hairfish

Riding the Narita Express

An excerpt actual letter I wrote to a friend while we were flying somewhere over Canada

It’s still Saturday. That’s weird because it’s totally Sunday in Japan. I cried, of course. I honestly thought I wouldn’t until I got on the plane but saying goodbye was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Megumi, my host mom, got me a cute belt her friend made for me. She wrote me a nice letter in her best English. She signed it: “We love you. See you again.” My heart just about broke in two complete halves. I realized being here has given me my emotions back, or rather, the rich complexity of my emotions. I’m usually a very hyper sensitive person which is really annoying and a pain in the ass but somewhere along this trip, I learned to be in control of my emotions and not have them control me but I also re-learned how things feels: happiness, elation, fustration, confusion, excitment. A lot of it still doesn’t make sense but after spending much of last Winter completely numb, thie idea of feeling, of being aware of it, is so awesome.

–

Now, I’m actually back in the States. And it feels weird. Sleeping is an interesting thing because I do it in weird intervals, at weird times. I’ve been out at around 8pm, eastern time, only to wake up between three-thirty and four, stay up, crash around three in the afternoon and do it all over again. I’m going to try to reset my brain by not going to bed at eight and hopefully I will sleep solidly through the night but this remains to be seen. I really, really miss my host family. And my Japanese routine but I am very happy to be home. I have a feeling I’ll be very natsukashii for Japan within the next few weeks.

I’ve got a handful of more photographs to share and some questions about Study Abroad I’ve been meaning to answer, so please, stay tuned! Until then, have a happy holidays

I’m down to my last three days in Tokyo. On the one hand, I’m stupid excited to come home, but, on the other hand, my everyday rituals are starting to bring tears to my eyes. Looking back on the rough patch I had here a few months ago, it’s hard for any of those feelings to register anymore. I didn’t realize just how much I really love it here until, of course, it’s time for me to leave; but I think most experiences (of this sort) can do that to you.

Last Sunday, my host mom and I went out, just us two, to hang out in Harajuku. We caught a glimpse of Togo Shrine Flea Market and walked around Yoyogi Park on what seemed to be one of the colder days in Tokyo. It was really an awesome day.

I’m going to miss her so much…

Togo Shrine Antique Market happens once a month, every first Sunday of the month at Togo Shrine in Harajuku. It's well worth it too; so many treasures to find.

This guy was loads of fun. And very drunk. Just look at that smile!

Vendor's table filled with rare knick knacks and whatnots.

More goodies!

I didn't ask how much those advertisements were but I really feel like I should have bought them >_<!

Togo-jinja. The shrine is located near the intersection of Takeshita Street and Meiji Avenue, and is accessible from Harajuku Station. Besides the Antique market, Togo was really quiet but that's probably because most people were at Meiji-jinju.

Me and Megu-chan, myspacing it up :p

The pond area in Togo was really beautiful

We were feeding the koi, which I'm sure wasn't allowed, but you know. They were hungry!

Golden ginkgo trees! The leaves fall on the pavement, people walk all over it, and suddenly you've got fairy dust all over Tokyo. It's gorgegous!

Yoyogi Park! Despite the fact that visiting Harajuku on an almost daily basis for a month was my favorite thing to do, last Sunday was the first time I was actually inside of Yoyogi

People watching the Rockabillies perform and dance. They've been gathering on sundays at Yoyogi for years...

Totally posing for the camera~

Rockabilly "gang"?

Creepy, but they were nice. They did, however, scare the crap out of some small child. KAWAI SO~

See, they really were nice! Very well mannered and polite

Mama <3

Me!

Yoyogi-koen is MASSIVE huge.

That "little" hump in the background is Fuji-san, or Mt. Fuji. It was such a clear day, we could see Fuji-san as we rode the train into Saitama