Words can only begin to describe how important and wonderful this trip was for me. Nor can pictures do it justice. My arrival was, no doubt, welcomed by a huge red setting sun falling into the urbanity of a distant Tokyo, seen through the window of a moving train.
Dazed from jetlag I waited a day or two before I journeyed down to my old stomping grounds: Kumamoto. There I found my Japanese family, all healthy and ready for rice planting. The kids of the village remembered me with warmth, even if some forgot my silly foreign name. My co-teachers threw me a wonderful welcome home party that could make any man proud, and they even paid the way for my friend and co-ALT comrade John (and me!)! We had a brilliant time, there was even time for a speech. I also got to see my friend Chris and his new bike as well as Austin and his girlfriend Reika, who was climbing all over the trees at a shrine near Ashikita.
Then two great old friends from my time at Cambridge made a surprise visit from Honshu. Good ol' Andrew and Will! They made quite an appearance in my little town. Quite an appearance. The Nakamura family welcomed us to a very special barbecue where we found out that Andrew is friends with the second ALT to ever work in Ubuyama! We then explored the countryside, marking it as our own territory despite the countless Japanese tourists exploring their home-country during their vacation days of "Golden Week."
I left the village on a serious note. The superintendent's mother had died the night before, so that morning the vice-principals, principals, the members of the board of education, and I went to his house for the wake. She lay there all covered in blankets as we sat in formal style on the tatami mats and drank our tea. We bowed profusely to show our respect and compassion, and then left. Just days before the superintendent had treated me to a sashimi dinner at his house with his wife and daughter. He had been very worried about his mother, who was 91, and was survived by her husband, 100.
Then came Tokyo, round 2. There I met (on separate occasions) with old friends and Putney grads Masaki Koga and Gentaro Yokoyama. Before meeting them, though, I would find myself escorted out of the Eastern Imperial Palace by the imperial guard (see self-photo above). Niiiice. And notice the elusive harajuku girl (also above), caught in daytime with all her costume-play (bizarre, I know).
There are so many more photos and stories. I reckon that these words and photos do the trip no justice. But will I ever be able to do such a trip justice? Maybe not. Still, I wanted to at least try, even in my dazed state.
And at the end I turned in my visa. Don't ask me why; it doesn't mean I won't come back. It just means that I am moving to New York and starting a Masters and teaching Special Ed, etc. It just means that as much as I want to turn around and go straight back to a land that I love, I don't think it's right for me to live there in the next year. Luckily, I can always visit!
I must say that the old United operated 747 flight today was harrowing. We hit a giant air pocket after the first 30 seconds of ascent. It felt like the whole plane would crash into the ground. Then I turned to my neighbor and found out that she was a Polish mother who had been living in Japan for 20 years and spoke better Japanese than English. We then had a number of chats together during the flight. And best of all, the old 747 didn't crash after all. Phew... I was thinking about all the books I still haven't published.... (and all the love I still haven't given, and all the teaching I still haven't taught, and all the fathering I still haven't done, etc.). Let us live a little longer.
