Four weeks ago I traveled from Japan back to America, and the return was abrupt. Haneda airport was clean, efficient, and on schedule. The Dallas airport? A completely different story. I traveled again over Thanksgiving, flying to Virginia to visit family. On the trip home, I noticed a few small things about my fellow Americans–not … Read more
For the final segment of our trip, we headed to Tokyo! We had a delightful departure from Shibu Onsen, with the hosts at the Sakaeya Ryokan treating us to tea while we waited for the shuttle to the train station, then waving at us until the shuttle was out of sight. I waved back. We … Read more
After 2 wonderful nights in Kanazawa, it was time to get on the bullet train to Nagano. We first spent a nice morning at Kanazawa station, which featured a huge array of tasty treats (including some tayaki). In my mind we were going to Nagano–which is true–but our final destination was nearly an hour outside … Read more
I wanted to venture to a few new places during our trip to Japan, and I found Kanazawa along the bullet train line on the west coast. Technically we had to take a regular train from Kyoto part of the way, but it didn’t add much time to our trip. I should note here that … Read more
We flew into Tokyo after a long day of traveling, but we immediately got on the bullet train and headed for Kyoto. We figured that we might be sleepy (which we were), so a gentle train ride was the perfect way to start our trip. Also, we didn’t want to rush to the airport at … Read more
I spent the last 2 weeks in Japan with Megan and two friends, and I’m going to focus on the trip over the next few posts. Today is about how I prepared for the trip, a process that took around 8 months in total. Timing: When the four of us decided to travel around Japan … Read more
A version of this article originally appeared on this blog in 2010. Thanks to having parents who fully supported my desire to become fluent in Japanese, I had the good fortune of going abroad to Japan for two summers in high school (and then for my entire junior year of college). I spent both of those … Read more
If you have children (or nieces or nephews or an imagination), think about when they were 6 years old or when they will be. That’s how old my niece is right now. Think about sending those children to school. Like, the actual logistics of it. If you’re in the US, you probably either (a) drive … Read more
I would watch a whole show of Conan O’Brien and Jordan Schlansky traveling to different locations around the world. I love those segments on Conan. I was particularly excited to see that Conan recently took a trip to Japan. I studied abroad in Hiroshima in high school and then in Kyoto in college, so the … Read more
I studied abroad in Kyoto for my junior year in college. It was the culmination of learning Japanese since 7th grade, and I look back on that time as some of the best months of my life. I felt by far more at home in my skin and my life there than during any of … Read more