Old friends, new friends and many smiles from ... JAPAN

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Funny how life is ... as some may recall, I worked with the Asia University America Program way back when, which consequently inspired a year of studying Japanese and some serious considerations about studying abroad for a semester in Japan. Five years later and all notions of Japanese long forgotten, I finally got to go! Marcel had been sent to Tokyo for a big job, which served as the perfect excuse to hop over for a couple of weeks’ vacation when he was finished.

No time was wasted in making the most of our precious two weeks ... the night that I arrived Yuka, Rukko, Ayumi and the rest of the AUAP crew had miraculously arranged a reunion dinner with all but one person from our group (Masa was working the night shift) plus several other good friends from other groups. Not an easy task!! Not only was it the first time that I had seen most all of them since they left Bellingham in 2002, but many of them had not seen each other since, and with weddings and new babies for some and new jobs and old WWU memories for all, we certainly had more than enough to talk about. What fun!

Having bought the Japan Rail Passes we submitted ourselves to a perfect mix of neon urban craze and tranquil rural beauty as we ventured through Nikko, Nagoya, Osaka, Koyasan, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Himeji and, of course Tokyo. Don’t ask what the ‘favorite’ place was … they were all amazing, I really don’t know. In fact, there were so many highlights, I’m not even sure how to narrow them down :-7

NIKKO: cool “temple city” hidden in the woods, amazing waterfalls, incredible hospitality with mouth-watering food

NAGOYA: visits with college friend, Brenna Schenkle! (forgot to take any pictures with her though, how sad!!!) Vegas reminiscent Little Italy??

OSAKA: Dingy hotel, but fell in love with the city … too bad it’s one where we spent the least amount of time …

KOYASAN: In the woods, on the top of a mountain, the ancient Buddhist stronghold with some 3,000 temples and shrines … we stayed at a working temple with monks who served our vegetarian meals in-room, wake you for prayers at 6AM and keep a 6PM curfew that applies to everyone!!

HIROSHIMA: As you might guess, certainly all of the impressive WWII memorials, museums, etc, but also great food, bars and nightlife …. (had to make up for lost time with our 6PM curfew the nights before J)

MIYAJIMA: COOL island … most plazas are covered in pigeons, here they are covered in DEER that attack you for any scrap of food they can scrounge … and then follow you throughout the island

KYOTO: The Golden Shrine being the exception, pretty much ‘templed and shrined out’ by the time we got here, but LOVED the monkey park and huge markets … complete with crazed knife sellers

HIMEJI: Himeji Castle, all wood, all white, centuries old and well worth the trip

TOKYO: Amazing hospitality, good friends, insane electronics quarter, incredible views from Tokyo tower and Odaiba bay, US Embassy 4^th of July festival …For speaking zilch Japanese and for there being very little English around anywhere, I must say we did pretty well (THANK YOU Lonely Planet), though we highly valued any hard to find English subway maps we could muster up as well as those treasured nights when we were in the company of friends for dinner who could actually make heads and tails of the menus (THANK YOU AUAP crew, Brenna, Akiko, Remi & friends!!)

In fact, if I had to choose just one thing to take away from Japan, it would be the InCrEdiBlE HoSpItAlItY we received from the very moment I arrived until the very moment I left. From the AUAP crew organizing dinner … to visiting Ai’s parents and joining the local festival with them and Ai and Megumi’s kids in full out kimono … to Brenna playing local hostess … to the amazingly hospitable couple we stayed with in Nikko … to about everyone within 20meters jumping up to help us with directions in Osaka … to our host monks in Koyasan … to Ayumi for showing me around Tokyo … to all of Marcel’s co-workers and especially Akiko, who offered to let me stay at her house and took me around to the US Embassy 4^th of July festival where Remi, Jun and their friends then showed me around to dinner, karaoke and drinks … to Junji, who MIRACULOUSLY tracked me down at the airport (food court, of all places!) to see me off for my departure - without knowing what airline, what departure city nor what terminal I was headed for.

En fin, THANK YOU to everyone for a wonderful, wonderful time, the many laughs and even more fantastic memories …