Japaniversary

5 June 2008 - touchdown!

5 June 2009 - Japaniversary.

As you get older, birthdays become less of an egotistical festival of "give me things!" and become more of strange nostalgic time. The ever increasing blur of years freezes for a second, and you look around in the life that you have made for yourself.

You may say to yourself: "How did I get here?"
You may say to yourself: "How do I work this?"
You may say to yourself: "My God! What have I done?"

All of the above sometimes...

Tom and I are currently working on some plans for some fire fly viewing. I am also booking some lodgings for a stay at Koya-san in July. I can't believe we lived on the train line to Koya-san for almost 6 months and never made it up the mountain! Well, time to make amends. We are also looking at Hokkaido and Fuji-san in Obon - I had been looking at Western Japan for opportunities in Obon to do some traveling, but Tom has said that he would like to go North to escape from the heat. I am happy to do that, as I would love to go to Hokkaido. I want to do as many things as I can while I'm here. For winter, I'm hoping to go into Gifu and spend some time in some of the traditional alpine villages up there. No stupid skiing this year. Just enjoying the snow for what it is: snow. Throw a hot spring or two into the mix there, and you have something totally magical. The last thing I want to do is leave Japan with a sense of regret - or as Tom often quips - it is better to regret doing something than to regret not doing something.

In other news, we have had some startling news from Tom's mother - Tom's cousin Kimbra passed away very unexpectedly a few weeks ago. She was only 36 years old. Also, there have been murmurings of some serious health problems for someone from my side of the family, but I haven't heard anything official. Either way, it has not all been smooth sailing, and unsettling news from home makes me thankful for all the times that there is nothing to report.

Happy Japaniversary everyone. Don't be shy about getting in contact. We love hearing from you all!