I have been lucky enough to go back to Japan over 20 times since my mission days for business trips, reunions and vacations with family and friends. A highlight is treating missionaries to lunch or dinner when visiting Sendai mission areas.  I always try to arrange to treat them to a dish I learned to love on my mission, tonkatsu, a breaded fried pork cutlet dish drizzled with tonkatsu sauce (a famous store brand is "Bulldog" sauce.)  I've been hooked since 1975, when our landlady in Iwaki treated us on p-days at Taiho, a tonkatsu senmonten (specialty shop).  It has been fun to introduce tonkatsu to those missionaries who have never had it and also introduce two Japanese terms, senmonten, and teishoku (combo meal set, usually including rice, miso, cabbage and potato salad).  I've listed here in chronological order the various go-chisou events.  For most of the get-togethers I took digital pictures that I emailed to the missionary parents--unless "no picture" is indicated, a picture appears below--just scroll down or click on link.  I thought it might be fun for everyone to see pictures of their younger selves a few years back, and this is a good memory jogger for me as I get older.  If I've missed anyone or misidentified anyone, please let me know.

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1999 April--Adams, Goodman at a tonkatsu shop near the Hachinohe meetinghouse


1999 April--Seth Casey and Roberts at a curry ("kare") senmonten near the Hirosaki meetinghouse.  The tonkatsu senmonten that I'd taken shimais to three years earlier is closed on Thursdays.


1999 April--Sumida and Lund at a Watari, a tonkatsu senmonten in Sakata near Yoshida camera and 1975 Sakata Aioi-chou meetinghouse.  The cameraman, Furukawa-san, recommended Watari to us.


1999 April--Wilson and Brian Walther at a Taiho, in Iwaki.   This was my first visit back to Taiho in 24 years--seemed smaller, more run down and expensive, but the tonkatsu was even better!


2000 May--(clockwise from left) Kohler, Hayashi, Sorenson and Sheffield at Hirata Bokujo Yamagata eki tonkatsu senmonten that was convenient and served nice tonkatsu. Been back many time since.


2000 May--Lund, Ogaard and Howden at a Yokote restaurant that the branch president recommended and joined us for a tempura lunch.  He was a little shaky holding the camera, however.


2000 May--Dunn and Roberts at a "wa-fu" (Japanese) restaurant where I think we ordered steaks.  It was my first visit to Oodate, where, like Yokote above, I had come to take meetinghouse pictures.


2000 May--Tanaka and Saito outside the Miyako meetinghouse before English class.  We ate at a non-descript restaurant here, as Saito misunderstood my phone instructions for a tonkatsu go-chiso.


2002 April--Kennington and Omni Casey at a depato restaurant in Joetsu, where I was taking pictures of newly acquired Niigata-ken meetinghouses.  Casey's mother was my douki (same group).


2003 April--Davidson at Egan at a yakiniku restaurant near Iwaki's eki.  We had planned on Taiho for tonkatsu, but it closed at 8 PM, right when my train arrived.  I returned a few days later near the end of my trip to take them there too, but evidently didn't take a picture.


2003 April--Randall, Muta, Fukuta, Bailey at Hachinohe shibu.
We had just finished a fabulous lunch at Katsukatsu, a tonkatsu senmonten recommended by an old investigator of mine, Ohashi Masao. I've been back many times since.


2003 April--Moeai and Ngatai at a Chinese restaurant between Hirosaki's eki and meetinghouse that had great gyoza.  It being a Thursday, the tonkatsu place I'd frequented before was closed.


2003 April--Akita zone at tabehodai (all you can eat) yakuniku place wth Sato, Frandsen, Bracken, Hillyard, Ludwig, Nance, Yamazaki and ? Shimai.   So many I couldn't get all the names.  Gomen.


2003 April--Sadler and Noro--lunch at a Tsuruoka tonkatsu senmonten. Also enjoyed dinner that night with them at the Washington Hotel where I was staying  before attending church the next day.


2004 May--Takogawa and Hansen--lunch at Kitahachi tonkatsu senmonten that is a few blocks from the Hirosaki meetinghouse.  They taught me "whitewash in/out" for the senkyoushigo list.


2004 Nov--Sapolu, Watanabe, Wadell, Uehara at Koriyama eki ramen shop.
I was in Japan for the Teruya jidai/mission founding 30-year reunion.  There happened to be a zone meeting this day, so Shaw and Hinkins from Iwaki were also in attendance, but only pictured on their second gochisou (below) a few days later.


2004 Nov--Shaw and Hinkins at Taiho in Iwaki.
They also attended the zone meeting in Koriyama two days before for ramens.  Shaw later kindly arranged to send a picture of the Sado meetinghouse. Sadly, this turned out to be my last visit to Taiho; it closed soon after.


2004 Nov--Vernon, Han, Matsuzawa, Tsukiyama--lunch at Saboten, a nice tonkatsu senmonten in the Fukushima eki.  The shimais were both from Aichi and were acquainted before their missions.


2006 Nov--(clockwise) Ogaard, Dunn, Yamagata, Jenson, Burbidge--Yamagata lunch at HachiKatsu restaurant, researched by Takahashi Fumiko, who also attended (but who doesn't like tonkatsu.)


