sakura and sunshine

This is my favorite week of the year: Golden Week. It's that time of year when Northern Japan's sleepy winter haze finally lifts and nature seems to wake up to a new season. The snow is finally gone and the delicate pink blossoms of the sakura trees start to bloom.

This week means walks in the park, bike rides, hanami (picnics under the cherry blossoms), and day trips!

We have spent more time outside in the last week than we have in the past several months!

Seamus had his first trip to the beach and we loved watching him explore and run away from the crashing waves.

Our favorite little park was something to behold in its pink splendor, and it was a joy to hear all the laughter of children as the weather finally warmed up enough to play all day outside.

Soon, the sakura will start to fill the air with blossoms as they fall, and other flowers will bloom in their place.Tulips and lupine and hydrangea will bloom as far as the eye can see, as my favorite time of year takes hold in Japan. I love spring!

arashi no ato

When we moved to Japan, I fell in love. I fell head over heels for the land, for the people, and for the culture. We moved here in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and saw first-hand the devastation that each had caused. As we got settled, we became friends with several Japanese locals, many of whom had lost friends and family during the tsunami. We saw the debris on the beaches, heard stories from those who were there, and watched video of the earthquake, tsunami, and the aftermath. We watched documentaries about the kindness and persevering spirit demonstrated by the people during and after, and once we moved here we saw and experienced it for ourselves.

I decided that I wanted my next tattoo to be something that symbolized the enduring spirit of the Japanese. When spring came and the sakura bloomed, it was perfect: these beautiful and iconic blossoms blooming after the long, cold winter marked a symbol of new life. I also wanted kanji, but could not decide for the life of me what I wanted it to say. It had to be meaningful, but I wasn't quite sure what words could sum up what I was feeling.

Meanwhile, Celiac happened. I gradually started feeling more and more sick all the time. There was no relief from the pain and nausea. After countless family doctor appointments and ER visits with negative results, nobody could give me a clear response as to what was wrong. I got to the point where I felt like I'd never feel well again.

After I went gluten free, I slowly started to feel better. When the reactions came, though, they were exponentially worse and lasted longer. One bite of something with gluten would give me physical and neurological symptoms that lasted weeks, and sometimes even months. Finally, around November, things were getting manageable. We had settled into a routine and things started to feel like they were becoming more...normal. Then the corn allergy manifested itself and it felt like the whole cycle was starting again. Panic attacks and depression seemed to be the norm, which was fitting with the long and constant winter. More than 20 feet of snow, and the storm felt like it would never be over.

I know you're probably thinking, all this because of gluten? All I can say is, until you've dealt with an auto-immune disease, you can't know the ramifications.

My faith was tested, my friendships were tested, and I felt like things would never get better. I was doing everything I could, and still it was not improving.

It was a time of helplessness for both of us. I felt helpless because I felt like nothing I did was helping. I felt so out of control. I felt like I was giving all I had to no avail. Ben felt helpless because he couldn't do much to help, as much as he wanted to. We both had to work and interact as if nothing was wrong, and it was completely exhausting.

During this rough time, Ben and I gathered up verses: verses about suffering and verses about healing. I started the 1,000 gifts project to look for joy in the little things. I played music that spoke to my soul. And these small things kept that little glimmer of light in an otherwise dark time.

One of the songs was After the Storm by Mumford and Sons. I've loved them from the first moment I heard them, ironically, in a tattoo shop in Reno years ago. One night, after a particularly long and draining panic attack, the song came on and it just...spoke to me. I'll admit I sobbed. I listened to it again, sobbed some more, and then made Ben listen to it with me. Over and over again. That same night, I was flipping through random verses and Isaiah 25:8 popped up. It, along with Revelation 21:4, also in my group of gathered verses, spoke the same ideas as the song. That night, I felt a peace I hadn't felt in a long time.

From that moment on, after the storm became my mantra. During rough days, I'd listen to the song and go through the verses. I repeated them to myself. Eventually, I started believing them. This was a passing storm and things would eventually be better.

It's been a few months since then. Spring finally sprang and so did I. I know I already posted a little bit about this in some of my 1,000 gifts posts, but I finally feel like I'm becoming myself again. I feel more happiness than depression.

I haven't had a panic attack in three weeks, which is the longest stretch I've had in over a year. I still have symptoms that will take time to heal (if they ever do) but I'm learning to be okay with that. I am making plans for the future, where before, I was hesitant to do so, knowing I'd probably have to cancel them because of not feeling well. I began taking photography clients again, and am actively planning excursions for our upcoming trip to the states. I have begun to see some good that has come out of having this disease, and have found and bonded with other people who have it as well. I feel like the storm is finally beginning to subside.

That long night, months ago, I found hope and meaning once again. I also found the kanji I had been trying to put my finger on for two years, a phrase that sums up the triumphant spirit of the Japanese after the tsunami as well as my own personal overcoming of the darkest period of my life...

