"VT Meetings (4) June 2005 -- September 2005" by AyurinHiro

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33) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : September 26 2005

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Brazilian Dinner at all-you-can-eat restaurant "EternA"

Friends
...Craig(Hewer) & his wife Renee from Osaka,Japan.
...Katsunori(Katsunori) from Osaka,Japan.
...Akihito(Akihito&Masako) from Osaka, Japan, and his host son Joshua from USA.
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) from Osaka,Japan.

From left to right, Akihito, Joshua, Craig, Renee, Katsunori, Ayurin and Takako :-)

It had been more than 1 year since we met Craig... so Craig and we planned this Osaka VT Meeting :-)
And to our joy, his wife Renee and other VTers joined us!
Craig & Renee got married last May (Lovely couple!) and now she is pregnant! (We are waiting for their baby)
Katsunori is Craig's friend and he is also a VT member. He will learn how to ride a 400cc motorbike! Take care and have fun!
Akihito (I wish I could speak English as well as he does) came with his host son Joshua. Joshua is staying at Akihito's house. I'm sure he enjoyed his stay with Akihito's family :-)
And my mother Takako is always enjoying VT Meetings with me. I'm so glad :-) She starts learning English...

It was so nice to see them :-)
Thank you very much, Craig, Renee, Katsunori, Akihito, Joshua and Takako! Hope to see you again!
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26) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : June 25 2005

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Dinner with Osaka night view

Friends
...Cynthia(Cyncyn) from Hong Kong
...Yuko (Cynthia's friend) from Kyoto, Japan.
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) & hubby Hiroyuki from Osaka,Japan.

From left to right, Takako, Yuko, Cynthia, Ayurin and Hiro in the restaurant.

We had this Osaka VT Meeting to welcome Cynthia from Hong Kong. She is now staying with her good friend Yuko in Kyoto.
At our meeting place, we were looking for each other... and suddenly I received a phone call from Cynthia and Yuko. OH! They were in front of us! We looked at each other and smiled :-)
We ate our dinner at a restaurant on the 27th floor in central Osaka.
It was so nice to see them :-)
Thank you very much, Cynthia, Yuko! Hope to see you again!

Click here to see more photos.
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27) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : June 26 2005

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Shopping, Okonomiyaki Lunch, Osaka Castle

Friends
...Loan(TWCLhanoi) from Hanoi, Vietnam
...Sanna (Loan's friend) from Helsinki, Finland.
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) from Osaka,Japan.

From left to right, Ayurin, Sanna, Loan, Takako in front of Osaka Castle.

We had this Osaka VT Meeting to welcome Loan from Hanoi,Vietnam. She is staying in southern Osaka to study Japanese. Her Japanese and her friend Sanna's Japanese is already good! First, we went shopping (Loan had to buy a pair of glasses), then ate Okonomiyaki lunch.(We mixed the ingredients and baked them by ourselves). And then we visited gardens of Namba Parks building.Later we visited Osaka Castle.
It was so nice to see them :-)
Thank you very much, Loan, Sanna! Hope to see you again!

Click here to see more photos.
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28) Kobe(Japan) VT Meeting : July 2 2005

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Dinner at a casual restaurant "Nijyu-Maru"

Friends
...Zahid(No-Visas) from Islamabad, Pakistan
...Loan(TWCLhanoi) from Hanoi, Vietnam
...Shahed(Shahed7) from Dhaka, Bangladesh.(now lives in Osaka, Japan)
...Akihito(Akihito&Masako) from Osaka, Japan
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) & hubby Hiroyuki from Osaka,Japan.

From left to right, Hiroyuki, Ayurin, Akihito, Zahid, Shahed, Loan. And my mother Takako was the photographer.
We had this Kobe VT Meeting to welcome Zahid from Islamabad,Pakistan.
He came to Kobe to participate an international conference.After exchanging emails, I can't believe this was our first meeting.
And I'm so happy because Loan from Hanoi and Shahed and Akihito could join us. Thank you !

It was so nice to see them :-)
Thank you very much, Zahid, Loan, Shahed, Akihito! Hope to see you again!

