Tadaima

It seems there's a word for just about every situation in the Japanese language. Ever wonder what to say when coming home from work or school as you step in the door? Well, Japanese people don't. They say "tadaima." The closest equivalent is "I'm home!", but the English language simply doesn't have a formalized expression for that situation.
The Japanese language of course somehow parallels its culture. The language would not have the incredible number of formal expressions that it has if its speakers did not generally live such formalized lives. Not to say that people everywhere don't fall into group patterns and traditions, but the extent to which Japan as a (very populous) nation is its own singular group is pretty astounding.
I've been thinking about "tadaima" because I've been thinking about "home." This is a pretty common situation for twenty-some year olds everywhere you might imagine, but I honestly don't think that's the case for most Japanese people. Telling my American mates that my Jewish parents have packed up and moved 1500 miles down south is maybe a bit of a surprise, but very easily believable. Telling them that my childhood was somewhat spread out among different areas separated by many hours of car driving is also not such a unique story. But I think both those cases are quite uncommon in Japan. I think the concept of "home" is generally not a difficult one for my coworkers, as I believe every single one of them is from this or the rather close surrounding area. The slightly older ones have their "city" (well, Takasaki) home, and their country home where they are originally from and where their parents still live. If they're young they probably still live with their family. Not much variety in the use of "tadaima." In fact, I don't think the Japanese have a word with all the same connotations as "home," but I could easily be wrong about that...
This subject is running through my head now because I just went home for a month, though I am now back in Japan (another home to some extent). I could go on quite a bit about my trip, and go into pages and pages of details, but if you're anything like me that would bore you to death. So I'll try to be brief and, of course, use pretty pictures. Or pictures anyway.
7/19 - flew to Boston. flight was too long. annoyed amber by successfully sleeping on it.
7/20 - after staying with Amber's cousin for the night, we part ways: her for Newport, then Nantucket, and finally Martha's Vineyard, and me to New York via the trusty Fung Wa bus.
I'll leave what Amber did to Amber's blog. I basically hung out with my friends and reveled in the big crazy city for a few days. Saturday Night was the highlight: the evening started in new jersey where Neal's brother treated us to fried clams (giving Aaron's Jewish and now Japanesey stomach a turn for the worse) and continued in downtown new york, and ended super late in Kathryn's place in Astoria.

Here's Jacob, passed out in the funniest position possible. We all stayed at Kathryn's place in Queens, and she was kind enough to let sleeping beauty take her bed for that night.
Kathryn, Roopali's legs, and Neal ruling over Central Park
Jacob celebrated my arrival with ridiculous facial hair.
I don't know why but the waitress at this nondescript Vietnamese places really insisted on taking our picture. But I think we're lookin pretty good.
Then I went to State College for a few days to visit my baby sister Shmoo. Here she is after a tough evening of watching Scrubs and The Girl Next Door. I also got to see my good friend Nate in nearby Loch Haven and eat real American pizza which made my stomach hurt. I also got a crappy haircut, and bought books in an awesome bookstore.

I made my way back into the city and to LaGuardia to meet Amber, but her flight was cancelled. My uncle kindly took me for the night, and I happily used his brand new couch for the night. After waking up to him coming home with some delicious fresh bagels (yay new york) I got my stuff together to meet amber at the airport. After a brief stop to eat some burritos the size of our torso, we headed to Philadelphia to meet up with Neal, Jacob and Lindsay. yay!
Here's post-Nantucket/Martha's vineyard amber. The camera may make her look pale, but trust me, she tanned herself black.
We made a trip out to Lancaster area to the ol watering hole Lock 13. Unfortunately the water hold part was occupied by some locals, but we had some fun relaxing and hiking.
look, it's Lindsay!
Sunday Lindsay and Jacob had to go back to DC, but me Amber stayed with Neal in Philly, and proceeded to sleep in half the next day while he was at work. Alas the day after that me and Amber moved along. Next stop: a brief layover in New York before returning to the area I mostly grew up in in Pennsylvania. I wanted to make this stop because my friend Maggi was herself making a brief layover in the city and I don't know when the next chance i would have to meet her...
Here's me and Maggi after she made us eat at a sushi place. Turns out the sushi is better in Japan. Who would've guessed?
We spent the night with Amber's cousin Jack in Brooklyn, where's he's currently housesitting.
Guess which is the tall handsome guy with the BBC accent and which is the little American Jew???
Next stop: Wilkes-Barre. No tour of the East Coast is complete without a stopover in NEPA (that's Northeast Pennsylvania for you amateurs, pronounced neepah). Well, perhaps unfortunately for Amber the stop was necessary because her boyfriend spent 10+ years of his life there.

How else could we have gotten our pictures taken in front of Tony Stewarts' racecars? Racin'!
We later took a trip to a local bazaar, where we got to delight in local favorites. In this picture we see some kielbasa, pierogies, and Busch lite, the only beer offered at the bazaar. delicious!
I'm not sure if funnel cake comes from Poland too, but Andy sure looks happy to have some.

Me, Andy, and Amber tried our hands at hitting a target to dunk the smart ass over the tub of water. no good though.
Look at that guy in the background, this must be a hip bar!
And that guy seals the deal. This place is it!

The other part of this leg of the journey worth mentioning was a stop inside a bar/club in Wilkes-Barre which was listed as having an "indie dance party night." In a big city that might sound kind of lame, but I mean, this is Wilkes-Barre. I went in assuming it would worth a laugh if nothing else, but was pleasantly surprised. First, my old friend Bonito was there, dancing up a storm as no other man can. Second, young hip people actually filled the place and were having a good time. Ok well maybe not everyone there was young and hip, but an incredibly high percentage for the area. I was pretty blown away, as I don't think I've seen a sight like that before in a town like that. Where do those people hide? How do they know when to come out? I was and am confused, but happily at least. Didn't take any pictures though, so I hope you believe me.

Ok well it's getting late and I can only keep focus for so long. This is about half the trip though, and I will do the next half soon as I get the chance, but I must leave on a note about today. Today I tried for my Japanese Drivers License for the second time. This whole driving thing has been the biggest pain in my ass, but I really feel its important to getting around in these parts. Anyway stories among foreigners abound, with tales of people taking the test 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, or more times and never passing. And each test costs about 24 dollars and takes an entire afternoon. And it i honestly found it to be dehumanizing and ridiculous. BUT I PASSED. DAMMIT! I am super relieved, but maybe happy isn't the word. I don't think I should've had to take the test in the first place, as the members of pretty much every developed country except America are exempt. But I am happy that something that could've been EVEN worse is over. Well actually almost over, as you can't get the license on the same day, and so I must return tomorrow and get the actual piece of plastic. O happy days.

I'll post a picture :)

Missin' [home] already,

Aaron