Because we have excellent house sitters, several kind neighbors, a new alarm system, and a guard dog, I'm going to announce that we will soon be Futon Surfing! Yes! We're headed to Japan and it will be my first time back since my mission. K had a really hard time making this decision because he's slightly terrified about several things: being too tall for things, not being able to sleep comfortably, not knowing the language, and not liking foods such as seaweed, fish, and tofu. For Family Home Evening last week, we looked through photos and read through letters from my mission. When he heard my stories, saw my happy tears, felt the depth of my testimony of the Gospel as well as my passion for the people of Japan, he realized that we should have made this trip sooner.
And so...this brings up the whole topic of OMIYAGE. The Japanese are incredibly kind, thoughtful, and hospitable. They really roll out the red carpet when you visit. They sacrifice and treat you like royalty. It shames me to think how unhospitable I've probably been, all while thinking I was being a pretty good hostess. They give gifts (always with two hands and a slight bow) as a way of remembering you. Therefore, we are loaded up with gifts for the people we will be seeing, hoping they are decent enough. After consulting actual live Japanese people who live here as well as there, and looking around on the internet, we've done what we've been advised to do and we've gone against what we we've been advised to do. For example, Japanese people are not fond of too many American sweets because they are much too sweet. It makes them feel sick. They also have a hard time with brightly colored food dye. I don't know, it screams cancer at them or something...it's so foreign compared to the natural, beautiful way they prepare foods such as fruits and vegetables. They do like a little chocolate (like See's), however. So surprisingly, a couple of friends over there requested specific flavors of Jell-O and Hershey's mint chocolate cookie candy bar. Did not see that coming.
We managed to convince some of our friends to go against everything in their Japanese hearts and just come out and tell us directly what they'd really like to see us bring over! It makes the shopping so much easier. So, some of the things they are hankering for include: Levi's, Bath and Body Works lotions and hand creams ("hand creamy" they call it), dried fruits like blueberries and cranberries, taco seasoning, church materials such as stickers, New Testament coloring books, a toy replica of the Liahona, and temple recommend holders with colorful pictures of Christ. We threw in some cute chick and bunny Easter chocolate as well. Some of these friends say, "Bring the receipt and I'll pay you back." Whatever. We already know you are going to let us stay in your home for 2-4 nights and you are going to drive us around and show us around and feed us...whatever. There is no way you are going to reimburse us!
Here's what K doesn't realize (so please don't mention it to him)--we're not going to give everything away! Some of these items are actually for HIM! This guy HATES to fly on airplanes. He literally does turn green; I've seen it several times. I've also felt the hard hand squeezes when we take off, land, or whenever there's any turbulence. He recently went to the doctor for a prescription for these long flights because Dramamine doesn't do much at all for him. We've been to Hawai'i twice, so that's when and how I learned that purchasing some surprises for him to comfort him mid-flight is not a bad idea! He is tall, so the leg room thing is always an issue (we purchased more leg room this time). His heart melts a little when I pull something out of my bag like...Ghirardelli chocolate! So he thinks we're giving everything away, but the Chicken in a Biscuit crackers and some of the chocolate is really for him to carry around in his backpack or eat on the plane in case the whole Japanese food scene isn't working out for him (though I'm confident it will...they eat chickens and pigs too...and K likes ramen). I must say, we've been to quite a few Japanese restaurants, and he has tried and liked some things that actually have fish sauce in them, but I've, of course, never told him there's fish sauce in it, because that would ruin it for him. And you'd better not tell him either!
The tricky thing about Omiyage is we are taking some fairly small luggage because we won't be with friends the whole time. We'll be traveling by ourselves using our JR Rail Passes and hauling our suitcases with us, so we'll just be wearing a lot of the same clothing over and over again. Which is fine. And hopefully we'll find something fun, Omiyage, to bring back. We happen to have a missionary from Japan serving in our ward at the moment and so I asked him if we could bring something back for him. He asked for ramen. He declared the ramen here in the US is..."interesting." He is really craving instant, dried, real, Japanese ramen. "I don't care what kind! ANY kind!" We can do that!
