Category: Diary

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Jet Lagged Lily!!!

Anyway, today, we’re in LAX.  We all decided to get a hotel, well, those of us who are going back to Texas anyway, and we’re there now.  There’s Dave and Sabby and David in one room, Me, Beth, Liz, Crystal, and Diana in another room, and Emiko and family in their room.  It all works out.  It’s kind of similar arrangements to the hotel in Tokyo except Robert and family (and friends) all went home to do their own thing.  Probably sleep.  I don’t blame them.

We just kind of lounged around today.  I guess we could have gotten cabs or ubers and seen the sights, but we’re just all travelled out.  So we just hung around the hotel.  We checked in early to a hotel, they were nice enough to find some rooms for us.  They had a nice breakfast (which we barely arrived in time for) so we had something to eat, and then just crashed for a while.  This afternoon we played games and kind of had a relaxed afternoon (we did spend a bit of time in the pool), and then we ordered a few pizzas for dinner.  And that’s pretty much all we did.  Nothing big, nothing fancy, but it’s been a long (fun, but long) couple of weeks, so none of us were in the mood to do any sightseeing.  It’s only 90 degrees today, which is cooler than both Tokyo and Texas…

Tomorrow we’ll head for the airport, hop a plane, and then our trip will be over.

Traveling is hard work!!!

Ai already added her friends to the group chat, so now we have four idols on our chat!!! Hahaah!! It’s such a coincidence that they’re all named after idols, but I guess apart from Mariko they’re pretty common names.  But all four of them???  Hahaha!!! But it’s cool.  Now I can tell people I’m friends with Oshima Yuuko, Takahashi Minami, Shinoda Mariko, and Takahashi Ai!  Then they’ll say “wow, that’s cool!”, but I’ll know the truth – it’s technically true, but not who they’re thinking.

Hahaha!!!

They’ve got lots of questions and I told Ai she should bring them along when she comes to visit.

She said she’d see what she could do.  They’re not as well off as Rebecca and friends, but maybe they can figure something out.

Emiko and I spent a little time chatting today – we haven’t spent much time just the two of us.  She told me she’s really proud of me.  I didn’t expect that to mean as much as it did, but, well, it did.  Not because she’s my birth mother.  But because she’s Emiko.  I know she gave me up because she had to, but I know she didn’t want to, and, well, there’s no point in being upset about things that happened in the past.  Especially if she’s made up for them.  And she has.  I wish we’d been able to spend more time together in Japan, but it was pretty much controlled chaos all the time, I understand why it just wasn’t possible.  I mean, with twelve (up to seventeen) girls, one (sometimes two) boys, and a bunch of adults, it was hard enough just keeping everyone busy and happy!  I need to visit her more though.

Crystal has her Kimono and she put it on for a little while today and went off and just kind of zoned out.  I think her kimono reminds her of the gardens, and if it helps, it helps!

Jack’s birthday is coming up soon, and then mine is!  I’ll be 18!!!

And… I promised Sabby I wouldn’t go crazy when I’m 18.  I’ll keep that promise.  But… it’ll be tempting!!!

Anyway…

I guess I should to go bed.

Everyone else is full of pizza and snoring.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!!

We’re on the plane to go home!!!

We had a long family discussion and decided to just wait in LA for the plane and fly home.  Grand Canyon is a very long drive on not very good roads, we’re already very tired from two weeks in Japan, and…. we all just want to go home.

Sabby was a bit disappointed but she was outvoted and understood.  We can always take another trip.

But we have a day to wait, so we’re not sure what we’re going to do while we’re waiting.  We don’t have a car rented, there are probably too many of us for standby tickets, we might just see if we can get rooms in a hotel next to the airport for a night.  Robert offered that we can stay over there but there are a lot of us and Sabby doesn’t want to impose.  Because there are a lot of us, transportation would be a challenge.

But we’ll solve that problem when we get there, I guess.

Maybe we’ll just stay in the airport and eat junk and play games.  Hahah!!!

