Kimiko Ch. 03

I asked the sales agent about the possibility of swapping out the bath tub with a whirlpool tub. And she said that it wouldn't be a problem. She showed us several different types and Kimiko selected a two person bath. We spent the next two hours making decisions over wall coverings, carpets and hard wood floors, kitchen appliances, and more. Our future home was taking shape.

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I didn't feel like diving into the Matsushita and Fortina projects right away so we decided to take a couple of days off to do some sight seeing. We took the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) up to Sendai, then a local bus to Akiu-machi (Akiu village) which is located about an hour's ride up into the mountains. This small village had capitalized on the hot springs that abounded in the area. They must have a hot spring for everything that could ail a human being! From arthritis to asthma, to kidney and liver problems. You name it, there seemed to be a hot spring for it. In a way it was humorous.

Kimiko took me to a Ryokan which is a hotel built around a hot spring. The Akiu Spa and Resort was a treat! This was a first time experience for me; one that I could see repeating as often as we could. They had a men's only and a women's only onsen (hot spring bathing area), as well as one for couples that required reservations but offered complete privacy. Of course, Kimiko had booked us to use the couples-only onsens for the two nights that we were there.

As we entered the onsen our first night, there were several signs in Japanese in the dressing area which caused Kimiko to blush and giggle. When I asked her, Kimiko explained that the signs asked bathers to be considerate and to refrain from having sex in the hot tub! And that the loungers located outside the hot tub were provided for our enjoyment!

I had to laugh also! I guess too many couples had initiated the hot tub, requiring that it be emptied and cleaned far more often than the hotel preferred to! I could see us doing the same thing if not for that sign! As it turned out, we used one of the loungers before and after soaking in the hot tub!

All too soon we were back on the train, returning to Osaka. Kimiko had her bridal shower party to attend to and I needed to begin work on my projects for Ray Fortina and Matsushita.

I spent the day after our return from Akiu-machi on the phone with Ray and Takara, trying to whittle down the variables and options that were readily apparent. Kimiko was running in and out of our apartment, working on the preparations for our wedding. By late afternoon we were both ready for some quiet time. Kimiko's bridal shower was that evening and a little rest would do her good. So we relaxed for about an hour before Ai knocked on our door. Ai hugged me as I opened the door.

"Ani (older brother), would you like come also tonight?" she asked. "We ask all friends to bring husband or boyfriend. Make good party, yes?"

"Ai-chan, thank you." I turned to Kimiko, "Would it be all right with you if I attend?"

"Anata, I would very much like you to come. I want you meet my friends. Good for them know you, too."

After relaxing for a few more minutes we hopped into a cab and took it down to Mikan's family's restaurant. Mikan is a close friend of Ai and Kimiko, and had accompanied them on their trip to Hawaii. She helped Ai make the arrangements for Kimiko's party.

Mikan's parents had opened up an upstairs room for the party. The room had a tatami (straw mat) floor with shoji (lattice doors with rice paper panels) doors that traversed the room at various intervals, allowing them to divide the large room into smaller, more intimate dining areas if needed. There must have been more than 50 people there by the time we arrived, and more people continued to drift in as the evening progressed.

This was the first time that I felt out of place even with Kimiko by my side. I understand a little of the language, however am not that fluent. So much of what was being said went right over my head. Kimiko sensed that and tried to introduce many of her friends to me in English.

"Kimi-chan, don't worry about me, please. I understand and am happy to be here with you." I looked into her eyes and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. I guess everyone was watching us as a cheer was sounded and the entire crowd broke out in applause! Of course, Kimiko was embarrassed by that, but kissed me back anyway and held my hand tightly.

The food was delicious and the beer and sake flowed constantly. About an hour or so into the meal, Ai stood up and began a short program. I understood most of it as Ai told the story of how they met me in Hawaii, the fun we had, and Kimiko's falling in love with me. Her tale had everyone ooo'ing at the helicopter ride to the remote north shore of Kauai and the dinner at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Then Mikan stood up and began rattling off something so quick that I couldn't follow it. Kimiko told me that she was telling everyone who I was and what I did. Then Mikan informed everyone that Kimiko and I would be living part time in Osaka and California.

