Keri ♥'s ❄: A Warm Welcome Back to Japan

When I say "warm welcome", what I really mean is hot, so very hot. It seems backwards that my quest for the never-ending winter puts me back in a summer season, but here I am, melting away in an office. Winter is only 112 days away. Yes, I am counting.

That’s not to say that I haven’t been enjoying all the bounty of a Hokkaido summer. I’ve been running by fields of vegetables and sunflowers, suspiciously eyeing Mt. Yotei (shouldn’t it be white?). New friends took me to one of the most breath taking beaches I have ever had the pleasure to visit, where we ate paua straight from the shell, standing on the very ocean floor it had been plucked from. Within the space of 36 hours, I witnessed two “Hanabi” displays to shame the ones we get back home. Why, just last night, I went to a BBQ at my boss’s house, eating local produce and laughing at drunken japanglish conversations. In short, I have been thoroughly spoiled.

I have to say what I have most enjoyed is being truly immersed in the culture, without the distraction of all my fellow foreign friends. I have been invited to more outings than I could possibly attend, attesting to the true acceptance that has been extended my way. Really, it is the moments so out of character for the classic Japanese individual that have been the best. Would you be surprised if I told you they are typically polite, considerate and quiet? How about if I told the story of a middle-aged Japanese man that dropped trou, mid-karaoke belt-out, to break chop-sticks between his, *ahem… buttocks?

Such good fun.