hello...12 years...4 days ago...
Wow! It's now HELLO TUESDAY! Such a whirlwind few days...I (Dee) wrote these ramblings Friday, then got carried away with the festivities and slightly forgot to post this little, somewhat significant milestone...So think 4 days ago...here's what was happening...
Hi Friday! Hello weekend. Happy Japan Day for us…Yes, it’s unbelievable but on this very day 12 years ago we arrived in Japan 2/27/1997. Sunburnt to a crisp from an afternoon of boating and catching gumboots on Moreton Bay the day before. We soon found ourselves very cold, very naive, very excited to be out in the world. First stop Tokyo. We thought we would stay just one year, then keep traveling – a different year, a different country. But somehow, someway we still find ourselves here. A love affair of sorts despite the enduring trauma 12 years ago tonight when I (Dee – let’s make that very clear as Trace wants no part of this story) ate a WHOLE EDAMAMAE at the very first Izakaya we ever went to. Come on… No-one told me you only ate the bean, not the entire pod…It soon came to my attention when the drunk salary men at the end of the table screamed with laughter at my idiocy…Oh, the Japan stories. We could write a series. And we have... So it didn’t start well, fog, frigid air, a stark landscape, like someone had a dipped a brush in concrete and painted and painted and painted forever. But soon Spring came, pockets of beauty took our breath away, and we have stayed. Sure nothing is ever really easy. Lots of barriers, lots of DAME’s (X), but Japan has amazing opportunities if you just never give up. Keep going, there is always a way. So happy Japan day to us. Today, while a little (wet) snows falls outside, we are reminiscing, so many colorful experiences, life lessons, travels, disasters (don’t even ask about the first time I went to the hairdressers here and asked for a color…) and an incredible cast of characters. Like for example just last week the man who crossed our path, in his late 50’s in Shibuya wearing pink hot pants – really - his thinning long, grey hair in a side ponytail secured with a big yellow hair bobble… you just can’t make this stuff up. I think we can never leave. There’s too much yet to see, explore, eat the wrong way and mistakes to make. Wish we could have dragged out our first Japan scrapbooks to show you all but alas they are all living back in Australia. Tucked neatly on the shelves, all hand covered in origami paper, awaiting our return. Those are photos that will have you rolling in laughter. We might get them sent back to us soon just for your amusement. Celebrating at dinner tonight and reminiscing about the hilarity of it all has helped us, at least randomly, remember these 12 years, where we’ve been, where we’ve gone and hairstyles not to try out again…
Have a toasty weekend! Off to man-handle some beans,
Dee & Tee
