Then apparently it was Kimiko's turn to say a few words. She got up and took my hand, "Anata, please come with me." We walked to the front of the room where Kimiko joined Ai and Mikan. She turned to me, "Anata, I must say in Japanese so others understand. Ai-chan, please explain to Todd-san?" And Ai agreed with a nod of her head.

As Kimiko began speaking, Ai began to translate;

'Many of you know our trip to Hawaii, probably our only trip. Ai and Mikan maybe marry soon, too. So we want to have little fun time first. It was sad when tour agent left us. But I surprised when I met Kawaguchi Todd-san at hotel. He on holiday also. He help make our trip happy time. I not expect meet someone like Todd-san. He very kind and thoughtful. He make our holiday very special. Todd-san help us have good time. We see things many tourist don't see. We all appreciate what Todd-san did for us.'

She paused to gather her thoughts before continuing on. 'Todd-san is good man. He ask me what I think. He ask me what I like. He ask me to help him. He respect me very much. I not used to man like him so not sure how to be.' At that, everyone laughed and Kimiko turned a little crimson.

She continued, 'All you know me. I not ever think I fall in love so quickly. That not me. But Todd-san is special man. Although we not know each other long, we both love each other very much. I am lucky woman to marry Todd-san soon. I am hoping all of you be so lucky, too.'

There were tears in her eyes as she said that. I squeezed her hand and she turned to me and kissed me, "Thank you for asking marry me." And the room erupted in applause and cheers! Ai and Mikan were crying also as they hugged each other. Kimiko reached up to my face and brushed away tears which were also falling from my eyes, and kissed me again.

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Time marched forward with unwavering certainty. Not that we have much say in that! About a month before our wedding day, I asked Kimiko where she wanted to go for our honeymoon.

"Honey, have you thought about going somewhere for our honeymoon?"

"I'e (no). Do you know where we can go?" she asked.

"Well, there are all sorts of places we can go. I think we should think about what we would like to do while on our honeymoon."

"I think I want spend time only with you." she smiled. "Maybe, you make love to me all day."

I laughed! "That sounds like an excellent idea! Let's see a travel agent and get some ideas."

So we went to see a travel agent in town. Turns out that we had a couple of choices. One was in the south western pacific where we could stay at 'couples' resort and take in one day excursions to isolated islands of our choice where we would be guaranteed to be the only one there. Another was at a hostel in Indonesia that featured a clothing optional, tantric workshop lasting four days. There were several other choices but they all involved staying at some sort of hotel along with five hundred or more guests. That didn't excite us.

The travel agent gave us brochures and pamphlets to look through which we did once we got back to out apartment.

We were sitting in our living room when Kimiko asked, "Anata, what is clothing optional?"

"That means that guests have the choice of not wearing any clothes."

"Oh! You mean no one wear clothes?"

"Yes. Does that bother you?"

"I not used to! I don't think I like. I don't want anyone see me that way except you. I am only for you."

"Thank you. I am also only for you." As I said that, Kimiko stood up, disrobed and sat in my lap, straddling my waist with her legs wrapped around me.

"You may see me without clothes anytime. You may have my body any time." She kissed me softly. Then with increasing passion, she unbuttoned my shirt and took it off. Then reached for my belt, undid that, and unbuttoned my pants. In short order, we were both nude with Kimiko sitting in my lap.

"Kimi-chan, you are the only one for me. I love you." I said just before she devoured my lips with hers. She hugged me tightly, mashing her breasts against my chest and her pussy against my erection which was trapped between us.

"Anata," she whispered, "I feel you. I want you in me." She raised herself slightly then impaled herself on my hard cock, sliding down slowly as her warm and wet sheath took me into her. "Oh ....... so good." she moaned.

We sat like that for a long period of time, just savoring the sensation of my hard cock in her vagina, as we hugged and kissed gently and at length. So many kisses and 'I love you's' later, we began to copulate. Slowly at first, then rapidly until we climaxed with a frantic burst of thrusting at the end as we both came at the same time!

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Several hours later, after we had rested and cleaned ourselves up, we continued our discussion about honey moon locations.

"Anata, what is 'tantric'?"