Anyway, it’s a nice flight.  We’re pretty much following the sun all the way home!!!

I loved Japan!!! Even though it was hot!!!  I love eating the food and seeing the sights and speaking the language and…  I just love Japan!!!  I hope I can go to college there!!! Even if it makes things with Jack a challenge.  We’ll figure that out.  I’m glad Crystal could find a little peace, Diana wants to make Japanese tacos (I’m not sure how she’ll pull that off but if anyone can, it’s her), David will probably be dreaming about maid cafes, and Dave and Sabby said they have some really good memories and really liked the trip.

Beth is usually pretty low key about things in general, but she loved Enoshima, and Liz just loved going to the konbini and pigging out.  They both loved the museums in Ueno too.

Something for everyone!!!

Rebecca and her friends had a great time, too.  Chelsi is so happy she was able to go surfing in Japan, Yu learned a lot about the culture, Britni.. well, who knows about Britni now, but it was eventful for her too, I guess, and she had a good time all told…  Kari loved the museums in Ueno, and Rebecca… well, she just had fun in all the weeby places.  I don’t know if everyone got to do everything they wanted to do, but it worked out.  Rebecca’s mother just seemed to enjoy watching everyone have fun and doing a few fun things herself, and while we didn’t see much of Robert, he tells us it was a very successful trip for him and well worth what the company paid for the flight, etc (even though we chipped in).

Emiko and family had fun too, and those of us who knew Ai and Hiroshi and Ojiisan and Obaasan (and Ojisan and Obasan too) really were glad we could spend some time with them.  Even Rebecca and gang thought everyone was pretty cool, and they enjoyed spending time with actual Japanese people.

So… everyone had a good time!!! That’s the important thing.

I still haven’t forgotten that I owe them all!  Muahahaha!!!!!

And I won’t let them forget it either.

I’m not too upset anymore but I will have revenge.

Everyone’s pretty much sleeping right now.  I guess a ten hour flight is a really good place to decompress from a vacation, especially because we have nice seats and places to actually lie down.  I don’t know if we’ll ever get to go charter again, but I wish we could!!! It’s amazing!!!  Crystal, Beth, and Diana are all clumped together, and Yu’s head is on Rebecca’s shoulder and drooling!  It’s cute!!!  But don’t tell her!! Hahaha!!!

How much did we spend?  Oh, look at the ocean!!!  It’s so pretty!!! Yeah, I know.  We spent less than we could have, but it was expensive.  We knew it would be, though.  It is what it is, and everyone got good memories.

I bought something very nice for Jack, too.

I think sleeping isn’t a terrible idea.  I think I’ll do some of that too.

Love you all!!! ❤

And thanks for sharing the trip with me!!!

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

We went to a WATERPARK today!!!!

Yaaaayyyyyy!!!!!

Everyone had a great time.  There was lots of sliding and whooping and splashing.  It was a little cooler in Tokyo today than it was earlier in the week, but it was still pretty crowded.  Full of Japanese people who were hooting and whooping as much as the rest of us.  Japanese people and Americans aren’t all that different when you’re sliding down a slide and getting wet!!!

Robert heard from the charter flight company – a typhoon is heading for Japan and they want us to leave early.  It shouldn’t directly hit Tokyo but it’s still a bit close for comfort, so they want to be safe.  And none of us want to get stuck in Japan while a typhoon hits, even if it’s in western Japan and not here.  So we’re leaving tomorrow instead.  Aww.  But it’s alright, we had two weeks and it was lots of fun.  Sabby wasn’t going to do the road trip, but if we’re arriving a day early, she thinks it might be fun after all.  She talked to Diana and Crystal’s parents and they’re okay with it.  They seem to think that Crystal and Diana are learning a lot by seeing other places and people.  And they’re right!!! But they do miss them, so we need to get them back soon.

I didn’t mention it but Crystal and Diana are calling back every day and telling their parents everything they did.  So are Rebecca’s friends.  All the parents are pretty happy for them, which is nice.  I think some are a bit jealous.  But they can go to Japan too if they want!!!  Sometimes we all call at once while I’m typing my diary so there’s all sorts of chatting and talking going on before bed.

