Arigatou Gozaimasu-Thank You
It is with mixed emotions that I am leaving Japan today. I am happy to be going home and seeing family and friends, but I am sad about leaving this wonderful country. For those of you who call Japan home, thank you for sharing your home with me for this past year.
I am going to miss the kind people, the wonderful food, the amazing culture, the safety and cleanliness, riding my bike or the subway everywhere, and the friends I’ve made here.
Since we knew I was leaving, we took a long weekend and road the bullet train to the west side of Japan- a three hour train ride to Kanazawa. We took a bus ride on Saturday to an area called Shirakawa-go. The village is a World Heritage site. The houses have thatched roofs because the area has one of the heaviest snowfalls in the world. We spent Saturday evening in Kanazawa at a samurai museum, a beautiful garden and the geisha district. The area was so different from Tokyo - not as much hustle and bustle and lots of grass and trees. It was a beautiful area and very relaxing.
Kenric’s brother, Steve, and his family came to visit for a week. We had a lot of fun showing them around Tokyo.
I went to a couple of museums recently. The fish exhibit was amazing, and I saw the Cleopatra exhibit and Asian art at the Tokyo National Museum.
Kenric and I will always remember our time here with smiles on our faces.