Scousers reunited!

After months of planning, Laura finally made her way to Japan, and after some lone adventures in Tokyo and Kyoto, she finally made her way to me. I actually felt like a proud mum when I met her at Kumamoto station, because she’d managed to navigate alone for 3 days prior without my help. It was like we’d never spent any time apart, and I’m proud to report that within hours my Scouse accent had returned to its full glory. Kohei asked me on the phone what the hell had happened to my voice... Poor boy is going to get a shock if he comes to England this Christmas!

Laura is my sort of home away from home. She always reminded me of Liverpool when I was at uni, and reminded me of Keele when I was at home. She was my first real visitor besides my parents, and it was nice to see how easily she took Japan in her stride and seemed to fit into my new life here.  Evenings were spent having girly catch ups, and the days were filled with adventures. 

We visited Suizenji Park and got kakigori (shave ice) on her first day, and that evening, with it being Kohei’s birthday, had an all-night shindig that involved all of the karaoke, candid Polaroid pictures and a raging hangover the next day. I introduced her to many food firsts too: gyoza, okonomiyaki, Ichiran and basashi. I’ll admit, she took to basashi better than I did. I’m happy to say it’s taken me one whole year to eat raw horse, and I’ll happily live in Kumamoto for many more years and never have it again.

Being the amazing teacher I am, I promised my junior high school’s rugby team I’d watch them play their prefectural semi-final the next morning. I’ll admit, I was full of regret upon waking up, but it was all made worthwhile when the student who invited me (and admittedly my favourite kid in the entire school) finished the game and did our handshake with me pitch-side in front of everyone. If that doesn’t mean I’m cool, I don’t know what does.

 We made a quick little jaunt to Yuge Shrine, a fertility shrine which made for some fabulous photo opportunities. Although we had planned to visit Kurokawa Onsen in the afternoon, there were a few bumps in the road (aka landslide closures) that made us reconsider, so we turned back to spend a chill afternoon watching my boys play in the final.

 

Although work came around hard and fast, I’m so happy Laura spent as much time as she could with me during her whirlwind tour of Japan. I’m sure she’ll write her own blog about it shortly, which you can find at laurameetsworld13@blogspot.co.uk . It’s worth a read purely for the little adventure my neighbour who I’ve never met took her on, after obviously working up the courage to strike up a conversation thinking she was me!