We had two additions to my very small family, in a short amount of time, and in a place far from where I live. October 31,2022, my nephew got married to a lovely girl in Tokyo, Japan. In March 2023, she gave birth to my grandniece.

With COVID restrictions still firmly in place, making a quick trip to Japan for a wedding was just not possible. Some restrictions were lifted just before the wedding, but not in enough time to get a reasonable price on a ticket. With a baby to be born only a few months later, I decided to try a little. Getting a great price on a ticket was possible for April 2023, and off I went.

Yes, I went by myself. Greg is not a fan of flying and a 1-1/2-hour flight from Reno to LAX and the 10 more hours to Tokyo, was just not going to happen.  Which was okay. I dearly missed him, but we used Messenger’s video chats frequently to keep in touch.

So off I went to Tokyo. My first time off the North American continent. I have been to Mexico several times but that had been it, or my out of the US travel. I used my driver’s license to cross the border at that time, so this would also be the first stamp in my year-old passport.

Before I left, I tried to squeeze in a Duolingo crash course in Japanese.  It was okay, but since I was already studying Swedish for an upcoming September trip, trying to lear a totally different language containing with three forms, I mean 4 forms, was doomed from the start.

So, yeah, off I went, to a country I hadn’t planned to go to, with a language I didn’t speak, a city rail map that made no sense to me, all by myself.

But you what? I had a great time. Oh sure, there were a few hiccups, and things I would do differently.  But would I go back again? Heck yeah!

There were a few things that I did do, that I tried to do even better on my later trip to Sweden. The first was pack lightly and leave some room for a few souvenirs. The other thing was to go with absolutely no expectations.

I know that sounds kind of impossible.  But while I knew there was a planned itinerary of sorts, I decided that I wanted to just experience my trip as it came. However my trip decided to unfold, I would embrace the experiences.

Honestly, there were a few bumps.

For years, my family has just been Greg, and occasional visits with my  adult nephew. That’s it, no kids of my own or other immediate family. So, I was a bit stuck in my ways.  And I’m also a bit stubborn, preferring not to ask for help, unless I really can’t do it alone. But then, after living so long by myself, I kind of had to do that.

When my sister and brother-in-law passed, I became Chris’ guardian. I was amazed at the instant “Mama Bear” instincts came into play. With no real parenting experience, I tried to do the best I could with my 16-year-old nephew. We had always been close, but yeah, the change in our relationship from aunt to guardian stretched things a bit.

After years of his folks both being ill, my nephew was pretty independent. Still we worked through everything and over the years have become pretty close. When I was recovering from my cancer surgery, 5 years ago, he was right there to help.

Chris moved to Japan and I hadn’t seen him since that visit.

Anyway, back to the trip.

Landing at Haneda Airport was uneventful, until I get off the plane and into the terminal. I sort of got swept up into this sea of people and flow through to immigration. It came to a sudden dead stop and we stayed there for a few minutes. We moved on and then were separated into two lines going around this wall, only to have them merge again and come to a dead stop on the other side. I could now see the immigration booths at the far side of a big room and a long line winding back and forth several times to where I stood.

An hour later, I stood on the other side of immigration, suitcase in hand looking through the crowd for my nephew, finally “free” to start my visit.

I had a brand-new stamp in my passport.