嵐の後, arashi no ato, after the storm

sakura

The wait is finally over! After months of waiting, spring has sprung, the snow is GONE, and the sakura have arrived! The Tohoku region of Japan has been waiting with bated breath as reports have been coming in, documenting the sakura's journey north. We were able to see the first blossoms in Tokyo while we were there last month and have been waiting ever since then for Misawa to get these amazing little flowers.

I love so many things about Japan, and one of my favorites is how organized they are. They actually have websites and publications dedicated to the sakura's arrival in each region. Everywhere we checked, the sakura were due to arrive in Misawa April 30, just in time for Golden Week. At first, I laughed, because I found it amusing that the people of Japan were telling the blossoms when they could arrive.

Little did I know they'd be right on the money. The morning of April 30, the sun rose and the blossoms started blooming. One by one, the trees started turning pink and white. By May 3, the entire base and all the parks around town seemed to have turned pink. All the sakura-themed festivals planned for that weekend would have the sakura decorate the areas. Once again, the Japanese efficiency paid off in a glorious way!

let's get ready for some baseball!

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about our harrowing (ok, it wasn't really harrowing, but it was pretty entertaining) journey to purchase baseball tickets in Tokyo for the opening series of the MLB 2012 season. (It's here if you want to read that part to catch up.)

After the baseball tickets were purchased, we navigated Japanese websites to book seats on the overnight bus, called hotels in Tokyo to make reservations, and made another trip to that special machine at the Lawson's to get the Studio Ghibli tickets. When that was done, there was really nothing to do but...wait.

School was a distraction, as we had Terra Nova testing and Read Across America week. The few days before our trip seemed to sneak up on us!

And then finally, we were on the bus, headed for Tokyo.

The bus was just another testimony to the amazingness that is Japan. It was incredibly efficient and just about as comfortable as a bus with upright seats could be. We all slept at least a few hours, and around 6 am, we were dropped off at Shinjuku Station.

                           

I could write a whole blog post (or several) about the station itself. If we saw nothing in Tokyo but this station, it still would have been worth it. The busiest train station in the world, it's estimated that more than 3 million people pass through at least one of its terminals daily. It's at least a square kilometer in length and has more than 200 entrances and exits. It's got 29 platforms and railway tracks spanning 5 different levels (there is a level several floors underground that has walkways leading to city blocks that are several kilometers away), an entire mall, and at least three different Starbuck's coffee shops. Knowing this now, I wouldn't have felt bad that we seemed to wander around the station for about 45 minutes before figuring out where we needed to go.

We finally found our way, put our luggage into lockers near the terminal we'd need to use to get to our hotel later in the day, and headed out the south exit to find what we hoped would be a Starbuck's. After the long night and the crazy morning, we all needed to take a breather, charge our phones/gps's, and relax for a while. Between our broken Japanese and the locals' broken English, we were able to find it. We sat for nearly an hour, enjoying our mochas and Japanese pastries, charging our phones, and people watching. It was a great hour of relaxation.

After our time at the Starbucks, we meandered through Shinjuku as we found our way to Shinjuku Gyoen, the Imperial Gardens. On our way, we passed a Krispy Kreme (which none of us had seen since leaving the states), the tracks entering the station, and several great Japanese neighborhoods.

The garden was about a mile away from the station. We arrived, paid the admission, and entered. As we wandered around, we noticed that a few of the sakura trees had blossomed! We had been hoping to see the blossoms while in Tokyo, and we were on the front end of the two week span. Several others had crowded around the few trees, but we were able to get in and get some pictures while we were there! I can't imagine how beautiful the park would have been in the height of the sakura season!

One of the things we had planned to do if there was time was to visit Yokota Air Base. Yokota has a Chili 's and we had been craving some good American food for a few months. After we finished at Shinjuku Gyoen, we walked to the nearest train station and rode to Fussa. We then took a taxi to the Yokota gate and walked to Chili's. It was about an hour one-way, and completely worth the detour! We feasted on ribs and enchilada soup and reminisced about our favorite restaurants in the states.

After traveling back to Shinjuku from Yokota, we stopped at the lockers to retrieve our luggage and then caught another train toward our hotel. The directions weren't perfect, but we found the hotel and checked in. We were exhausted and napped for a half hour before heading toward Tokyo Dome City for the baseball game.

The stadium holds 47,000 people and there were no empty seats. I kept hoping throughout the game that we wouldn't experience an earthquake while there! The Mariners played the A's and we had a great time showing the locals the American way to cheer for your team. They got a kick out of us and we soon had our neighbors clapping along with the cheers and songs. We lost the game, but everyone was a good sport about it. Then, it was time to leave. The 47,000 members of the crowd stood up and left simultaneously, and yet it was the most organized departure from a stadium I've ever encountered. No pushing or shoving, and we were out within a few minutes. After leaving the stadium, we found a British pub for after-game snacks. We finally made it back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep around 11 pm, not believing how much we accomplished in one day!