I’m writing this from a fairly cramped position on our return flight. We’ll be landing in Vancouver BC in a couple of hours, after which we’ll have a few hours’ layover before heading home to Portland.
So, as we reach the end of the trip I’ve been mulling over my thoughts and feelings about the whole experience.
This was by far the most ambitious and challenging family trip we’ve taken. Even when we brought the older kid to Japan when e was nearly three, we had my mom along and mostly kept to familiar cities like Tokyo and Osaka.
As Hannah put it during our last kaiten sushi lunch, we each had moments of being deeply challenged. For me, the biggest struggles came when one or both kids — though if I’m being honest, it was usually the kindergartner — started getting cranky, demanding we buy a toy or treat at every store we passed, or refused to eat any of the amazing food available to us.
On the other hand, there were moments that I can only describe as sublime. Returning from an amazing dinner in Takayama for a soak in the onsen with my son will be a durable, lovely memory. Likewise chatting punk music and foreign language learning with a cab driver who was simply thrilled to have a fare willing to engage in both topics.
I don’t think we’ll attempt anything so ambitious any time soon. The cost, emotional and physical strain, and time involved make it more of a 5-10 year event than our usual winter pilgrimage to sun and warmth. Personally, my ability to haul myself and heavy bags around from place to place, trying to sleep in unfamiliar (and less-than-private) spaces isn’t what it was in my 20s and early 30s, when I used to hop on planes to unfamiliar locales just because I could.
But it rekindled my love for Japanese food, history, and culture; gave me amazing opportunities for photography; and prompted reviving this whole blog experiment. Hearing my 5 year-old daughter happily and eagerly try out her new (small, but growing) Japanese vocabulary, and watching the older kid’s eyes go wide as he tried and loved new foods are things I’ll treasure for a long time to come.
Now we’ll haul ourselves home to a dog, house, and community we’ve missed seeing. We’ll even get to celebrate Thanksgiving at home despite being away and unable to prepare a meal; my parents and another set of family friends are each preparing food and bringing it to us to share a communal meal.
I did bring back a couple of souvenirs. Chopsticks from Takayama and utility knife from the counter at Mitsokoshi, which was just a silly experience.
The rest of the family and I brought back more — including many bags of novelty snacks and kawaii stationary and sticker packs — for gifting. Also, the elder kid acquired a much-sought-after “Station Master” Pikachu stuffie, which is available exclusively in Tokyo Station.