Hi everyone....I'm in Tokyo at the moment doing some market research. Here's an evening view of Shibuya from my hotel room. I love the energy of this city!
We walked through the trendy Harajuku fashion district and visited our Gravis retail store. That's our GM in the photo. It's pretty rewarding to see all your hard work come to life like this.
To break up the trip we took the Shinkansen north to ride some fresh powder and check out the Nippon Open snowboard contest.
The first day was cold and snowing but I was perfectly fine thanks to my new jacket....thanks Steff!ALTS Bandai was the name of the resort....this place is super fun and the snow was really nice! I hope to get back there one day!
After a couple great days of riding I broke off from the group and headed to Fukushima to visit our relatives. This was a very old train station and hearing the air raid sirens in the background made it feel as if I went back in time. I was the only person there besides the Ojisan working the ticket window....this was a perfect time for peaceful reflection.
This is a photo taken from the train...such beautiful landscape!
This photo was taken just outside one of the stops on the way to Fukushima. The stop was actually named "Kikuta"
From the moment I was picked up at the train station it was as if I had grown up there my whole life. Everyone was extremely nice....I definitely felt at home. This couldn't have come at a better time as I'm feeling a bit homesick being away from Steff and the kids. I miss you guys!I'm sure you recognize some familiar faces and as you can see, there are a few new additions to the family! They told me of their plans to tear down the existing house and build a brand new home on the property. Groundbreaking is planned for September. Being a guest in their home brought back a lot of memories from our last visit over 10 years ago!
Communicating was bit challenging at times....but with some broken Nihongo we were able to catch up and have a few laughs. The 3 Japanese words I know really came in handy...Hai, Arigato and Wakarimasen....haha!!!
I exchanged email addresses, I plan on keeping in touch with everyone...hopefully it won't be another 10 years till the next visit. A special thanks goes out to Takako San for her hospitality and making this a very memorable experience! And to Steff for her help with the Omiage....they loved the photo album you made!
More to come soon....
Kelly