We’re going to see the grand canyon!!!  Yay!!!  Even though it’s… hot.  Not as hot as Texas though!!!

We took a train up to Saitama after the waterpark to say goodbye to Ai and Hiroshi and everyone.  Ai sniffled a little, but we’ve got some new people to add to our group chat now, so it’s all good!!!

Alright.  We’re all packed up and heading to Haneda in the morning!  The pilots want to get ahead of the typhoon!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

We had another free day today.

There’s lots of stuff to do in Japan, but the truth is, this is an expensive trip, and we can’t be seeing every sight every day!  the Shinkansen is expensive, theme parks are expensive, the local trains aren’t as expensive but they cost a bit too.  And we’re also kind of getting tired, with all the heat and everything.  We’ve got about four days left and Robert still has some clients to visit (he’s also working on a new account, go him!) so we’re kinda just chilling today.

Pretty much all of the non-adults went over to the konbini and refreshed our snack stash!!!

So much stuff that’s only marginally good for us but better than the equivalent American convenience store stuff!!!

Sushi!  Onigiri!!!  Even pizza!!!  Takoyaki!!! OH YUM!!!  And of course, chocolate treats like pocky.  Can’t forget the chocolate!!!

After that, we just kinda played games and did random stuff.  Some of us went over to Akihabara again, but this time with the express purpose of buying omiyage!  Souvenirs!!!  And now that we know Katie’s baby’s gender, we got her some Japanese baby stuff too from Don Quijote!!!

That was fun.  We didn’t really go over there to do anything but shopping though, it was hot anyway.  And we’re starting to fill up our souvenir bags!!!  There’s no real baggage weight limit on a chartered plane, but we can’t go nuts!!!  Thankfully the dollar is really strong right now so we didn’t spend near as much as we might have!!!

I know it seems like we have unlimited money… we don’t!  We just have some pretty well off people in our group, and the rest of us have saved for this!  It all works out.  It’s a good thing we saved all that money on the hotel, etc!!!

Thanks Robert!!!

So something really funny happened.  Sabby told a random Japanese person her name, and they said “ohhh!!!  Sabby’s Treats!!!”  We all were flabbergasted.  Apparently cat-girl is more popular there than we thought!!!  He showed us an app on his phone that showed cat-girl getting dressed up in different outfits and walking out of Sabby’s Treats to model.

Sabby actually wasn’t happy about that.  I can see why.  But that might explain why we have so many Japanese tourists coming to buy stuff and see cat-girl.

Cat-girl better not have had anything to do with that.

I doubt it, though.  She often seems about as clueless about why as the rest of us.

Maybe we need to build our own app.

Anyway, the guy asked if we knew cat-girl, and when we said we did, he started gushing and saying things like “subarashii!” and bowing and just basically Japanese-style fanboying.  It was hilarious and just a tiny bit creepy.  But…  he’s welcome to come buy stuff, I suppose.

Note to self:  do not bring cat-girl to Japan.  That’s a terrible idea.  A horrible idea.  A profitable, er… no!  A terrible idea!!!

But I bet she could do a tour here and make lots of money.

Sigh.

Anyway.

Crystal put on her kimono this morning and went to the gardens and just sat there.  She looks so much happier when she comes back.  I need to figure out how to bring that to her when we get back to the US.

Oh… don’t worry about Katie.  Remember how I told you the pastor was working with her?  She’s got more casseroles and baby booties from old ladies in the church than she knows what to do with.  Someone came by and is helping take care of Sabrina so she can get a little rest.  I don’t always understand church but they are always there for people who need them.  That’s one reason I keep going.

It’s night now.  We had a pretty fun and thankfully rather quiet day.  We’re looking for a hanabi (fireworks) festival we can go to before we have to go home!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

KATIE HAD HER BABY!!!!

