Epi-blogue

I didn't expect there would be more. I thought that our story had ended when we stepped through the jetway gate where (unfortunately!) the biggest transition there was the physical change from 'alert' to 'exhausted'. 

But that was before the 27 hour return from Japan finally found us back at Fernwood Circle shortly before midnight on the same day we left Tokyo. (Funny how that works!) Even in the darkness, we could see that the story wasn't quite over. We would spend the next week discovering an abundance of homecoming surprises. 

First there were the  banners...Welcome Home! Welcome Home! Welcome Home! Across the doorway, between the posts, even in the house! Then the flowers on the porch, a six-pack of Chris's favorite beer, a box of fresh oranges. Wouldn't that seem more than enough? 

We entered a perfectly cleaned house to find more fresh flowers and a countertop overflowing with our favorite foods and fresh fruit - plenty to stave off a dreaded trip to the grocery store the next morning.  Isn't that thoughtful?! The light of day revealed a collection of potted herbs, a miniature decorative torii cleverly hidden among the basil.

And then!  The Welcome-Homers themselves! This past week has been a happy, hazy blur of visitors, eager to assure us that we don't look one bit tired and that things here look 'great' despite the apparent explosion of boxes and luggage in our once 'perfectly cleaned' house. We have loved it all and it has been great to catch up!

Patrick's kindergarten friends give him
his own personal welcome back

We are truly blessed. We know this! Surprised and humbled, too. Our transition from Japan to the U.S. has been so gentle and kind, with all the care of a newborn being passed from one set of hands to another. Our hearts are yet again full of gratitude - not only for those who kindly sent us on our way, but for all those who made our return through the torii gate a memorable and special end to this story. Thank you for this!

Blog-knowledgements

In a country where cooperation toward a group goal outshines the importance of individual recognition, it seems a bit counter-cultural to identify specific people when it comes to saying thank you.  But I can't help myself - I feel I owe a debt of gratitude to the many who made this such a rich experience for us. 

There's no doubt that the people who stitched our lives together so seamlessly are the moms we were so fortunate to encounter. These are the Misaes, Hiromis, Kuremis, Shinobus, Aikas, Eikos, Nahos, Yukis, and Yoshikos, who spent countless hours interpreting, translating, navigating, and even sewing for our family. Thanks, too, to all the moms who so graciously befriended us. This would have been a completely different experience without the help of our mom community, and a much less joyful one without their dear friendship.

A tearful goodbye to Mayuka, Yoshiko,
Kuremi and Baby Mia, Shinobu, and Kaori

Providing support from the other side of the pond were our wonderful friends and family back home! Thanks for following along on the blog and cheering us on! I loved having you on our journey with us. Thanks for the letters and packages, e-mails and Skype calls that bridged the great distance these past seven months. It's amazing what a little bit of 'home' can do to keep you close when you're thousands of miles away!

A tremendous thank-you to the teachers and staff of the kindergarten! We are so grateful for your warm welcome of two little newcomers. Enchou-sensei, the joy you bring to the school as its principal is delightful, and I will never forget how your assurance calmed my pounding heart at our very first meeting. Yukika-sensei - with your bright eyes and big smile - you, too, are so joyful and patient!  We couldn't have asked for a better teacher for Patrick, and there will always be a special place for you in our hearts. Mayumi-sensei and Yukiko-sensei - many thanks for the happy times Evelyn spent with you in your classrooms. Though her time with you was brief, it was also very special!  Finally, thank you to all the teachers at the kindergarten for loving your students as a parent would. What a beautiful and special place!

We are also grateful to the teachers and staff of the primary school for giving Patrick the opportunity to experience first grade in Japan. Ogata-sensei, thank you for your patience and your efforts on his behalf, and good luck with your remaining 34 students!

Special thanks to Dr. Kasai for the opportunity to spend this time in Japan. We will remember with great fondness our jovial gatherings with you and your students, and we appreciate your generosity and hospitality. Thanks to you, too,  Ms. Takano!  You were the very first person we met in Japan - it was a luxury for us to have your help and expertise as we transitioned to our new life here.

To our Franciscan Chapel Center family...thank you for many meaningful experiences (and memorable homilies!!!) during our time in Tokyo.  We were graced with an abundance of blessings at our 'spiritual home', and it's hard not to get a bit choked up with the recollection of our 'Sayonara Sunday'.  Keep doing the good work that you do!

Many thanks to the friendly faces at the International House office who fielded numerous questions for us during our stay. We appreciate all you did to help us feel at home in our home away from home!

Patrick and Evelyn, I am so proud of you!  You did so well and jumped unquestioningly into every situation asked of you. You learned how to live in a big city! You went to Japanese schools! You know the train system better than Mommy! It wasn't always easy, was it?  But you did it and you did it well. Japan will always be a part of you!

