My Trip to Japan
The audiobook version of my second mystery, Parallel Peril, is now available!
It was released a couple of weeks ago, while I happened to be visiting Japan for the first time.
How cool to see my audiobook described in Japanese!
It was a fantastic trip to an amazing place. I loved the contrast between the truly impressive modern infrastructure and ancient places.
My husband Jon and I spent two weeks with my oldest friend, Ann. Not oldest age-wise—a certain retired librarian turned wild adventuress* holds that distinction.
No, Ann is my longest-term friend.
Side rant: why isn’t there a better way to describe that special relationship? Longest term sounds businesslike. Long-time is somewhat generic. Childhood friend is not accurate. The English language sometimes seems so lacking.
I was fourteen when I met Tei Ann Dacus. We were both a bit uncomfortable in our freshman year at North Salinas High School in Monterey County, California. She had recently arrived from Tokyo, Japan. And I was always uncomfortable, wherever I was.
Friends for 56 years.
It was a glorious experience to have Ann share her former home city as we approach our seventieth birthdays.
She explained everything from the difference between shrines and temples to the intricacies of the phenomenal train system to the wisdom of carrying an actual handkerchief to proper escalator etiquette (people do politely line up single file on the left so those in a hurry have room to get by).
I thought of my Mom often on this trip, only my second one to Asia.
My first trip was to The Philippines in 2004 with Mom and my brother James and his family. That too was a glorious trip. My mom, Nieva Icasiano Barrs, then 73, was just three years older than I am now. She was seeing her homeland for only the second time since she left Manila in 1952, when she was recently married to US Army Air Force Sergeant Theodore R. Barrs, Jr. and was carrying the first of their thirteen children. I am their fourth.
This is my absolute favorite photo of Mom and Dad in their pre-children phase.
Mom and I took many trips together, often on what Jon calls our “Catholic vacations.” I would have loved seeing Japan with her. She grew up in Manila, almost two thousand miles southwest of Tokyo. There are many similarities between The Philippines and Japan. Both island nations share similar geographic features, climate, and types of food. I know she would have loved all the fresh fruit and vegetables.
Mom was deeply religious. Specifically, deeply, fervently Catholic, and somewhat skeptical of other religions.
Still, I believe she would have enjoyed visiting the ancient shrines and temples. I loved seeing tiny shrines and well-tended cemeteries nestled in ordinary neighborhoods as well as the large, spectacular spiritual places.
Thanks for letting me share about my trip today!
さようなら
Sayōnara
*I usually avoid unnecessary gender-specific words and suffixes, but in this case ‘adventuress’ is so much spicier than ‘adventurer,’ don’t you think? It fits my friend Rivkah, who has been sailing the South Pacific for years now.
I love having interesting friends. Are we friends on Facebook or Instagram yet?