I wish I could have been there, but she understood that none of us could, I mean being in Japan, that’s a bit difficult, right?  Anyway, it’s a healthy girl, about 8 pounds or so.

She named her Sabrina Lily!!!

Awwww!!!!!

I wish we could be there because she’s pretty exhausted and could use a little help, but…  it is what it is.  We’ll help when we come back, I guess.  She sent a picture!!! So cute!!!  Alll the girls were cooing and awwing and we haven’t even met her yet!!!

David didn’t really know what the big deal is, but he’s a boy, and who can blame him for that??

She’s in touch with the pastor and we’re all figuring it out, because she’s still a single mom, and…  sigh.

Sabby told her she gets paid maternity leave, because we take care of our people.  I don’t know what she’s going to do for child care and stuff, but I guess we’ll figure it out.

I just wish…   I just wish.

She’s not upset or anything, though.  She knows we’re in Japan, and, well, not much we can do.

Anyway, Baker’s in charge at the shop for now, and things seem to be humming along pretty well.  So there’s that.

So today we all took the Tsukuba Express again, up to Wan Wan Land.  I know I saw it last year, but none of the other girls did, and I thought they’d really like it.  And they did!!!  There were all sorts of dogs to pet, and there was a cat show, and the animals are pretty well taken care of, so it was time well spent.  Yu really doesn’t like animals, but even she had an okay time, she thought the cats were really smart.  Crystal LOVES all the dogs and she was really sad to leave.  She told me on the way back that maybe she wants to be a veterinarian.

I think she should!!!

After we got back, we had ramen for dinner (Japan makes the best ramen), then Jack and I talked.  A lot.  We talked before he went to school.  He’s…  afraid he’s going to lose me.  I’m kind of driven, I have a pretty good idea of what I’m going to do, I have a lot of options and opportunities…  and he, well, kinda doesn’t right now.  It’s not that he can’t!  He’s not dumb!!!  He.. just doesn’t know what he wants to do, and sometimes he doesn’t seem driven to find out.

I’m not mad at him for that, but he’s kinda mad at himself.

And he’s going to graduate in a year like I will, and he really does kind of need to figure out what he wants to do.  Not because I want him to, but because he needs to, for himself.

But we’re okay.  At least for now.  We still have college kinda hanging over our heads.  But let’s be honest, it’s probably a problem we’d have to solve anyway.  I mean, even if I stayed in the states, maybe I’d go to, I dunno, Stanford or something, and he’d go to… I dunno…  UT or Indiana or something, and we’d still be apart.  We’ll have to solve it, this just makes it a little more difficult, I guess.

We’ve only got a few more days left here and then we’re going home.  Sabby’s talking about doing a road trip back to Texas instead of flying.  That might be fun!!! I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon!!!  Though Arizona in the summer…

Time for bed.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

I can’t do ANYTHING right!!!

So…  I made up with the girls, well, mostly. They still don’t really understand why I was so upset, but I think they understand a little bit.  At least they seem to understand that Japan is a little different than the US.  They didn’t even notice the dirty looks we were getting on the train!  I guess they were too busy trolling me.  Sigh.

And…  yeah, it was a little funny.  I saw one of the tiktoks some bystander posted and I can see why all the adults thought it was so hilarious.  I was just sitting there looking a bit annoyed and there were 11 girls from like 10 to 17 all hovering around me and being… well…  obnoxiously kawaii.  It was the expression on my face…  One of those tiktoks went kinda viral.  Aww.

In fact so much so that I was on the train and some girl pointed at me and yelled “Douga kara onnanoko desu!!!”

Her mother blushed and shushed her, but I blushed too.

So now I’m famous in Japan.  Thanks, girls.

And I will get them back.  Every single one of them.

But, okay.  It was funny, I guess.

But…  now Jack’s a little upset.

Not about that – I showed him one of the tiktoks and I’ve never heard him laugh so hard.  It’s hard to be upset with him though, it’s pretty funny IF YOU’RE NOT ME, but about the fact that I’m considering going to college in Japan.

He feels left behind.

