Goodbye Japan! We will miss you!

After spending a year in Kudamatsu, it was time for Chris & I to say goodbye last Saturday. We knew leaving was the right decision but we couldn't help but question why we were leaving the kids, friendships, and countryside we have grown to love so much. We couldn't have picked a better way to say goodbye to Japan because on our last night we had the opportunity to perform at our local festival with our Taiko drumming group. We'd been practicing with them for the last couple months. As you can see from the pictures below, the average age is about 7 years old but they can still out drum us any day.

We were pretty nervous so Mai helped us warm up.

To the left: Chris and I with an exchange student, Michelle, from Switzerland and a student from my technical high school plus fellow drummers.

Below: Mai, Chris, our Taiko instructor Baba Sensei (quite possibly the most patient man in the world) and me.


Of course we had to have one last meal with Hiromi and her husband Masauki. We all managed to avoid crying until we got to the bus station for the overnight to Osaka. Hiromi has taken such good care of us and the only thing that made saying goodbye a little easier was knowing that she will come visit us next September with her baby boy who is due in about a month.