For me this was a sad time... as I'd not experienced so much of Japan's history in our previous three trips as I had in the previous 14 days in Kyōto, Nara, Himeji, and Osaka . It was sad to see it end... and scary... and a relief. We were very much aware of the looming unknown of parenting that was about to engulf us - and yet we were relieved that we had made it through a very hectic and tiring itinerary in our Kansai trip (without mishap).
However, for T-chan it was yet another departure from her home and family. It's always a hard time for us, leaving Japan - but for her in particular. This time however - there was something different to previous times. We were now on our way to being parents.
After a night of flying (about 9-10 hours to Australia), we found ourselves flying over familiar dry landscapes... so different to the lushness of Japan...We knew that our home of Adelaide was rapidly approaching. Normal life was about to return - but nothing would be quite normal again.
Before T-chan had departed for Japan (how long ago was it?), we had just been a couple (+ cat). Now we were coming home to our small rented unit, knowing that in the space of about 6 months we would be joined by another little soul.
Australia is a big, wide country... and yet now it felt so small and fragile - and so distant from T-chan's home and her parents.
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| Murray River - about 100km from Adelaide |
For those of you who, like me, enjoyed the experiences of Kyōto and Kansai in general, then you may notice a definite change in the tone of this blog... as we suddenly take a very wide (lifelong) detour to the district known as parenthood. I hope you stick with the blog, even if you're not that family oriented... as I'm sure that there will still be things of interest along the way.
If however, anyone wants to jump ahead in the story (kinda like watching the sequel first), then I'm starting a new parallel blog about our family life in Adelaide from a current-day perspective, called somewhat mysteriously... "Raising Adelaide". It will still have a distinct Japanese flavour to it, as we journey through our own perspective of how to grow up a Aussie-Japanese family here in Adelaide, Australia.
See you all soon.
thank you for sharing your experiences in Japan, makes me excited about what the future holds for me when I visit there next year. Hopefully I will do a good job reproducing the experience to my readers as you have.
ReplyDeleteGreat Job!
No probs...really enjoyed the memories (and learning a little more after all of these years).
ReplyDeleteOf course - it's not the end of the blog... just a change of direction
I hope I can keep up with multiple timelines ^_^ looking forward to content from both blogs tho
ReplyDeleteHmmm - all I need to work out is how to simultaneously do a past, present as well as a future blog and I will be set...
ReplyDeleteI think I may need to outsource some of my writing to my son... once he learns to write.
Ben, this post really struck home for me. I so completely know how T-chan felt. I, too, traveled home (in reverse, Idaho USA back to Japan) when I was pregnant. It is always hard to leave home. But somehow that last pre-parent time was really tough. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete