MATANE

April, 2025

SEE YOU AGAIN...

I am writing this a month after  I said goodbye to all my friends and coworkers in Kamikawa. I needed some time to think about what I wanted to say about the experience I had over the three years that I lived and worked in Japan.

When I think about it, I feel so many emotions but really, the good ones are the ons that pop into my head regularly. If you have read any of my posts over the last three years, you know that it wasn’t always easy. If I could go back, would I  choose not to move to Japan? The answer is a resounding NO.

My heart is full of wonderful memories of time spent with wonderful people. There are a hardcore group of people that I now call my friends and my life has been enriched by every one of them.

I had so many amazing conversations with people in Kamikawa and I learned so much about life in Japan. And I loved talking to them about my life in Canada. And some of them were the reason that I could get through the hard times. 

All the adult private lessons I taught as well as the conversation class, filled me with such joy. I simply loved talking with all these people, young and old.

I gained a big sister (Nicky) and, as extension, a family. Because one of her sons lives in Edmonton, we hope to be able to begin to repay the kindness and endless support she has given Mark and I.

I gained an adopted daughter or two (Miku and Sake). I tear up when I picture them at the board of education office, or supporting me in one of my classes. After experiencing time with both of them, I consider both of them lifelong friends and I can’t wait to see where they go beyond Kamikawa. I love them both.

I became a “Canadian” grandma to Aoba and now consider her family part of mine.

And I got to hang out with my “nieces”, Nao and Mina Koshino, and watch them grow into amazing young women. As well as reconnect with some of the amazing women I met during the exchange years,, like the incredible Mama Ito and her amazing family.

The tears are welling up now as I start to write about my time with the children. I feel so blessed to have been a small part of their educational journey. I loved every minute with them, especially the young ones. Maybe I will be reincarnated as a kindergarten teacher.

My arrival in Kamikawa three years ago was complicated with poor communication and misunderstandings. But through it all, everyone was kind and supportive. People at town office, where I worked when I started, like Uchii-san and Ai-san, stepped up to help me without question. And I am forever grateful to Ko Ikehata. For everything.

Japan is a difficult place to determine whether or not you are doing a good job or if people are enjoying your lessons. Canadians are SO demonstrative - less so in Japan. In the end, there were several indications that I indeed made an impact and a difference in Kamikawa.

Part of me longed to stay and continue what I started. It is true that it takes a long time for things to become established in Japan. When I left, I felt as though I was just getting started.

But it was time for me - us - to go home. Home to Canada, to our family, and to our friends.

I will be forever grateful to Mark (my husband), for agreeing to leave everything he knew (especially his chair) to move across the world with me. He was a great house husband! And to the people on both sides of the globe who made this dream a reality.

When you leave a place that is so far away from home, there is that sadness and emotion that comes with not really knowing, but not expecting to see these people again. That is the hardest part. Trying to communicate in a card or a goodbye hug how much someone has meant to you.