First impressions

Within 10 minutes of arriving in America I had already tried to say "sumimasen" (excuse me/sorry) to more than one person. I didn't even notice myself bowing, but I’m sure I did, to everyone (these habits are going to be hard to break!)

When we made it away from the airport we tried to take the dog for a walk, and the girls were terrified to cross the street. They kept saying, “Wow! That car was going fast! We should go to the crosswalk!” 😬

We finally got up the courage to cross the street and ended up at a lovely park. Since it was Sunday, there were lots of family and friend gatherings taking place. It was definitely noticeable how different everyone was (versus in Japan, where 99% of the population is Japanese). This park alone had kids speaking Spanish, women in chadars, and even an older Asian woman wearing a farm hat like the ones we saw in Vietnam.

In Japan it’s more like everyone goes to the park at the same time, for the same reason, with essentially the same picnic lunch. Here it was really exciting to see so many different groups from all backgrounds, speaking different languages, enjoying their own unique experience at the park.

A little free library on the way to the park.

Also, we saw a bunny! Wildlife is pretty hard to spot in Japan, especially squirrels, rabbits, or any other animal really. I occasionally saw deer, a few monkeys, and one tanuki, but that was about it — over two years!

More wildlife = more roadkill though 👀

As I drove around (yes, I managed to recall how to drive on the right side of the road), we spotted a few carrion, trash (which you NEVER see in Japan), and worst of all, gas price signs ($6.29… I though the kids read it wrong) 😱! In Japan it was ¥169/L ($3.99/gal).

Otherwise we have enjoyed getting reacclimated to America. Trips to the store are pretty exciting (minus the prices, of course) and the girls were in heaven with a “real Caesar salad” on our first night…though we didn't eat dinner until 9pm!

The crispy bacon is nice too (in Japan it always seemed undercooked to me.)

So many choices!

The hospitality has been great so far. We are enjoying much more spacious hotel rooms and fluffy pillows (not filled with beans) 😅

Even the sidewalks are spacious! We noticed at one point we were on one that was the size of a two-way street in Japan! That said, I am still getting used to the size of the car. It is much wider than what I'm used to, so it takes me a little longer to maneuver around…

The kids have been pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere here (honestly, we were preparing them for the worst), but the people have been really nice and helpful…it’s weird how chatty everyone seems to be, but maybe we just didn’t get much chatter in Japan because of the language barrier.

I did try to grab lunch at a Japanese restaurant one day, but it was pretty disappointing. Not just the food (why is there jasmine rice??!) but I tried talking to the woman behind the counter and she seemed confused…then I realized, she was actually Korean.

I also keep looking at every American person I see, thinking I must know them… We had a pretty small American community in Japan, so we always ran into people we knew whenever we left the house. It is strange to not know anyone when we are out!

We miss it, for sure, but we are having fun finding things we didn't know we missed from America.

Wish us luck as we continue to navigate our return!