And Chris. You have impressed me on so many levels. I loved the opportunity to see a little bit more of what you do in real life. All those Skype meetings from our Tokyo apartment with your graduate students back in Oregon were a great window into what you do when you aren't doing the many other things that you do! Thanks for bringing such an adventurous spirit to our short time here and for planning all those memorable trips. Your pictures are an absolute treasure to me - weaving our story was easy thanks to the beautiful memories you captured. After 23 years, 5 states, and two countries, I hope it is obvious that I'd follow you anywhere!

Through the Torii Gate

To pass through a torii is to pass from one world to another.  These 'gates' are found at the entrances to temples and shrines, and they mark a figurative transition from the profane to the spiritual - not an insignificant change! 

Coming here has felt this way to me, and I hope that doesn't sound too bold. But how could an experience such as this be anything less than transformative, in big and small ways, and maybe even in spiritual ways?  How can we not have left some of our old selves behind to make room for the new things we've experienced and learned together?

And now, with boxes shipped, bags packed, and tearful farewells shared, our journey through the torii gate has come to an end. We are leaving this place, but will always carry its memory in our hearts. No doubt, much of life will soon return to what it was. In time, a laundry pinch will become a clothespin again. A separation excursion will again be known as a field trip. Car travel will replace train travel, I'll again be literate, and our day-to-day lives will resume a familiar rhythm. 

But on a grander scale there will always be the immeasurable gift of doing this big thing together, of learning together, of changing…together. Patrick and Evelyn, do you remember how we used to scurry to the side of the train platform just to get out of everyone's way? We have gone from stepping aside to let the crowd pass by to being the crowd that passes by. We have passed through the torii gate, and we are forever changed.

The Reason We're Here

If you had told me fifteen years ago how fortunate we were to be where we were at the time, I might have needed a bit more convincing. Those were days of around-the-clock graduate work for Chris, and it wasn't uncommon for him to return home after working all day and throughout the night with his professor, Dr. Kasai,  just as I was leaving for work in the morning.  It was an intense time! 

Shortly after Chris's graduation,  Professor Kasai returned to Japan and since that time has continued his relentless pursuit of engineering truths with graduate students from around the world. It was Dr. Kasai's gracious invitation that brought us to Japan, during which time he and Chris continued their ongoing collaboration on a paper. Evidently they had some unfinished business from 1998 and I'm told now that they are mere revisions away from finally publishing the work they began during Chris's doctoral program. I'll believe it when I hold the journal in my hands!

But how can I complain? This experience has been an exceptional one for our family, and while here we have had the opportunity to spend rare moments outside of work with Dr. Kasai and his present graduate students. By all accounts, the good professor hasn't changed a bit! The graduate students all share similar and familiar traits: they are challenged and work long and hard hours, but they are truly very fortunate  - even if they don't know it yet.

As Chris remarked during his farewell party speech, when you graduate from Kasai Lab, no matter where you go in the world of structural engineering, you will be recognized as having come from the best. Such is Kasai-sensei's international reputation for excellence and rigor. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity Chris has had to work with this exceptional individual, both then and now!

Every other month or so, Dr. Kasai would have his students organize a 'drinking and eating party', usually to celebrate the arrival of a new student or to say goodbye to a graduate. Our kids looked forward to these gatherings...always well-attended, always delicious, and always fun!

Twilight

Recently a fellow expat at the International House asked Patrick what he thought of his time in Tokyo. He said it was like one big day - filled with so many good things - that went too fast. We have come to the twilight of that day, but that didn't stop Chris from planning one last family adventure before bedtime! 

Our travels took us westward into the mountains to Matsumoto where we reveled in a second spring. The memory of warm sunshine and petals on the wind still makes me smile! Our slow stroll around the castle grounds was a welcome surprise - we've had many shoulder-to-shoulder tours with fellow adventurists during our time here, so the leisurely pace of the wide open space felt like a gift to us.

The castle itself - the oldest in Japan - is perhaps our favorite! Somehow this castle has been spared the damage necessitating the restorative measures required at other castles.  This one is entirely original and visions of ninjas moving stealthily about the narrow stairs were easy to conjure.

Hand-chiseled wooden beams

Ninjas on the loose

Interesting as we found it, our wee ninjas eventually tired of time travel, so we retreated to our ryoken for one last experience at a Japanese inn. Will the food at these places ever cease to impress me? I hope not, because whoever is in the kitchen designing clever edible representations of the natural world is pretty much a genius in my estimation. Each course is truly a work of art.

The warmth of spring sunshine soon faded to cool mountain air - a perfect invitation for a dip in our hot-spring-fed onsen. Not long after that, we were snuggled atop our futons for the night.  Talk about a day that went too fast!

How Do You Say "Surprise" in Japanese?

Indeed.  How do you say 'surprise' in Japanese?  I'm not quite sure. And maybe I don't know the exact word for surprise here, but I certainly know how it looks, sounds, and feels. I got a crash course Friday night.

