Japan trip 2020

We made it back to Japan! Our forever home away from home. The 10 hour flight from Seattle to Misawa was long and painful as usual, but I really can't complain. All the kids did great and even Layla did a lot of sleeping. Her problem is she is always wanting to move and crawl, so being trapped in a seat was less than ideal for a mobile baby.

After getting off the rotator, tired, smelly, and completely jet lagged, we got a rental car and checked into the TLF. The TLFs in Misawa are nice and newly renovated. It's honestly the cheapest way to stay while in Japan if you are military. Our first meal of course was Thunder Ramen. It was delicious, and the warm bowl of miso soup hit the spot since it was so cold in Misawa in January. 

We attempted to go to bed early the first night, but the kids were up at 3:00 in the morning, that darn jet lag and time difference. We tried to entertain them in the hotel room as long as possible, but as soon as day broke out we were ready to head to Shimoda mall for some sight seeing. We actually ran into one of Abby's old senseis from Daiichi Yochien years ago and she recognized us! It was such a fun reunion, and I am glad we got to see Topo Sensei again. 

Have I mentioned how much I love how clean and kid friendly Japan is? I love that there are Anpanman characters everywhere including the shopping carts in the mall. Oh Japan, the smell, the fresh air, it's so good to be back. I don't realize how much I miss all things Japanese till I come back on these return visits and realize I really, really loved living here. 

Before we came out to Japan we made arrangements to meet up with Iyori chan and her mom, Ayaka San, as much as possible. We met up with them at the mall and the girls picked up right where they left off. We played at Yousland (kids play area in the mall), saw Frozen 2 in Japanese at the movie theatre, and ate lunch together. They have been such great friends and I love that we stay in touch with them even half way around the world. The girls FaceTime call each other just about once a week. They were so nice that they invited a bunch of Abby s friends from Daiichi to come and play at the new indoor play area in the city of Misawa. Seeing all those cute kids again and their sweet moms was so much fun. I love our little Japanese family that we have over in Misawa and forever will have.

I reached out to the few people we know that are still in Misawa, such as Emma Garcia. She has been such a great friend and I used to be her visiting teacher when we lived here. Getting to see her little baby now look like a toddler was so much fun, and the kids all had a blast playing and reminiscing at the weasels den kids place on base. 

Jet lag was rough this time around. I honestly felt like it took us all 4-5 days to completely transition over to Japanese time. Overall the kids did great being tired most of the time, but poor Brayden by far had the hardest time transitioning and couldn't keep his toddler emotions in check a lot of the time. 

We met up with our beloved Yoko San. She was our little Japanese mama san who would come and watch the kids while we lived in Misawa so I could go teach ballet at the youth center. Words do not give her enough justice, this woman is past angel status, past saint status, she in amazing! She loved my kids just like a grandma and she was so excited to see us again and to see how much the kids had grown since last year. We will forever stay in touch with this remarkable woman who has touched our lives forever. 

On our last day in Misawa before taking the trains south to Tokyo we walked around the frozen lake, looked at the festive winter lantern, and soaked our cold feet in a foot onsen. It felt wonderful and that's as close as I will ever get to going to an "onsen." The thought of being naked in a public bath with strangers was a cultural experience I never embraced while living there, nor do I think I ever will, hahaha. 

A long car ride through snow up to Hakkoda to see the snow monsters at the op of the mountain was long but so worth it. I. Have. Never. Been. So. Cold. I am at a loss of words to describe the frozen feeling I felt at the top of that mountain. I could hardly breath due to the cold wind and ice/snow mixture. The snow covered trees are called "snow monsters" and can be quite beautiful and majestic, but man did I feel like I could possibly die from frost bite?! Being at the top of this mountain looking over northern Japan, being able to see the ocean on both sides made me feel as if I was on top of the world. 