2006 Nov--Sato and Clark enjoying tonkatsu at a non-specialty restaurant in Yokote.  I was there between onsen stops to get an updated meetinghouse picture.  Clark had only been out two weeks.


2008 Jun--Chord and Burbidge together with (Ogaard) and Takahashi Fumiko at Hachi Katsu senmonten in Yamagata.  Burbidge had 1 month to "die" and Chord had been in Japan about seven weeks, and was the first to order "cheese katsu," which I later learned was also now a sandwich at McDonalds.


2008 Jun--Groth and Calderwood at Katsu Katsu senmonten in Hachinohe.
I learned while in Hachi that the members were planning a 40-year founding anniversary party for November of that year.


2009 Apr--President and Sister Reid & Shauna Tateoka and (Ogaard) at Tonkatsu O-machi.
This senmonten is just up the hill from the honbu, across the street from the subway stop under construction.  Reid and I served at the same time just after Sendai Mission was established.  We ordered portions that were too big so got 'doggie boxes.'


2009 Apr--with Tony Shaw at Shonai restaurant located behind the eki in Ishinomaki.  I met Shaw in Iwaki with Hinkins five years earlier; at this time he was teaching English in Ishinomaki.


2009 Apr--Narakino and Knight on a Monday p-day at the excellent second-floor 'Wakara' tonkatsu senmonten in the Koriyama eki.  Knight said he was douki (same group) as Calderwood who I met 1 yr. earlier.


2010 May--Ohgaki and Billings on a Monday p-day at the excellent second-floor tonkatsu senmonten in the Koriyama eki.  I was headed for nearby ShinkShirakawa, where an onsen shuttle was to pick me up.


2010 May--Swenson and Mitsuda at a one-man tonkatsu senmonten near the Tsuruoka eki. As you can see, both these elders are tall! No one else came into the shop during our lunch, so it felt good to give the proprietor a little business in the down economy. I had earlier taken a picture of the new Sanjo meetinghouse and was staying in nearby Sakata, where the Academy-award winning film, "Departures" was filmed. I highly recommend it!


2010 May--Peterson and Kaneshiro at Hirosaki's Kitahachi tonkatsu senmonten. Peterson was on his last transfer and Kaneshiro had just arrived in Japan the week before. Peterson generously bestowed his Sumo and Ninja kanji/language study books upon me rather than just leaving them behind when his mission is over, as many apparently do.


2010 May--Kingsford and Kawahara at Hachinohe's Katsukatsu tonkatsu senmonten. Kingsford told me a former bishop of his in Alabama, Rob Carlson, served in this mission. It was a cool coincidence that I know Carlson Kyodai, as he served under the same president as I did, Pres. Teruya, some 35 years prior.


2010 May--Ovard and Warren at the Iwaki eki-mae yakiniku place where I ate in 2003. Iwaki's eki had been under construction for about five years, and was finally complete on this visit. I met these two elders the prior Sunday at church, then came back on my way home to treat them to dinner. Ovard is douki with Kaneshiro, and had just arrived the prior week. Warren had been out less than one year.


2012 May--Holbrook, Elkins, Akiyama, (Ogaard), Oikawa plus James & Emily Sinkovic
Sinkovic is a Sendai RM who was living in Aizu at the time and arranged this get-together, where I first tasted "so-su" (sauce) tonkatsu, apparently famous in Aizu. These four missionaries were the only missionaries living in Fukushima prefecture at the time, as Aizu was considered the safest and furthest area away from the troubled nuclear plant on the coast. Within a few months after this visit, missionaries were allowed to move back to Iwaki, so the Aizu missionaries only had to visit Koriyama on a rotating basis from that point.


2012 May--Lay, Ogaard, Tanaka, Sanders, Okada
As in many prior Yamagata gochisou, Takahashi Fumiko Shimai arranged missionaries to meet me at one of my favorite tonkatsu senmonten shops, Hirata Bokujo, which is located inside the eki (station) near the wicket. Elder Weston Lay was just a transfer away from home. A nice get-together.


2012 May--Chipman, Carter
I was changing trains in Furukawa and arranged to meet these elders at the eki. A Korean-style yakiniku place I'd been the prior year when I volunteered here was the plan, but it is only open for dinner. Next door was Ken Steak, which ended up being nice.


2012 May--Chikamori, Collins & (Ogaard)
When I met with Pres. and Sister Rasmussen (but forgot to take a picture) D'oh!, I was introduced to Collins Shimai, who is, as am I, a Type I diabetic. I offered to chat with her, which I was able to do a few days later with her companion at the Tokyo Tonkatsu senmonten located in a food mall across the main Sendai eki (station ) entrance.


2012 June--Juchau, Mead, (Ogaard), Saunders, Yamamoto
When I came back to Japan just a week after the above trip, I had a free day before the volunteering opportunity began. In Hachinohe, Juchau had three months left, Yamamoto was new (both white-washed in) Saunders and Mead (assigned to Misawa and commuting) are douki one year behind Juchau. Apparently Manmaya, a family-run place a few blocks from the meetinghouse on the same street, has been a missionary favorite for years. All dishes only 500 yen! Yamamoto didn't understand I was going to treat everyone, so he paid for himself, but then I reimbursed him. :0