Japan was a very special experience for us. We stayed with our friends, Naomi and Yuya. Naomi was an exchange student who stayed with my family during the summer of 1995 (I think). She has since visited us twice, the last time with her fiancé, Yuya. When we received an e-mail from her, inviting us to their wedding and to visit their country, things all fell into place.

We feel very lucky to have been able to stay with our friends during our whole trip. They were able to teach us things about Japanese culture that we never would have learned otherwise. We were able to learn a little bit of the Japanese language while we were there, including some of their writing. My favorite was having Japanese calligraphy lessons, which is a treasured art form there. Also, Naomi’s parents own restaurants. We felt very privileged to have her mom cook for us, making all of her favorite foods. Naomi also helps in the restaurants and loves to cook. Through them we’ve learned how to make some Japanese food ourselves, and now we regularly have Japanese food with chopsticks here at home! Naomi and Yuya also got us kimonos. They and her parents showed us how to wear them and gave us obis, which are tied around the kimonos to hold them in place. Quite a treasured souvenir!

Another obvious highlight was the wedding. Their weddings are becoming more westernized, so many traditions are similar to traditions here. For example, Naomi borrowed my tiara for her “something borrowed.” I was so honored to see her wearing it! And rather than a bouquet toss, the single women all choose a ribbon and follow it in toward the bouquet. Only one ribbon is tied to the bouquet, and that is the next girl to marry. One big difference is that we actually didn’t attend the wedding, but their wedding party. They were married in August and then had a big party in late September. It’s the party that is the big bash. It is also traditional to give the bride and groom money (in a certain kind of envelope), and the bride and groom give all of the guests gifts. We received a clock, sugar candies (very traditional), and individual champagne bottles with our names on them.

We were seated at the English-speaking table, where Naomi’s English teacher and several friends from school and her travels were seated. We ate French food, listened to speeches (which we couldn’t understand at all), and watched Yuya’s coworkers make a human pyramid! (It turns out that the Japanese are taught some acrobatics in school, but only use those talents during occasions such as these.) The party was very formal and regimented. Naomi wore two different outfits—one was a regular wedding dress, and the other was an evening gown. Then after the wedding party there’s a small party with closer friends. We had a private room in a bar and had drinks and appetizers and sang karaoke—yes, we did sing karaoke. I guess it is common for guys to try to find girlfriends at such events, although the girls and guys tended to congregate at different tables. It turned out that two other guests were also exchange students to Gig Harbor with Naomi the summer of 1995!

We spent most of our time in Tokyo, visiting all the famous districts; the Tokyo Tower; Tokyo DisneySea; different restaurants, including sushi (eww!) and Korean Barbecue (yum!). We visited Kamakura, outside of Tokyo, which is an old city similar to Kyoto. There were many temples and shrines with gorgeous gardens, and the famous big Buddha, which was built in the 1200s. From Kamakura we could see Mt. Fuji.

We were just barely able to visit Okinawa. The typhoon missed us by just a day, and with the typhoon the plane couldn’t take off or land, so we were relieved we didn’t have to cancel! Okinawa wasn’t a part of Japan until the 1940s, so the people and the culture are very different from Japanese. We visited the open-air market, a castle from when Okinawa was self-ruling, the mangrove forest, which was inhabited by MANY crabs and mud skippers, the very Northern tip of the island, their world-famous aquarium, and of course—the beach! Unfortunately they have strict rules there about swimming and snorkeling because many people have been hurt by poisonous sea creatures. We did go snorkeling for several hours and did lots of beach combing.

Unfortunately Jake got sick for part of our trip, and ended up giving his cold to Naomi’s mom. And by the end of our trip, we were really excited for American food. We still had an incredible time, and we have a list of things to do next time we visit! Most importantly we’d like to visit Mt. Fuji. We love Mt. Rainier so much that it would be special to visit their mountain, too. The days we would have been able to go were cloudy, so we wouldn’t have been able to see it. We’d also like to visit Kyoto, the famous ancient city.

Naomi and I used to be very sad saying good-bye to eachother, but not so much anymore. First, we can keep in touch easily through e-mail. But more importantly, we’ve become good enough friends that we know we’ll see eachother again. It’s special that our husbands are now friends, too. We’re considering Hawaii as a good meeting place for next time!