...a lot these days. In early July of 2007, I traveled to the Tohoku region of Japan with my mother, who came to attend a conference in Sendai. Before returning home, we met up with my husband (my fiance at the time) and did some sightseeing along the northeast shoreline. One place we visited was a little coastal town called Matsushima.
This is my mom, who would surely not approve of my posting her picture here. Still I made her promise me that she would never read this blog, so as long as you don't tell her, she'll never know.
It rained, I remember, because it always rains in early July.
Eventually, we took refuge in a little tea shop that boasted green tea and soft-served ice cream. It was run by a little old man, who was missing half his teeth. "Where are you visiting from?" he asked me, his lack of teeth not inhibiting his smile in the slightest. "Tokyo," I told him. Then I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable, for him to stare blankly at my complexion and clarify: no, I mean where are you really from: England or Australia? But he didn't say that.
"Tokyo eh?" he replied instead. "You must be rich!"
Startled by his response, I vigorously nodded my head back and forth. We laughed. I liked him.
I hope he is ok.
Sadly though, Google's people finder has not yet become so advanced that I can search for "that toothless old man who served me ice cream in that cafe across the street from Matsushima station."
I`m not going to post any images here of what that costal area looks like now. Most likely, you have already seen them on the news. Instead, I will show you the beautiful town- full of beautiful people- that I once visited.
Someday, I hope to visit there again.
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