Kyoto mo ikai!

Roughly sixteen years ago (which means that YES, we were both about 12 years old then), Rich and I got married. A month or so after that, we moved to Japan for three years. I won't get into specifics, but it wasn't the easiest time in my life. Though I loved the history, culture and (wonderful) people there, the logistics of finding a job teaching English as a Japanese person (but who didn't speak the language) was very difficult.  For obvious reasons, it's easier to get a job teaching English when you look like you speak English. So I struggled. Fortunately, I found solace in lots and lots of Chip Star (the Japanese equivalent of Pringles), but it also made me chunky. And in a land filled with size 0s and 00s, this made me stand out even more. So I ate those people too.

Though we worked an awful lot, we also prioritized every cultural opportunity available to us. Much of our down time was spent exploring temples, shrines, festivals, parks, museums, parades, castles, side streets, etc. In this way, regardless of my professional challenges, I was able to develop a strong connection to the country. However, I will also admit that when I left (in '00), I was so elated to leave the initial career challenges/long hours behind, that as I buckled my seat belt I remember saying to Rich, "I'm not sad to be leaving. I'm sure I'll want to come back someday...but not for awhile. Maybe ten years."

As time has passed, so have my bad memories. I think it's like canonizing the dead. :-) But what's the point of dredging up the past? Nothing hurts anymore. I may have been treated very inappropriately at times, but I still triumphed in the end- I got a job, I made decent money. No harm done. On top of that, every time I stop to think about all that we have and are grateful for, I am forced to acknowledge where it all started- Japan.

It's now been almost 16 years to the day that we moved to Japan, and 13 years since we left. Ryan has been asking to go to Japan for many months. I think it's mostly because his cousins and the Shinkansen are there, but who knows? He does appear to very much want to be Japanese all the time- from smiling widely to make his eyes narrow so he can 'look more Japanese' (racist child), to asking me multiple times if he lived in Japan with us (and is always crestfallen when I remind him that no, he wasn't born yet). Or as he puts it- "I didn't know you guys yet, right Mommy?"

We've never let Ryan pick where we travel thus far. He's too young (case in point, he keeps asking to go to Dallas to see some kind of kiddie musical that he saw on a PBS commercial). But of course, we're suckers for his joy, and his excitement has been so infectious that it definitely expedited our wish to return. So after a few months of waffling, we've decided to take up our good friend's incredibly kind and generous offer of some discounted (stand by) air tickets (domo arigatou D & H!) to Japan.

So in about 24 hours, we will jet off to Kansai Kokusai Kuko. I used to love letting those melodic words quickly and smoothly roll off my tongue, it made me feel like a real Japanese whenever I said them. We booked a lovely apartment in beautiful Higashiyama (the heart of historic Kyoto). It's about 20 minutes by car from our nephews, or 15 min. by train from where we used to live (a wonderful place, but definitely suburbia). Despite promising not to do so, I've built a pretty ambitious itinerary that has attempting to visit a number of our favorite temples, parks, shops, restaurants, walks and memories.

I want to visit my old apartment building and see if the rice field across the street is still there. I want to see if our favorite grocer is still open. I want to walk through the old Nishiki fish market and hear vendors calling out "Irrashimase!" I want to wind my way up Arashiyama so I can see the crazy, greedy monkeys terrifying tourists. I want to watch Ryan scramble up the large stone stairs of my favorite temple (Chion-in), to see the bright lights of Osaka, to bite into okonomiyaki topped with crispy bacon, glide swiftly by small towns in a bullet train, laugh with his cousins, and maybe even find a vending machine that sells undies (it will crack him up). I want to go back to the country that in so many ways- gave us very much to be thankful for. But moreover, I hope that in 8 days, we are somehow able to capture the magic and beauty of Japan so that our little boy will want to go back someday and learn more about his culture (besides you know, over-smiling in a semi-racist manner).

Jya ne...

You can't see the Chip Star. But it's there.