Our amazing adventures come to an abrupt end

As all of you know, Japan was victim to a series of major disasters that has devastated the country. In light of these tragedies and due to the vulnerability of a country in the wake of such disasters,  the CSU Chancellor has terminated all CSU programs within Japan and has asked students to evacuate the country as soon as possible. This included our program and so Travis and I are unable to return to Japan.  I honestly never thought I would have such a broken heart again, but this has been one of the most difficult times of my life. I really wish I could have had a final night in Japan with my hubby, eating Dominos pizza on our balcony while admiring "Tokyo Tower" one last time. However, it is not my own situations that I'm so saddened by, but rather the horrific incidents that have created my situation. I have built my life around Japan and to see it in this kind of distress has left me so broken inside. Japan is where my heart is and where I feel the most at home so to be torn from it so suddenly has been unbearable. I'm gonna miss the sound of trains rushing past my apartment as I fall asleep, practicing koto til the last train, hearing "Irrashaimase" everywhere I go, playing with the kitties in kitty park or grabbing an onigiri as I rush to class....However, I still believe in what I said to my bestie Kei over two years ago on the balcony of our dorm room in Koganei, Tokyo "love, we were born to be in Japan, we'll be back before we know it" ...Two years later I kept that promise and in two years Ill be keeping that promise again...

Tokyo Gakugei Dorm Balcony - July 2008

Waseda trip to Okinawa - February 2011

I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures and hopefully in the near future we will be able to share our Japanese life with you all again!

I'll be back..mark my words...and with that I bid you all farewell..

 さようなら皆！
レアナ

OUR TRIP TO OKINAWA

Here is a quick little slide show of our trip to Okinawa. Enjoy! We can't wait to be back home this week and see all of you!
EDIT: We promised Lori we'd take a few "WTF" pics...Can you spot them??? =P

OKINAWA!!

We are currently working on an awesome slide show to share our experiences in Okinawa with you so check back soon!!!!

An amazing Valentine's Day complete with SNOW!!!

Now that I think about it, it snowed on V-day last time I was here too =) Maybe it snows every year on V-day to help set the mood for all those lovebirds in Tokyo..Gotta fix that declining birthrate somehow ; ) So Trav and I spent an amazing day out in Kawasaki, which is only 30 minutes from our house..We definitely don't know why we didn't check this place out sooner..It has amazing food, shopping and tourist spots! Definitely will be going back there soon =) and our lovely, quiet lovey dovey night ended with tons of snow as we will show you excessively below..I have a small obsession sorry guys!

From the balcony

Pretty nature stuff with snow =)

A very freezing Trav-kun

I'm making squishy face (>_<) !!

Poor flowers just got pwned!!

more snow

In front of the apartment

Temple by our place

Momma has made her mark in Tokyo =)

Our awesome snowman that my Mom has named "Karloz"

Had to get a photo with him..he's just that badass

Valentine's Day - 2011

Those footprints are mainly from me =)

There are more pics but I figured we can show everyone when we come home in a couple weeks!! And here are some pretty random and somewhat pointless videos for you guys!

SNOW FROM THE FIRE ESCAPE



WALKING BY "KITTY PARK"

 

 A WALK BY THE TEMPLE



DARUMA

FINALS ARE ALL OVER SO WHAT HAPPENS IN TOKYO???

IT SNOWS!!! Yes, actual friggin snow..Just as I finished typing my last report up, I look out the window and there they are...my awesome snow flakes fluttering everywhere!! Needless to say, I was once again like a kid on Christmas (Kei remembers the last encounter I had with snow)..and Trav of course got a video of it..(つ^_^)つ

 

雪雪雪雪雪雪雪雪雪雪が大好きだよ！ and I do mean daisuki.. 

 and in regards to crazy-ass random Japanese things,  we have this lovely gem of a video for you:

 

 even if you have a puppet, they still consider that sexual harassment..

and finally..the last video of the night..."THE TRON TRAIN":

GOODNIGHT!  (:p)-|---[

FINALS

:(

ASAKUSA

So after having been in Japan for 5 months now we finally made our way over to Asakusa, which is known to be a very traditional area of Tokyo with many temples and historic sites. However being the tradition in Japan to go visit these sights during the first week of the New Year we couldn't get more than a few blacks away from these areas. We did however accomplish one of our goals in coming to Japan, to see sky tree ( The New Tokyo Tower of sorts, though Leanna and I both like the original tower better) and the Kirin Fire headquarters........though we must admit that is because there giant sculpture on top of the skyscraper resembles a gleaming golden sperm. Over all we had a lot of laughs and a good time with our friend Alex who was visiting from Korea. But now it is time to get back to school and wrap up the semester with a rush of finals.