I love that we can come to Japan after 4 years, (6 years for Mark) and visit “old friends”. How cool is that?
Making the trips to Kamikawa with the student exchange program was so impactful for me, and for my family. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, although we have traveled much with students over the years, Japan affected me the most. I loved the “exchange”part of the program. I loved meeting people. The experience for me, each of the three times I came to Japan before now, was the most impactful of all my travel experiences. Obviously - lol!! We moved here!
This week, we were fortunate to get to visit our old friends (some of them).
We met Mr. Kamiya for the first time, in 2013. He came to Rocky Mountain House with the vice principal at the time, Mr. Miyata, and a group of junior high students. He was very serious and we knew NOTHING about Japanese culture or the expectations of the exchange and we made many faux pas! But still - we had a great time with Daisuke! He became a friend! (It’s worth noting for those who speak and understand the language that we actually called him DIE SOOKY when we met him!! HA HA!!
In 2014, we met the legendary Charles when we brought students to Japan the first time, and the next vice principal, Mr. Murata! And of course, Mr. Kamiya (Daisuke) was still an English teacher at the junior high. It was during this visit that I think Mark and I became “friends” with Daisuke”. We had SO much fun with him, Charles and Mr. Murata during this visit. His daughter was born right after we left Kamikawa that summer. Yet, he spent the entire week with us (as the English teacher), a big sacrifice and something I would thank his wife for if I ever meet her in person.
He came back to Canada in 2015 with Mr. Murata and we had a wonderful visit with him. By then, even my boys felt a connection to him… we celebrated his daughter’s first birthday on the bus back from West Edmonton Mall… with a rousing version of Happy Birthday, a fancy cupcake and a gift. We took a video that I hope his daughter has seen or will see…
We saw him last in 2016 and by then I am weeping as we say goodbye after another amazing experience in Kamikawa. I would miss him and he would soon leave Kamikawa himself and move on to another teaching position.
It is the same summer that we met the Koshino’s! And how much fun did we have with Mr. Kamiya, Charles and the Koshinos that summer!!
How wonderful to be able to spend a week with a vice principal and his entire family! I fell under the spell of his adorable little girls immediately! His wife, Michiko, was also wonderful!. I cried hard when we left that summer, expecting that I would never be back to Kamikawa (realistically) or see that wonderful family again!
YAY, 2018!! Although it was very challenging without Mark! I was so taken with the Koshino family and my overall experience with the exchange program and the twinning of Kamikawa and RMH, I was determined to come back.
And here we are… spending a wonderful day at the Koshino family home around Higashikawa, and meeting Daisuke for lunch (after 6 years) in Sapporo.
Reconnecting with old friends that I hope we will see again soon…
Comments