Today was a travel day, the final destination being the city of Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu. All we had to actually accomplish today was get down to Kagoshima, which takes just over four hours altogether on the train… …and consequently would be my parents’ first experience of the absolutely marvelous Japanese rail transportation system.
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 4 – On the Train
Tuesday the 12th was a sort of “off day” after the action packed introduction to Beppu that was Monday. I didn’t have any concrete plans for my parents, although some sort of scheme with Choki-san was penciled into the afternoon timeslot. In short, my parents got to enjoy the charming luxuries of their ryokan while I slept in.
I wasn’t kidding when I said I had set them up in one kickass little place – check out this spanking awesome breakfast promptly laid out at 7:30am for my mother in the adjoining room.
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 3 – Marine Life and Monkey Sex
Their unplanned night in Tokyo having drawn to a close, my parents boarded their morning flight out to Nowhere, Japan – aka – Oita. Originally they had been due to arrive in Oita around 8pm Sunday night and with this in mind I had crafted a whirlwind itinerary that kicked off from the following Monday morning. With my parents instead arriving in Oita a day late they had the pleasure of beginning their activity-packed adventure right from the get-go.
My girlfriend and I arrived at the airport about 10 minutes early and began the wait for the two giant Americanos to emerge from the arrival gate… mom made a suitably grand entrance.
We had some coffee and introduced the parents to my darling girlfriend, then caught the bus back towards Beppu.
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 2 – Oita at Last, the Blitzkrieg Begins
As I am so fond of reminding my mother, the entire sequence of events that led to me living in Japan for 2 years while studying for a masters degree can be traced back to one fateful “conversation” around the dinner table before I began my freshman year of college at Washington & Lee University. We’ve got more important (and interesting) things to talk about so I’ll keep it short, but here’s a summary of that conversation:
Me: I think I would like to study Japanese at school…
Mom: I think that’s a terrible idea…
Me: Well I’m going to do it anyway!
Mom: Well then you can pay for your own tuition!
Now there was certainly more dialogue, and Dad chimed in with some bits of wisdom regarding his studying Russian at Amherst, and there may even have been some profanity, but that about covers the gist of that humid summer’s evening back in early August of 2001…
Fast forward almost exactly 5 years and I’m standing with my girlfriend in the seafood section of the basement grocery of the largest department store in town trying to decide which platter of sushi to buy and bring with us to the airport to meet my parents. Selection made, girlfriend proceeds towards the registers – awesome array of sumptuous and succulent sushi in hand (that’s called alliteration boys & girls!) – while I head for the drink section when my phone vibrates…
Continue reading Heaths Come to Japan – Day 1 – Lost, Cold, and Alone in Tokyo
