I was asked to finish writing "Tokyo Tales" at the beginning of this year. The final article was published in March 2010. I had to pretend I was leaving then. But as you all know, I'm still here in Tokyo!
So it was a little misleading to my readers. If you were one of them my apologies for that but I had to do as I was told…
This lovely email arrived after the last "Tokyo Tales" was published in one of the magazines. This was one of the emails that got lost during the web-host changeover and I only copied the text. If you were the writer, please do get in touch again!
A HUGE thank you to her for her vivid descriptions.
Hi Carole,
I felt compelled to write to you today as I was sat reading your latest offering of Tokyo Tales in the C**** T*** C****.
My husband, two daughters and I, like your family, set off on an adventure to Japan; ours began in January 1996 and ended in July 2001. T was 2 & 1/2 and S just 11 months old when we arrived. We lived in Tokai in Ibaraki Prefecture. Having no preconceived ideas, we were not fully prepared for what was to come!
It was your comment 'my time in Japan has been one of the happiest periods of my life and it will be a wrench to leave this incredibly beautiful, culturally fascinating and remarkable country' that stirred emotions in me that took some time to come to terms with back in 2001 and the following couple of years! My feeling exactly!
On returning to the UK I would often find myself daydreaming about going to Jusco's or Kasumi to do my shopping instead of our local Sainsbury's for example. I remember it so clearly, it's incredible! I have never been homesick for anywhere before. When we left Japan it was the longest time I had ever live in one place, having travelled lots as a child myself. Looking back I realise it took quite some time for me to settle but life with children is always busy; for the following 5 years my husband worked in M***** so he travelled back & forth every 10 days and we would visit during the holidays. The girls loved this new adventure, but for me it never quite replaced the feelings I had for life in Japan.
I have read all your 'tales' that have been published in our little magazine and it has brought back the most wonderful memories for us all - we too have an extensive photographic library of our 5 & 1/2 years - I think we took on average, 80 rolls of film every year! I imagine that if we had a digital camera then, we would have thousands upon thousand of images!
I could ramble on for hours, but suffice to say, enjoy the remainder of your time in the land of the rising sun - soon will be Plum Blossom season followed by my favourite; Cherry Blossom. You may like to visit Kairaku-en in Mito, as it has the most spectacular Plum Festival if you've not been before. http://www.jref.com/practical/mito.shtml
I look back so fondly on the time we spent there - hoping one day to find somewhere that will feel like 'home' as much as Tokai did for us!
Best wishes,
A
