Japan Visit

It tore me apart last year when I left Japan and everyone in it.  The only thing I could do to cope was promise that I would be back in 2012.  To actually make good on that promise last month gave me a sense of fulfillment I can't fully describe.  It was more than just keeping my word - it was returning to a place where I'd left a piece of my heart behind.

It was after midnight when I finally got out of the airport.  I didn't have a map to my hotel, but I knew roughly where it was, so I caught a couple of trains to the other side of Tokyo.  I then proceeded to lug my luggage around the streets for almost two hours as I searched for it.  You know what?  I loved every second of it.  That probably sounds crazy, but I was back in Japan!  There was nothing I wanted more than to wander around and soak in my surroundings.  At some point I stopped for ramen, which was the best ramen ever purely because I hadn't had it for so long.  I spoke briefly to the chef and my Japanese spurted out haltingly like water from a broken showerhead - but I loved it.

Kym arrived in Japan the next morning, so we met up and spent the day in Tokyo.  It was just like old times.  We explored Asakusa, where we had a great view of Sensoji Temple, cherry blossoms and the newly-completed Sky Tree, currently the tallest free-standing tower in the world.  I was surprised at how normal everything felt.  There was no culture shock or strangeness on any level.  Even Japan's usual quirks (like this shop) simply served as a reminder of what was normal when I was here last.

Each day carried so many highlights I can't possibly list them all, but seeing my mates Phil and Yukiko get married was definitely one of them.  The ceremony was tradition and beauty rolled into one.  Kym and I were unknowingly invited into the official family introductions before the ceremony, where a curtain is pulled back to reveal the two families facing each other in a line.  Formal introductions are given and serve to induct the members of each family into the other.  Kym and I were possibly mistaken as cousins and were acutely aware during the process that we probably shouldn't be there... but no one seemed to mind.  We were afterwards knowingly invited into the family photo, which was very sweet.  Phil, Yukiko, love you guys!

Kym and I dropped in on Cafe Volta - our old local cafe where we often bought scones - and Mountain Q, a Hawaiian restaraunt we frequently visited during our lunchbreak.  The Mountain Q owners were so surprised and excited to see us back, and even wrote about us on their blog.  The owners of Cafe Volta once more gifted us with free scones as we departed.  It really made me think of how many amazing people I'd been surrounded by.  How had I ever mustered the strength to leave?

There were so many people to catch up with I'm surprised I saw as many as I did.  Somehow I also managed a trip way down south to the island of Kyushu to visit Dale.  To highlight just how far that is from Nagano, it took me eight and a half hours to get there by train, most of which was on the shinkansen.  That's how far it is.  Before Dale finished work, I made sure to suss out his town and check out Kumamoto Castle.  It was then an enjoyable night of catching up over drinks, Mos Burger, and games.

The following day I met up with Phil, his family, Yukiko and Kym in Hiroshima.  We spent a few days travelling around together and living it up.  It really was just like old times... plus Phil's family.  But even then, hanging around Hiroshima with Phil and his brother Richard brought back memories of when we stormed the area two years ago.
 

But perhaps the most poignant of all moments was when I dropped into my old school and met past students.  These kids were beacons of light for me in an often tough job.  It was sad not having that same relationship with them anymore, but at the same time, I felt so lucky to be able to see them again.  They were all invariably bigger, even if slightly - and don't think I'm imagining that.  Kids grow faster than brussles sprouts.  Risako, who was in the very first class I ever taught, a small nine-year-old at the time, is suddenly in junior high and capable of having a good conversation in English - as I learned.  She speaks better English at 13 years old than most of my Thai colleagues, even the English teachers.  Make of that what you will.

Some kids like Aika (middle) were too shy at first to approach me.  Others like Naoki (left) ran up to hug me as if the last 12 months had changed nothing.  Excited parents asked me if I was "coming back", and I mumbled some kind of answer about trying to "visit next year".   But the weight of that question has been pressing into my mind more and more over time.  I ask myself, but I'm still not sure what I want to answer.

And that's where I'm at.  I'm so privleged to have had the opportunity to revisit my old life, to meet old friends and students and places.  Is it done with, or is it something I can return to, like my life in Australia?

On the way back to Thailand, I sat in Kuala Lumpur Airport, deep in thought.  I held a pen against a blank page, thinking of the countries I was torn between.  Where is home? I wondered, as if this would compel me to write an answer.  It did.  The pen began to move...