I…  I don’t blame him.

It’s perfectly fair of him to feel that way.

I don’t know how to solve this.

But I can’t imagine a life without him in it.

I told him that.

It seemed to help.

But he’s still not happy.

And I still don’t blame him.

We need to figure something out.

He said he doesn’t want to leave me or anything, in fact, that’s why he’s upset – he doesn’t want me to leave him.

He doesn’t understand.  I wouldn’t leave him.  I love him.  I want him.  I don’t want anyone else.  But…  I’m half Japanese.  I have family here.  I….  I don’t know what to do.

I told him we’ll talk about it when I get home, but not to worry, we’ll figure something out.

He…  he told me he loves me and doesn’t want a life without me either.

Awwww.

Well, anyway.  It was hot again today.  It looks like the heat will start to abate a little – the day we leave.  Isn’t that just how it goes.  So we found something to do, and I told the girls to leave their anime school uniforms at the hotel.

They pouted a bit.  They didn’t want to troll me anymore, but they thought they were cute!!!

Well.. yeah, they are, but enough’s enough.

We all took the shinkansen down to Osaka, I wanted to show everyone the Umeda sky tower.  They were very impressed – and it’s impressive.  Turns out Diana has a fear of heights and it was really hard to get her on the escalator.  But she kind of enjoyed it too.  I showed them the road going through the building.  After we went down, we walked around a little until it got too hot, then we rode the train to Kyoto and saw some of the sights there.  It’s a very historic place, it used to be the capital before they moved it to Edo, which became Tokyo.  But it was pretty hot there too, and eventually we just hopped the train back.  At least the train had air conditioning.

We sure picked a bad time to come to Japan, weather wise.

And there’s a typhoon hanging around too.  Aww.

Oh well.  Time for bed.  If I were eighteen I’d send Jack a…  photo present.  But I’m not, so he’ll just have to use his imagination.

And yeah, I know Sabby, be responsible.  I get it.  But… he deserves something, doesn’t he?

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And apparently I’m a jerk.

I don’t think I am but everyone else does.

I’m not a jerk!  I don’t think.  But I just don’t like it when people embarrass me like that!!!  And in Japan, where people really care about that kind of thing!!! It was awful!!!

And the adults were in on it too!!!  I wanted to know where they got the money?  Rebecca’s mother!!!  The same mother who got mad at Rebecca for daring me to get hot chocolate from the kitchen in a too-small swimsuit!!!  She thought it was hilarious!!!  And Sabby yelled at me this morning!!!  She thought I should just laugh!!!  But I don’t want to laugh!!!

Then Sabby asked if I’d have thought it funny if someone else had been the “foil”.

Dang.  Awww.

But I still don’t like it!!!

Sabby doesn’t understand Japanese culture the way I do.  They don’t like people who do things out of the ordinary.  They like it when people behave predictably and don’t do silly things in public.  They might not say anything but it really bothers them!!!  Someone could have called the police on us!  We weren’t breaking any laws so they might not have done anything, but it would have still been a pain!!!

Sabby understood why I was angry a little better when I told her that, but she said it was still harmless, no one did call the police, and I was still being a jerk.  An immature jerk.  Aww.

Today everyone else went off to do something, I didn’t really care what, and I didn’t ask.  I went with Sabby and Dave to Meiji University, an English speaking college, and got a tour.  I’m thinking of going to college here!!!  It might be fun!!!  But…  I don’t know.  I’ll certainly have the money for it.  I just… it’s a little scary, right?  And they need things like diplomas and recommendations, and… I’m home schooled!  Who’s going to diploma and recommend me?  I hate that I might not be able to do what I want to because of choices I didn’t make, like losing my memory!!! Awwwww!!!!!!!!!

I guess I should go.  The girls haven’t talked to me all night because I haven’t talked to them, but now they want to talk, and maybe I’d better.

They’re still my sisters, even if I’m still mad at them.

Oh!  Katie’s in labor!!!  I’ll let you know more when I know!!!

Love you all!!! ❤