"Tantric is the art of making love. What this resort does is teach people who stay there how to make love in different ways with their partner."

"Oh, I think we don't need help make love!" she laughed and blushed at the same time.

"I agree!" I chuckled. "But we need to practice often!"

"Hai (yes)!" Kimiko was giggling as she playfully hit me on my arm. "We practice often! All time!"

So it was decided that we would sign up for the south western pacific 'couples only' resort and book ourselves for several of the private islands. This was kind of a unique feature. The resort armed its guests with beach chairs, mats, umbrellas for shade, towels, and a picnic cooler with an assortment of sandwiches, fruits and soft drinks. You took whatever else you wanted; sun screen, a good book, snorkels, whatever. They shipped you out in the morning via a high speed boat ride, then brought you back to the resort in the late afternoon.

Two of the islands were basically atolls from what we could see. Just beaches surrounded by ocean. The nearest island being about a mile or so away. The third island that we signed up for was a bit larger and had several fresh water streams and a water fall. It was a very popular destination so we had to wait until we got there to find out whether we were able to secure it or not.

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We returned to California to check on things there and drop in on my parents. The trip also gave me an opportunity to meet with Ray Fortina. Ray wanted me to do some future thinking about trends that might affect his primary product lines; electronic switching devices. The devices had applications in all sorts of consumer and commercial appliances. Everything from cell phones to fax machines, to entertainment systems and autobody manufacturing robots. Lots of possibilities. We discussed them all. Ray was enthused however we needed to narrow down the ideas to a handful that had a better than even chance of happening. That would be my assignment over the next month or two.

Our visit with my parents was a repeat of Kimiko's first visit. They got along so well. We had previously given them the date of our wedding so their travel plans could be set up. They were coming in a week early to help Kimiko with anything that needed doing. Then taking the next couple of weeks to play tourist before returning home.

With so many pending things back in Osaka, we didn't stay very long in California this trip.

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Our condominium apartment in Osaka was finished on time. We couldn't wait to see the finished unit. When our sales agent called to set up an appointment to officially hand us our keys, Kimiko practically bounced all over our apartment all day long until we could walk over to see it!

It was beautiful! It also came with a covered parking stall so we could finally pick up a car to use in Japan. Not that we would use it much as parking is such a problem in Osaka. But it would be convenient to have one at our disposal from time to time.

Kimiko had previously decided on the furniture package so that had been delivered and installed before we got there. We had decided to leave the two spare bedrooms unfurnished for now and would furnish them later. She wanted to wait until the children started to come.

We inspected the finished unit and Kimiko was very happy with it. There were still a couple of items that were left to be done in the outside hallway, however our unit was done. We could move in any time.

Kimiko decided that we should first give the unit a thorough cleaning and enlisted Ai's and Mikan's help to do that. We completed that job within three days. Then we moved our things in. My two suitcases and other personal things were quickly moved over. Kimiko's stuff took us a couple of days to move over. After all that was completed, we called her father, brother, Ai and Mikan over for a house warming dinner. Ai and Mikan brought their boyfriends and Mikan's parents also came over.

Ai brought her boyfriend Tanagawa Masanao, and Mikan brought along her fiancé Fujii Megumi. Masanao and I had first met at dinner at Kimiko's family's home many months ago. Since then 'Masa' had been a regular guest for dinner at least once or twice a week.

Although Mikan introduced her fiancé to me earlier in the evening, Masa dragged him along to introduce him to me and also talk with me before dinner was served.

"Todd-san," Masa asked, "I want Ai to be happy like Kimiko. I know difficult for me. I don't know sometimes. Please help me."

Megumi chimed in, "Yes, me too. Mikan say she marry me but I know I don't know how make her happy. Sometimes she happy with me, sometimes she upset with me. How you do for Kimiko?"

I thought about the cultural differences that exist between Japanese and American men and I could see where some of our differences lay.

"Masanao-san, Megumi-san. I think it might be a good idea to ask Kimiko what she likes about the relationship that she has with me."

It was plain to me that both Masa and Megumi were uncomfortable with that idea. Their body language gave away their discomfort as they began to fidget.

"Ah, Todd-san, we just want ask you. Ok?"

