A Guest Post: Sue from Hello, Also I Love You

I met Sue several years ago. We worked together at a little boutique here in SLC. I just love Sue because she is a bit like me in that even though she may not look it, she has a bit of a nerdy side (and Sue, I mean that in the nicest way).

Sue recently moved to Japan and I'm totally jeal. I went on a piano tour to Japan back in high school and loved it. ABSOLUTELY loved it. Japanese people are so welcoming and kind and everything there is clean and beautiful. I need to go back. Maybe I should visit Sue. What do you think?

Enough about me. Blog readers, meet Sue.

Hello to all of the lovely readers here at Diligent Joy! I'm very excited to be guest posting today. I'm Sue and three months ago I moved to Northern Japan. I want to share some of the wonderfullness with you today.

• I'm recently married (11-11-11, he picked it) and my husband, Aaron, is in the US Air Force. We're stationed at Misawa Air Base in Japan and I absolutely love it here. It's a beautiful country. The people are friendly. The food is delish. What more do you need?
  

• Aaron and I are lucky enough to live off base (the on-basers are jealous) and most of the time it's pretty great. I love that we get to immerse ourselves completely in the culture but we still have an American grocery store (the commissary) just 10 minutes away. Our house is small by American standards but big by Japanese. The bathroom is huge, the kitchen is tiny and the rest is on the smallish side. During the winter we regularly have blizzards, followed by random "warm days" (30 degrees). In the spring/summer it's green, leafy, and absolutely beautiful.
  
• I'm mildly obsessed with Japanese food. It's a little nerve-wracking putting something into your mouth when you can't say for sure what it is but since Japanese is written in Kanji symbols instead of letters sometimes you just have to trust and try it! I love, love, love sushi and there's no shortage of it here. People think that's all Japan is though, and that is completely untrue. My favorite go-to Japanese food is ramen soup. The American knock-off of it (top ramen) doesn't even compare. Don't judge it until you try it!
  

• I absolutely love the Japanese gardens/temples that you can find around here. They are obscure and you don't notice them till you're already driving past them. My favorite is "the one with the big Buddha" (I'm not sure what it's actually called... I know, I'm lame). They have different little Buddha statues all over the garden that symbolize who/what you're praying for. You put Yen (Japanese money) on the little statue and say a prayer along with it to bring blessings. The beauty is in the simplicity. 

• Some of my favorite days are the ones I go out exploring all on my own. I love to shop and there are so many cute little stores to wander in to, especially if you love antiques (which I do). If I want quick, one-stop shopping I visit the mall. They have anime-looking mannequins that kind of creep me out. They have fancy stores with lots of girly/lacey tops (which I'm a complete sucker for). They have candy stores that look like Wonka's factory exploded and landed here. They have arcades filled with so many bright lights and colors that it gives me a little headache if I stay there too long. But my favorite part of the mall are the bakeries (yes, plural). They make chocolate cakes that are so light and fluffy that I could eat a whole one alone without stopping (don't worry, I don't actually do it, but I could). 
• There are two things that have been difficult to get used to here. First, everything is written in Kanji (which are the Japanese symbols). If you look at a Spanish word you can sound it out and maybe get across your point. If you look at a Kanji word... good luck! Second, they drive on the wrong (left) side of the road here! The first time Aaron pulled out into traffic I about had a panic attack. I knew logically that he wasn't doing anything dangerous but my mind has been conditioned and the panic was on! Now it's pretty natural to me and I don't even notice when I'm driving, but I know when I go back to the States I'll have to learn everything over again.
• As cliche as this sounds, my favorite part of living in Japan is being with my husband. We spent our six month engagement apart and it was horrible. I love being here with him, planning fun trips together, and seeing a part of the world that was previously (to me) unknown. We have three mini-trips planned this year. One to Lake Towada for a snow lantern festival, one to Sapporo for the cherry blossom festival (we're talking hundreds of thousands of blossoms), and one to Mt. Fuji to climb up to the tip-top (or as close as we get). I'm most excited about that last one!
  

With or without the trips I'm grateful to be here with my hubs and our (newly added) puppy, Twink. Together we make a happy little family exploring a new country and all the beauty/fun/culture it has to offer. Come visit me at my blog and say hello!

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