Click here to see more photos.(Dinner)
Click here to see more photos.(Visiting an observatory before dinner)
Click here to see more photos.(Harbor view at night)
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29) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : July 9 & 10 2005

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Himeji Castle and Cooking Hong Kong Dinner

Friends
...Cynthia(Cyncyn) from Hong Kong
...Loan(TWCLhanoi) from Hanoi, Vietnam
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) & hubby Hiroyuki from Osaka,Japan.

From left to right, Loan, Cynthia and Takako... eating Japanese noodle for lunch near Himeji Castle.

Last month, we met Loan and Cynthia. And we talked and decided to visit Himeji Castle together.
It was so enjoyable to be with them.

After visiting Himeji Castle, Cynthia came to our home and stayed overnight.
The next day, I cooked typical Japanese breakfast, and then we visited "Spa World".(public bath)
Then she cooked Hong Kong style dinner for us! It was delicious and interesting!

Thank you very much,Cynthia and Loan. Hope to see you again soon.

On July 24 Sunday evening, Cynthia visited our home again :-)
We cooked "Okonomiyaki" (Japanese vegitable pizza) and she cooked pork and chicken with soy sause, sugar, chinese wine, garlic, ginger etc. It was so tasty! Thanks, Cynthia and hope to see you again.

Click here to see more photos (Visiting Himeji Castle).
Click here to see more photos (Home Visit on July 9 & 10).
Click here to see more photos (Home Visit on July 24).

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30) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : July 21 2005

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Dinner at an Izakaya restaurant "Shinanotei"

Friends
...Paul(mancland) from Manchester, UK
...Cynthia(Cyncyn) from Hong Kong
...Shahed(Shahed7) from Dhaka, Bangladesh.(now lives in Osaka, Japan)
...Akihito(Akihito&Masako) from Osaka, Japan.
...Toyoko(Cynthia's friend) from Kyoto, Japan.
...Paul's friend and her co-worker from Osaka, Japan.
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) & hubby Hiroyuki from Osaka,Japan.

We had this Osaka VT Meeting to welcome Paul from Manchester, UK. This is his 3rd visit to Japan. And he is organizing Japanese group meetings back in home.(sounds very interesting!) He is very active and will visit a lot of places during his stay here in Japan. :-)
And many people joined this meeting.It was so nice to see them :-)
Thank you very much, Paul, Cynthia, Shahed, Akihito,Toyoko,Nanaka,Nami! Hope to see you again!
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31) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : August 16 2005

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Okonomiyaki Lunch and Umeda Sky Building Observatory

Friends
...Paul(Toranaga-sama) from Hulst, Netherlands
...Takako (Ayurin's mother) from Osaka, Japan.
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) from Osaka,Japan.

Paul and my mother Takako is in this photo. (It was taken on the open-air observatory of Umeda Sky Building.)

We had this Osaka VT Meeting to welcome Paul from Netherlands.
Paul and his mother Marleen have been my VT friends for a long time :-)
He is a very good student of Japanese language! He studies it in his home country. Now he is visiting Japan to learn more about Japan and to see his girlfriend.
We ate our lunch (Okonomiyaki) and then visited Umeda Sky Building observatory.
It was so nice to see him :-)
Thank you very much, Paul! And I would like to thank Marleen (Paul's mother). We could meet up with her help. Hope to see you again!

Click here to see more photos (1).
Click here to see more photos (2).
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32) Osaka(Japan) VT Meeting : August 26 2005

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Chatting over a cup of coffee

Friends
...Maurizio(ciao_from_rome2005) from Rome, Italy
...Ayurin(AyurinHiro) & hubby Hiroyuki from Osaka,Japan.

From left to right, Maurizio and Ayurin in central Namba area.

We were supposed to have an Osaka VT Meeting on August 24 to welcome Maurizio from Rome.
But I'm sorry I cancelled it because my father was seriously ill.
But later, he seemed better, so I and my husband Hiroyuki visited his hotel to say Hello to Maurizio!
(Reading his emails, we knew that he seemed really a good guy ... So we wanted to meet him very much... ) And we were right... he is really nice and we enjoyed chatting with him a lot!
We talked for about an hour at a cafeteria near his hotel. :-)
It was so nice seeing him :-)
Thank you very much, Maurizio! Hope to see you again!

Click here to see more photos.
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