"Why don't you want to ask Kimiko?" I smiled as I replied.

"Ah, ..... most unusual to ask woman. I don't know." Masa mumbled.

"And that is the reason why I want you to ask Kimiko."

"Huh?"

"Masanao-san. I think the reason why you are uncomfortable with asking Kimiko is because of the way you were raised."

"The way I raised? Please explain."

"In Japan, who is the head of the household?" I asked.

"Man is head." Megumi replied. Masa nodded his head in agreement.

"Does the wife have any say in what the family does?"

"Sometimes. Depends. Man have final say," answered Masa.

"In Japan, what is the wife's role?" I asked.

"To help husband. To have children." Masa responded.

"Hai. Wife should take care of home," Megumi affirmed.

"And that is the way you were raised."

"Yes. Is wrong?" Masa asked?

"It's not wrong, it's just the way you were raised. I was raised to treat women differently."

"How so?" Megumi asked?

"I was raised to treat women as my equal. To respect them."

"I respect Ai." Masa said firmly. "What do you mean?"

"I agree that you respect Ai. But is she your equal?"

"How can she be my equal? She office clerk. I am buyer. My job more responsibility." Masa said, a little put off by my responses.

"Yes, your job has many responsibilities. And you are probably more knowledgeable about the business than she is. But aren't there things that Ai knows more about than you? I know there are many things that Kimiko knows that I don't know. Can you treat Ai as your partner in life? Will you be able to treat her as your equal if you marry her?"

I could see the light bulb go off in Masa's head. "Todd-san, I see your point...... yes I see. Wakaremasu! (I understand.)"

Masa turned to Megumi and asked if he understood. Megumi nodded his head. "Wakaremasu. Todd-san, I must treat Mikan as my partner. That mean I treat her as my equal."

"Hai." I replied.

Masa turned to Megumi, "I think we talk with Kimiko also, nee (yes)?" Megumi nodded his agreement. "Hai."

As they left to find Kimiko, Tetsuo, Kimiko's brother, came up to hand me a beer. "So, that was serious conversation, yes?"

I laughed, "Yes it was. Did you hear?"

"Hai. Every word. I think you right, Todd-san. Like Masa and Megumi, many men raised that way in Japan. My father different. Maybe because my mother die when we very young. So he have to be both father and mother. But is good."

"Your father is a great man. He raised all of you to be good people. I can see that with Ai, you and Kimiko. All of you are good people." I clapped him on his shoulder as I said that.

Tetsuo nodded his head. "Yes, otoosan (father) work hard to make our home good. I think my mother would be very happy." There were tears in his eyes as he said that.

We rejoined the dinner party and enjoyed the great food that had been prepared by Kimiko, Ai and Mikan. After we had finished eating, Genzo, Kimiko's father, raised his tea cup and proposed a toast.

"Please, everyone. I make toast. I wish Todd-san and Kimi-chan many years of good fortune and happy marriage, and many children! May they have a very happy home."

After the cups had been drained and refilled, I raised my tea cup and responded, "To my future father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and special friends, thank you for coming tonight. You make Kimi-chan and I very happy by being here. Domoo arigato gozaimasu (thank you.) Kimi-chan, would you like to say anything?"

"I want thank you too. You are my family and close friends. You help me make my future husband feel welcome here in country he not from. I always thankful that I know all you. You are always welcome in our home."

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Later that night after everyone had left and we had cleaned up and put everything away, Kimiko and I were resting in the living room, sipping cups of ocha (hot tea).

"Anata, I know I don't say often but I want you know that I love you very much."

"And I love you also very much, Kimi-chan." She leaned over and we kissed.

"Anata, I hope you not think me bad, but Japanese have fun custom with new house." Kimiko was smiling and giggling as she said that.

"Well, Americans also have a fun thing that they do when they move into a new house also. Do you want me to show you what they do?" I asked.

"If like Japanese do then YES! Show me!" she smiled.

I began to unbutton her dress as she reached for my crotch and rubbed my hard cock through my pants before she unbuckled my belt. We were undressed in a matter of minutes.

Kimiko was breathless as she asked me excitedly, "which room ...... we do first?" as she stroked my cock.