4 Kids, 2 Happy and Tired Parents: Japan Trip Part 2

I woke up the next day I arrived super early in the morning, 2:30 am (I supposed it's still night), and could not fall asleep back. Saya woke up at 3:30 am and she was wide awake as well. I didn't want to wake the others up, so we stayed in the room and watched the plenty of DVDs I brought for the plane. We watched Dora, Micky Mouse Clubhouse and Diego for quite sometime and finally slowly crept out of our room since we heard someone wake up at 5:30 am. My Dad was sitting at the table and my Mom was dragging herself with sleepy eyes to the kitchen - a familiar sight since childhood. At least my father doesn't wake up at 4:30 am anymore. Aly was still asleep, so I let Saya watch Japanese cartoons on TV. Saya was being quiet and entertained by the cartoon shows she's never seen before.

Aly woke up around 6:30 am and we decided to go for a walk. It was Saturday, so it was the day which the elderies in the neighborhood get together and exercise at Kitanakajima Park. The Kitanakajima park was my backyard. That is where I learned how to ride a bike, buried my dog Riko, picked flowers for my flower crown etc... I was excited to visit it with my daughters, one of my sweet moments I wanted to savor. The seniors were there and they are my Mom's friends. They recognized Alyson since they've met her before, but they knew who I was instantly since I look a lot like my Mom. It was neat to see my girls play at the park. The play equipments were updated, but my childhood memories flooded my mind. It was early in the morning, but I wanted to exclaim how happy I was to be back. It finally sank in!

For the first several days, I met up with my friends from high school and college. On the following day, my Mom, the girls and I took an express train to Kyoto to see my high school best friend, Kayako. She and I went separate ways one summer I was back for a college summer break. I hadn't seen her since then which was in early 90's. She is now married and lives in Kyoto with her husband and a baby daughter who will be one very soon. She was as classy and pretty as I remembered. Her daughter with her chubby cheeks was very cute. I watched my friend struggle with eating and entertaining her daughter at the same time as we ate lunch. "I used to be like that!", I thought. We talked about friends and raising kids. I'd never imagined I would be giving her advice on children! She told me about a note I wrote to her on the graduation day. I wrote, "let's make our children be best friends, too!" I was quite happy with finally able to see her and meet her baby daughter for now. We will see about them being friends!

The next day, my very best friend, Megumi, came to Osaka to see me. I could not wait to see her. I was so excited, I played the meet up scenario over and over again in my head with slight variatios. She came on the bullet train from Nagoya so I waited her arrival at the exit in Shinosaka station. The train system in Japan is rarely late (and if they are late for even one minute, they apologize on speaker) so sure enough, I saw her walking towards my way soon after the arrival time. I wanted to run and give her a hug, but she had an issue with the exit machine and I kind of lost the momentum. She was still very beautiful. Back in the day, she was everyone's idol and I was her sidekick. We used to call ourselves as a joke "Blink" since there was a popular idol unit in Japan called "Wink" (now one of them is a porn star!)

We took the train to Umeda (downtown area in Osaka) and had lunch at a strange Mexican restaurant. I call it strange because Megumi's taco combination platter had no meat inside. It was just lettuce, avocado, and sour cream. ????? I guess Mexican food is not that known over there still. From the moment we met, we were talking machines. I think we covered most topics we could think of. It was as if we weren't separated at all for all these years. We walked around for a bit after lunch to work off the strange lunch we had. I was sort of lost in Umeda's maze of underground shops and restaurants because many parts of them were remodeled. Some parts were completely redone and I felt sad to see the familiar sights dissapear. Someday, maybe someone would invent a machine to print out a picture out of memory. Until then, I will have to keep my treasured memories of visiting Umeda safe.

It was sad to say good bye to Megumi, but I knew that I will see her again hopefully soon. I felt renewed and refreshed and swore myself to work hard with positive spirit. Thanks for making time to see me, Megumi and Kayako!! It was so great to see you and cannot wait to see you the next time!!