるんじゃないか！！
Here we are enjoying our miso curry milk ramen.
味の札幌”浅利"でお母さんが念願の味噌カレー牛乳ラーメンを完食。
From the ramen shop, we headed towards the Memorial Ship Hakkoda where my mother-in-law works. On the way there, we stopped off at my workplace.
食べ終わったらメモリアルシップ”八甲田丸”を目指した。途中で僕の職場にちょっと行ってみた。
My mother sitting at a table where I teach English.
母が僕が英語を教えてる教室に座ってる。
As we were headed to the ship, we noticed that there were a couple of Tsugaru Shamisen players about to perform. My mother said she wanted to watch as she had only seen the Tsugaru shamisen being played on tv.
八甲田丸に行く途中に近くの広場で津軽三味線の演奏が始まるところだった。母がテレビでしか見てないので、ちょっと生で演奏を聴きたいと言う。
Yes, one of the Tsugaru shamisen players is an American. He's from New York and said he had been studying how to play for about four years.
はい、一人の演奏者はアメリカ人です。ニューヨーク出身で約４年も津軽三味線を勉強してるって。
The American Tsugaru shamisen player. Yeah, I think the angle that I took the picture makes his face look very long.
アメリカ出身の津軽三味線プレイヤー。自分の写真の撮り方が悪いの彼の顔が結構長く見える。
Mutsu Bay in the background.
バックにはむつ湾。
Mother and son outing / 母と息子のお出かけ
We are walking along what's called the Aomori Love Ridge. Some people might refer to it as "Labridge". It's become a popular date spot in Aomori. The Memorial Ship "Hakkoda Maru" can be seen in the background.
母と青森のラブリッジを歩いてます。後ろに写ってる船がメモリアシップ「八甲田丸」。
Inside the Hakkoda Maru. My mother looks pretty comfortable in that seat.
八甲田丸の中。お母さんが結構心地よいな椅子に座ってます。
Taking a tour of the ship.
船の中を探索。
On the bridge of the ship.
船のブリッジにいます。
Someone was kind enough to take a picture of me and my Mom.
親切な方がこのツーショットを撮ってくれた。
The wind was a little strong on deck.
デッキの上で風がちょっと強め。
My mother and I walked to the top of the observation deck as well.
僕の８２歳の母も頑張って船にある一番高い展望台まで登った。
Back on deck.
デッキに戻り。
And back to the bridge. Mom steering the ship now!
ブリッジに戻り、母が船を操縦してる！
Checking out the engine room.
機関室に行ってみたり。
Just call me Captain!
キャプテンと呼んで！
Another kind person took this picture for me. Hm, who is that in the background?
また親切な方が写真を撮ってくれた。うん？うしろに写ってるのは誰だ？
I have absolutely no idea! I've been photo-bombed!!
まったく知りません。フォトボムされた！！
After touring the ship, we went to A-Factory to have a little snack.
船を探索したあと、近くにあるAファクトリーで一休み。
Beer and apple pie for me. Apple pie and a coffee for my mother.
僕はビールとアップルパイ。母さんはアップルパイとコーヒー。
Cheers! / 乾杯！
After finishing our snack, we noticed that there were a couple of other Tsugaru shamisen players performing. We had heard from the American player that these two were professional players so we stopped to watch them as well.
スナックを食べ終わったら、ワ・ラッセの広場にまた津軽三味線の演奏が行ってた。アメリカ出身の人から、今演奏してる二人は津軽三味線のプロ。もちろん止まって、見ました。
Tomorrow, my mother is going to be our sponsor as we are going to do a little shopping on base at Misawa. Which means I will get a chance to eat at Taco Bell too!!
明日、三沢基地で買い物する予定。ってことで、ランチはタコベルに決まってる！
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