Canadian Spirit Holiday Services: Japanese Kotos Arrive in Canada (A Patrick Family Adventure!)

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Japanese Kotos Arrive in Canada (A Patrick Family Adventure!):

On Wednesday, May 20 we suddenly got a call from a customs broker in Vancouver telling us Atsuko’s 2 Japanese kotos had arrived. Atsuko’s koto teacher had given her 2 kotos as a gift when she was in Japan and her teacher had the kotos flown via an Air Canada cargo plane from Osaka to Vancouver. After we got the paperwork and after many phone calls and emails back and forth to the customs broker, Canada Customs, and the air cargo company explaining what to do we decided to take a one day trip on Friday to Vancouver International Airport to pick up the kotos.

We left Penticton at 6:30am on Friday morning. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and on our way down we stopped at Manning Park where the kids fed apple pieces to the “Columbian Ground Squirrels” and we also spotted a couple of woodpeckers. We got a bit turned around in Vancouver (ended up in Ladner and decided to have lunch before heading to the airport) but arrived safe and sound at Canada Customs around 1:00pm. After paying the customs fees (just over 10% of the total cost of the instruments) we took the paperwork to the air cargo company and they promptly got a forklift and carried the wooden crate to our van. Atsuko and I tried to put the crate into the van but quickly discovered there wasn’t enough room. We asked the warehouse staff for a crowbar and a hammer and proceeded to rip open the crate and take out the kotos and other gifts (Atsuko’s teacher gave me her father’s old kimono which is just gorgeous!). After storing everything safely in the van we headed straight back to Penticton. We stopped in Hope for dinner at the Dairy Queen and I took some shots of the mountains and the Fraser River. I could not believe the weather in Hope – not a cloud in the sky! On the way through the Hope-Princeton we spotted a bear at the side of the road so we pulled over and I took some more pictures. We got home around 10:00pm that night and all of us went straight to bed - what an great family adventure!

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