Rick and Lisa hurried to the entrance of the base to meet Max and Miriya. They were a few minutes late and found Miriya impatient to go and Max trying to soothe her nerves. As she saw Rick and Lisa approaching she asked them impatiently "Where have you two been? I thought you would have been here by now. I'm very interested in attending this festival and don't want to miss anything. " Miriya stopped her ranting then took a good look at Lisa,'s outfit and made-up face "Hmmm, you look very different than normal Lisa with this make-up. I like it very much, I can see why Rick may have tried to keep you for himself. You should try this look more often as I think many people on the base would be more attracted to you."

Lisa used to the outlandish comments that Miriya can make ignored her commentary and decided to return her compliment, "You look beautiful Miriya."

Miriya said, "Yes, your suggestion to purchase a yukata was a good one and enjoyed shopping for one with you. I am surprised at how often your culture requires the purchase of new or different clothing for different events. This style is not at all what I would think would be comfortable, but I feel quite delicate and pretty in it." Miriya's yukata was black with large floral patterns on it with a red obi. Max was also wearing a dark grey yukata with a black obi with geometric patterns on it.

Max had greeted Rick with a slap on the back and asked where he had gotten the outfit from as the last time they had spoken Rick wasn't going to wear traditional clothing. "It belonged to Lisa's father, " said Rick to Max, "she's letting me borrow it." Max and Rick watched and waited for Lisa and Miriya to continue their mutual admiration of each others outfits. Max had them pose for a couple of photos and also took a few of Lisa and Rick, and Lisa did the same for Max and Miriya. As a jeep and driver became available, the four boarded the jeep to take them down to the Japantown area.

As they got closer to their destination, Lisa became more excited and told Rick, "I can't wait to get there and eat. I skipped lunch and I'm starving now. I've been dreaming about the food this whole week." Rick laughed and said, "Well I am glad we got paid then, otherwise I don't know how I would have kept you fed today." It was an inside joke between the two of them, but after Rick and Lisa started hanging out, he had been surprised to see how much Lisa could put away when she was hungry.

The two couples were left outside the wooden gates to the Japantown area, where they entered the festival. The wide street was filled with people checking out the stalls filled with vendors selling Japanese goods and crafts. The street led to the the center of the area, where a large stage was setup for the dancing later that evening. The two side streets next to the stage were also filled with stalls, one side selling different types of food and snacks and the other side filled with booths where kids and adults could play carnival games. The four friends wandered down the street looking at the various stalls. They decided not to purchase anything yet as they didn't want to carry the items with them and decided to come back later in the day to pick up the items they wanted.

Rick, worried that Lisa hadn't eaten, decided to hurry them towards the street with the food stalls. Once there, they were greeted with a variety of wonderful smells. One stall sold yakitori and kushiyaki, a variety of skewed meats and vegetables grilled over a flame with a light teriyaki glaze. Another stall made fresh takoyaki, while fresh tempura was being fried at another stall. Lisa's eyes lit up at the variety of food stalls and wasted in time in introducing Rick, Max and Miriya to her favorite street foods. Rick enjoyed seeing Lisa so happy purchasing snacks and food from the various stalls. He was surprised that many of the food vendors greeted Lisa informally and that she knew so many of the people in the community. Rick, Max, Miriya and Lisa had eaten their share of gyoza, tempura, onigiri, yakitori and even small bowls of udon when they hit the dessert stalls. Rick didn't know how Lisa could still be hungry but gamely followed her to see what was being offered at the various stalls. At the taiyaki stand, Lisa purchased two of the fish shaped waffles filled with a sweet red bean paste, insisting that they try the funny shaped treat. Miriya quite enjoyed the treat but questioned the purpose of shaping the treat like a fish when it tasted nothing like a fish. Lisa also saw a shaved ice booth but decided to save that treat for later in the night.

After they ate their fill, they passed by the center stage where a taiko drum demonstration was about to begin. They found a few empty seats in the back and watched the exciting performance. Max and Rick couldn't stop talking about the performance when it was over and how talented the performers were. The group then ran into Sammie, Kim and Vanessa with Rico, Bron and Konda. While Rick and Lisa didn't know the Zentraedi defectors very well, their enthusiasm for all the variety of things that they had seen and done that day were infectious. As the groups broke apart and headed in different directions to continue their exploration of the festival, Sammie gave Lisa a big thumbs up and a wink when Rick wasn't looking.