Mother

You all know that this mother-of-all-blogs on the web is not meant to only poke fun at Japan or the Japanese - it's to poke fun at ourselves... or more specifically, myself.

I hope the reader understands that even though I tell you some true bizarre stories of myself in Japan, it's mostly my own stupidity or naiveity that has caused my adventures - and I'll tell you, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

I entered Japan knowing pretty much ZERO about the country or the people. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? In my opinion it's a good thing. While I stood out like a sore thumb physically and sometimes socially, I learned. I had pretty much no preconceived notions, and so everything was an eye-opening journey - a birthing process, if you will.

The people of Ohtawara, the JET Programme, and Japan were all fantastic. Look at that first adventure of mine: HERE. I was lost in downtown Tokyo with the beautiful but hobbling Kristine and a score of others - so we stopped a Japanese gent to ask for directions back to our hotel. That beautiful person walked with us for 45 minutes - out of his way, I'm sure - to take us back to our hotel. That might occur every once in awhile in your country, but for strangers in a strange land and for me, this was my first real encounter with the Japanese people, and it set the tone.

Japan is cool.

There, I said it. If you ever get a chance to go there, I only hope you have as many wacky and fun adventures as I did.

Through my time there, I was often homesick, I was girlfriend-sick, missed hockey and the Blue Jays winning their first World Series baseball championship, I doubted my own sanity - but through it all, I had wonderful people around me who helped and looked out for me. They were my adoptive family. People don't understand why I write about events that happened 20 years ago, but I'll tell you a secret... not only is it a way to entertain you and me, it's to thank Japan for its hospitality.

While your mileage may vary in Japan, would-be visitors take note... my mother came for a visit during my first summer in Japan... and she traveled alone across the country... and everywhere she went, they treated her like gold. She had a fantastic time, tried everything new and exciting she could, met people, saw things and for me, it made me all very happy. Especially when she passed away three years after that.She was happy in Japan, and that makes me happy.

Today is the anniversary of her death back in 1994. And while I'm sad, I am proud of the way she experienced life and life in Japan.

As regular readers know, I was dubbed Ame Otoko by the Ohtawara locals... which translates into Rain Man... a name given to me not because I'm a savant, but rather because when I traveled anywhere, it rained. A lot.

When my mom, Lynda, traveled - guess what? It rained, too. I dub thee "Ame Okasan" - Rain Mother.

Somewhere it's raining,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by John Lennon - Listen to your Mother - HERE

PS: I finally looked at the stats that are provided to my blog regarding reader traffic. Along with my pals in Canada, US, UK and Australia, we have visitors from some very cool  countries. Let me say hello to: Russia (Zdravstvuj!), Japan (Konichiwa!), India (in Hindi - Namaste!), The Netherlands (Hallo!), South Korea (Ahnyong!), Ukraine (Dobri den!), Denmark (Goddag!), China (Cantonese - Nei Hao), Ireland (Gaelic - Dia dhuit!), Spain (Hola!), Germany (Guten tag!) and last, but certainly NOT least, Albania (Tungjatjeta!  - Here's what I first learned about Albania - CHEERS). Oh... and for my "You Know What I Hate Blog" HERE, we also have had a recent visitor from Israel (Shalom!).
AWESOME!
Thank you all for visiting - now get to Japan... except for you Japanese folks - come and visit Canada or any of these other wonderful countries mentioned here! I should, too - I've only visited The Netherlands - a beautiful country with beautiful people!