There and back again. This time the “there” included three of the most famous cities of Japan, Kobe, a modern city by the sea, Osaka, a cosmopolitan wonderland, and the cultural heartland of the Japanese nation, Kyoto. It felt good to leave my farming village and head for the great world beyond, if only for the weekend. I admit that I was a bit envious of those English teachers who dwell in the cities. Theirs may not be the town where everyone knows your name, but surely the youth and vitality of twenty-something Japanese provide a certain je ne sais quoi to their lives that I am sorely lacking. In Osaka, I got lost. Those of you who are aware of my notoriously awful sense of direction wouldn’t be surprised by that statement, of course.
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