Page 3 of 3

July 24, 2002

The Saginaw group prepares for a very serious activity...donning special uniforms... Baking! The Saginaw group learns the art of making Kyoto's most famous okashi (confectionery), Yatsuhashi. Here, Anna is organizing the Yatsuhashi dough for baking. The Saginaw students listen very intently to the instructions on how Yatsuhashi is made...It looks like they are understanding the Japanese! It's amazing how fluent these students became after a one week homestay! Impressive! Denise and Mickayel finished packing up their Yatsuhashi and proceed to the final step. The final step in the Yatsuhashi process is to create a gift label for the tins in which the Yatsuhashi will be stored The mystery...will the tins' contents make it back to the States or will they disappear....

After baking Yatsuhashi, Saginaw happens upon a famous parade, the Hanagasa Matsuri. The parade participants are dressed in costumes from over 1,000 years ago. Of course, these costumes are replicas! Here, the horse and rider stop to pose with Anna. The Saginaw students wanted to go shopping in the shops in the walking arcade but alas the shops didn't open until 11:00 am. Well, they saved some money! By the way, notice the socks! Here Denise and Mickayel try to determine which gifts to purchase for family and friends back home. They are thinking very hard.