Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?: September 2008

Unfortunately, I have not really been what you would call "on top of things" lately, blogging being one of those things. I apologize.

Since last writing, some pretty big things have happened, namely:

1. my family came to visit for 10 days
2. my two closest friends in Toyama left (for good)
3. my friend Ethan came to visit

I'm going to start in chronological order, so here goes.

It was absolutely wonderful having my family in Japan. We had so much fun together, and we got to see a lot of different and really cool sights

, most of which were new to me as well. They first came to Toyama to see my life here, and from there we went on to Kyoto and Nara, where we got to see two beautiful festivals. Next we took a ferry to the beautiful island of Shikoku, "the Tibet of Japan." We rented a car and drove along tiny, winding roads on the sides of beautiful green mountains that lead down into steep, steep ravines. The riding got a little stressful at times, with the roads being one lane switchbacks and cars driving on the left (slight tension in the car, especially when lost), but the scenery was gorgeous.

After two nights in a cabin in a national park on the center of the island, we made our way across Shikoku and off to Miyajima, a small island famous for the large Torii gate in the water, and for deer wandering around everywhere. It was very peaceful (some might say too peaceful), and we had a nice hike up to the top of one of the mountains. We were hoping to see the monkeys that live there, but unfortunately they weren't around. We stopped in Hiroshima on the way back, which was incredibly moving. All in all we couldn't have asked for a better trip. We had so much fun together, and I'm so happy they were able to come and see my life here and that we could experience Japan together.