It is the sound of a sliding door I opened at a community center where I had gone with a friend to 'pick up her boys from daycare' before 'going to their home for dinner'. It is the delighted squeals of over 30 kindergartners, waving pompons and shouting our names and rushing to greet Patrick and Evelyn with hugs and cheers. It is the swelling of my heart at the thoughtfulness of having one last chance to see our dear kindergarten friends before we return to the U.S. 

The scheming party planners take center
stage to welcome everyone to the party.
What a great reunion!
Nearly all of the kindergartners
and their mothers were able to attend.

Yes, it was a surprise alright, and as soon as I learn the Japanese word for surprise, I might as well learn the words for 'overcome' and 'humbled'. I could barely take it all in! Even two days later, I am still learning the 'who' behind the 'what'. So many special touches! There were speeches, presentations, games, a performance by the children, a farewell party CD soundtrack, flowers, gifts, and masterful hand-crafted decorations and origami on the walls and at each table where we feasted on delicious catered bentos. The layers of thoughtfulness had me in tears throughout the entire evening, it seemed. Unbelievable! It was incredibly special - and truly a night I will never forget.

What's a party without fun and games? :-)

We stayed until they kicked us out (literally!) and a few of our families walked home in the warmth of the spring night. The kids were exhausted, but the adults were riding the joyful wave of the evening, each of us recalling its memorable events. With these beautiful memories tucked happily into my heart, I now have a bit of a problem...how in the world do you say thank you?

Warm words from Patrick's principal and his teacher.

Oh my goodness, the kids were wild with excitement.
It was fabulous!

Earlier in the day......

This is a picture I took during a play date earlier in the day with a friend. We had a wonderful time having lunch and wandering the grounds of a beautiful park nearby. Here she is helping Evelyn spot carp and turtles - much to Evelyn's delight!

BUT!!!

Shortly after I said goodbye to this sweet friend, I received a text from Chris telling me he had to work late and would be unable to make the 'dinner party'. What?!  Oh no! What was I to tell the hostess who was surely - at that very moment - industriously making preparations for dinner that night?! I was so rattled I took the wrong train home and barely made it in time to greet Patrick after school! As the evening unfolded, it became clear that Chris had been part of the ruse from the very beginning. What a crazy afternoon! Let's just say that reading the afternoon's exchange of text messages provided some hilarious entertainment at the end of the party!

Easter in the One Percent

Though it's been a few days since Peter Cottontail came hopping down the bunny trail (riding on the monorail?), I wanted to share a little bit about Easter in Japan before the last jelly bean is plucked from its bed of plastic grass. The clock is ticking on that one!

The Easter Bunny did indeed weave through our crooked streets to find us in this city of twelve million. This was much to the delight and tremendous relief of children who were not oblivious to the fact that Easter is not a big deal here, at least in terms of candy and bunnies and eggs and baskets. But thanks to some clever imports from Gram Pat and Aunt Eileen, beloved Easter traditions were not to be missed. Saturday was a raucous affair of egg dying prior to leaving for the Vigil Mass where Easter was a very big deal. A nearly four hour big deal which I will remember for so many reasons.

In my experience with the Catholic Church, Easter has never been a time of ceremonial skimping and I can't help but love it. I have always been especially captivated by the Vigil Mass and its mighty mood swing from start to finish. What starts as a somber candle service outside the church after sundown ends in giddy exaltation sometime before midnight, with the entire affair awash in incense. It's the same wherever you go! But there was an added bonus this year that has left a permanent stamp on my heart: Patrick and Evelyn led the singing for the first responsorial psalm. Lord, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth. I can still hear it, and I hope I always can. What sweet little messengers!

Please forgive my use of a picture not quite in focus, but this was the vision of
Evelyn jubilantly lending her voice to the refrain of the psalm.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit perhaps?

Despite a nervous practice the day before, 

Patrick sang sweetly and earnestly at the actual Mass. 

Worried that the trains would stop running before the alleluias ceased resounding, we joyfully joined in the final applause of the Mass but then scurried for the station. Children were tucked in tight at the child-friendly hour of 12:30 a.m., only to gleefully arise mere hours later with their own alleluias at their Easter basket discoveries. Yaaawwwnnn! This made for a rather long Sunday, but a yellow princess dress went a long way in improving a certain young lady's mood - so we went with it and headed for brunch.

Evelyn definitely turned some heads in this little number.

Western hotels in downtown Tokyo know how to sand the rough edges of holidays away from home and this is not the first time we've sought their familiar hospitality. Despite the groggy fog enshrouding our little foursome, we hopped back on the train and headed back to mid-town where we enjoyed a beautiful brunch, wonderful views, and a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny. Who knew?!

Just as we were finishing brunch, the kids were corralled by the
maitre de for an Easter egg hunt in the hotel lobby. Adorable!

While it's true it may have been just another day for 99% of the people in Japan, in no way did this diminish our celebration. We count ourselves lucky to have found Easter joy in big and small ways here in Tokyo. 

Nothing says "He is Risen" like an Easter Sunday stroll through Ginza.
Evelyn and Patrick created quite a stir with this friendly group
eager to capture their picture.