30 Months in Japan: December 2015

I'm surprised to find how strongly I associate Christmas with Japan. I guess that's what happens when you spend three of them there. Also, I attended a total of six separate Christmas Eve services in that time, which probably cemented it all the harder. Missionary work, what can you do?

I tended to not write in detail about anyone else while I was in Japan, mostly for concerns about privacy and putting words into other people's mouths, but I find myself missing the people I knew in Japan pretty often--my students, the people at my church, my fellow J-3s and missionaries. They so profoundly affected my life and who I am, and being separated from people that came to mean so much to me has been one of the more difficult aspects of returning to the United States. Kumamoto, Japan, and my hometown in California are such separate worlds that sometimes I wonder if this is how Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy felt after tumbling out of the wardrobe back into England after spending a lifetime in Narnia.

J-3s in January 2014. Brent, Patrick, and Katie (15-year J-3) in the back; Morgan, me, and Caroline in the front.

Happily, in May, these worlds were able to meet when Caroline and I were able to visit each other's respective stomping grounds. I visited her first in Omaha, where her family graciously hosted me for a few days. I've had a soft spot for the Midwest ever since going to college in Minnesota, and it was wonderful to be immersed in that culture once more. It was also good to hang out with someone who understood the emotional journey of returning "home." Caroline definitely qualifies as one of the people in Japan who "profoundly affected my life and who I am." We went to Japan not sure if we'd ever be close friends, and now she's pretty much the sister I never had. In Japan she was for me a listening ear, advocate, sounding board, traveling companion, giver of timely (metaphorical) slaps upside the head when necessary, and voice of reason. It was really nice to meet her family (who took such good care of me!) and attend her church, as well as go to the Henry Doorly Zoo, which is legitimately one of the coolest zoos I've ever been to. (Somehow I don't have any photos from there, but trust me when I say it's worth a visit if you're ever in Omaha.)

Nebraska! The center of America, or in Japanese, Amerika no man'naka.

Sculpture at Pioneer Courage Park.

Caroline has Pioneer Courage, too.

Looking toward urban Omaha.

Then, a couple weeks later, Caroline came to visit me in California, where we hit all the necessary Bay Area/Northern California stops--Sacramento, San Francisco, the Napa valley, and the coastal redwoods. I was just entering the "everything about America is terrible in comparison to Japan" phase of reverse culture shock, but our day trips helped me remember the nice things about living here.

Ocean view near the ruins of the Sutro Baths in San Francisco.

Golden Gate Bridge from the Lands End Coastal Trail.

In Chinatown.

At the Castello di Amorosa winery in Calistoga.

Redwood trees at my old summer camp. Can you spot the Caroline?

Almost as soon as these trips had finished it was time for both of us to start looking toward our respective futures--Caroline to prepare to enter seminary in the fall and me to actually find a job. We haven't been able to keep in touch as much as we'd like--it's harder when you don't live just one flight of stairs away from each other--but we still Skype, call, text, and email each other regularly. What a blessing to have such a friend with whom to share an experience like the J-3 program.

Waiting for lunch in Aso during our first-ever Golden Week, May 2013.

Summer vacation 2013. The wait to get in to Tokyo Skytree was three hours, so we took this photo outside instead.

At Freshness Burger in Kumamoto, January 2014. Check out the license plates on the wall behind us!
It was destiny. As soon as we saw them we knew we had to sit at this table.