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| At Eigamura, movie village, in Kyoto. They replicated a town 300 years ago. |
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| Sean's long time dream came true. He visited Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest TV tower. |
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| At Asakusa in Tokyo. |
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| Ramen! |
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| With my Dad having fun. |
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| Sean and his grandma at Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. |
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| At Kyushu island with my aunts and uncle. |
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| Sean wearing Japanese robe at a hotel. |
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| Sean became a Japanese warrior. |
Mike was a tad jealous that I have been going back to Japan every year with the girls, so he told me one day that he wants to go. Mike and I met and fell in love because he and I are very much interested in foreign cultures and not only visiting the countries, but enjoy getting to know the culture and meeting people. That is why we moved to Australia a month after our wedding. He also spent nearly one year in Hong Kong in college and I lived in Mexico for 10 months as a language teacher. I guess where I am going with it is being in touch with the adventurous side is very important to him and I. We don't want to lose that part of us despite having a large family with special need children. Oh gosh, get to the point already, Kimi! Ok so in a long story short, I said "yes, you should go and take Sean with you!"
They had a fabulous time with my parents and extended family. I felt nervous since Mike had to navigate his way around the maze of Tokyo train system on the first day on his own. The subway map of Tokyo alone is outrageously complex that it almost seems like a joke. He did fine though and found his way to where he wanted to go and eventually boarded
Shinkansen, the bullet train, to Osaka where my parents live.
The duo got a VIP treatment from my family. My Dad drove them around in his mini wagon to make sure they get to where they want to go easily. I rarely get a ride from my Dad when I go! They went to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, Universal Studio Japan, Kyushu island with my extended family etc... Sean has met my many of my cousins and uncles before, but I am sure he felt his world expanding in front of his eyes knowing those are his relatives and he is very much part of our big clan. That is what I wanted him to feel anyway, getting to know his roots. There are many things I cannot explain about myself but he can understand by meeting my family and walking the neighborhood I grew up in. He doesn't get an opportunity like this often and I was excited, perhaps more than he was, for this chance.
They spent
Oshogatsu, New Year's Day, there and it is a super good time to be in Japan. It is the biggest holiday in Japan and there are many rituals and traditional customs the duo got to experience. Sean was a happy boy because he received many
Otoshidama, New Year's monetary gift, from my family. It is a custom to give
Otoshidama to children in the New Year's Day and he became like ten times richer than he was instantly. We will put the money in his bank to supplement his college fees.
One unfortunate thing that happened in Japan, be it on the first day they arrived, was that Mike fell and hit his shoulder pretty hard in Tokyo. He and Sean were playing at a park and he ran down the slide probably too excited to be in Japan and lost his balance. To save himself from utter embarrassment, he decided to play cool by trying to do a roll upon landing but instead slammed his shoulder to the ground. I can just imagine it happening in slow motion. It started to hurt a lot several days afterwards and my aunt made a temporary sling for him to keep his arm and shoulder steady. Poor thing suffered though most of the trip and in a way it spoiled some fun for him. He did not spoil fun for other people though and was a good sport by participating in all outings and activities. I wished the fall didn't happen.
I was relieved when they got back to Japan. I missed them very much and also wanted to hear their travel tales. By fluke, they were on the same planes round trip with our friend from Boise and her daughter. It was a nice surprise! I don't know when they will go back to Japan again, but they had so much fun. Thank you my family for making their trip extra special! I can't wait to go to Japan this summer with the girls.
p.s. Sean got over the jet lag quite easily this time. I was expecting some early morning rising and sleepiness in the afternoon. He was quite tired though since he went to school the next day. The teacher wrote to me and said that he looked extremely tired and was almost in tears since he had to take a math test with the materials he didn't learn since he missed six days of school. Plus, he ended up with a packet of worksheets from the teacher to finish at home. He was upset exclaiming, "I am being punished for going on vacation during school!" He finished all of them though and now caught up with all. Mike is over his crankiness and thank goodness for that. Male gender is definitely high maintenance in my opinion!
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