We stopped by Daiichi Yochien to see some of our beloved senseis, like Wakako Sensei and Misato Sensei. They were so sweet and talked with both Abby and Connor, asking them about their new school in America. Having our kids attend school at Daiichi was such a remarkable experience, one I hope they will always remember even though they were young when they were there.

We said our last goodbyes to our friends before heading down south to Tokyo. It was bitter sweet cause it's always sad to leave but sweet knowing that we will stay in touch and will of course make a return trip back to our beloved Japan. Some of our friends, the Lavignes, just got reassigned back to Misawa for their second time. "Stonewall" just finished weapons school and is now the patch for the 13th squadron. Seeing them and their girls (I cannot believe they have 2 girls and a little one on the way) was just what we needed to end our last night in Misawa to remanence on good old times. 

We are always quite the sight when we travel on the bullet trains down to Tokyo. There we were, a family of 6 with 2 large suit cases, 4 kiddos, and at least a foot taller than the Japanese people. Lets just say we don't nevcisarrily blend in very well. We had a bit of a scary moment on the transfer train from Tokyo station to Yokota station. It was very cold outside so of course we had our kids all bundled up. The problem is that on the trains they crank on the heaters to keep everyone warm, so between all our snow gear and the heaters we started getting too hot. Layla actually started to spike a fever. I didn't realize it at first, but suddenly I looked over at her in Kyle's arms and her eyes started rolling back in her head and she began to seizure. I was so scared but amazingly in that moment a wave of calmness overcame me including a profound thought to my mind of "you know what to do. Brayden had a seizure about a year ago just like this and it has prepped you for this exact moment." 

Kyle and I immediately began to undress Layla in the middle of this packed train, in hopes to cool off her body temperature. As we were doing so a sweet elderly Japanese woman came up to me and handed me the ice pack that was at the bottom of her grocery bag to keep her groceries cool during her ride home. I smiled and thanked her and began to rub Layla down with the ice pack. She started crying and came out of her seizure. We monitored her temperature the rest of the time and she seemed to be fine, just really sleepy as her body was basically resetting after that dramatic event. 

I often think of that sweet Japanese woman and the ice pack. She was in the right spot at the right time to help us, and regardless of the language barrier you could tell she too was a mother and completely understood our fear. She stepped up and helped us when she didn't have to and for that I will forever be grateful. That sweet Japanese woman, who I don't even know her name, has restored my faith in society. There are good people in this world, and the Lord is aware of us...always. He was able to enlighten my mind and keep me calm during an emergency situation. I knew what to do because of the experiences He put in my life prior to this moment. He also put that sweet woman on the same train car with us to be an angel on earth and help our baby girl. 

We stayed at the New Sanno for a few nights and decided to check our Puroland. It's basically Disneyland with Hello Kitty characters. The kids loved it and I thought it was so "Japanese" I count help but love it myself as well. Everything was "kawaii" which in Japanese means cute!

We walked the streets of Shibuya district as well as Harajuku, my two favorite districts in Tokyo. We had a blast recreating some pictures at certain places from years past, and of course ate at our favorite kabab store and sugared up the kids with some krispy kreme doughnuts right by Shibuya crossing.

We decided to check out a different city and explored Yokohama. We took the kids to the Anpanman museum and they were beyond excited. Even Layla had a great time. I was a little disappointed because we we're going to check out the museum/headquarters of top ramen, but of course they were closed that day. Maybe next time. It wasn't a total waste because we found a Pepper Lunch restaurant and ate some delicious Pepper Lunch beef and rice. 

Our last stop on the trip was none other than Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea. My kids have actually never been to Disneyland in California or Disneyworld in Florida, so they only think that Disney exists in Japan. We ate all the yummy popcorn, went on all the fun rides, and made countless memories together. 

We finished our last night at Yokota Air base and took the space A patriot flight back to Seattle. It was a wonderful almost 2 full weeks visiting a country that is very dear to us. Now we are exhausted, trying to recuperate from our vacation and get back into our routines and schedules again.