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(Design by local illustrator Audra Furuichi. Check out her work at nemu-nemu.com!)

I'll admit it: I miss Japan. I swore that I wouldn't feel this way, that I'd leave the country with eyes only for America and would never look back. It's nearly a year later, and here I am, writing a love letter to Japan.

Dear Nippon,
I want you back. Here's what I love about you:

• the lovely ladies of Akashi
  
• chocolate croissants, warm and flaky
  
• half-size servings at Curry House
  
• COLLECTING HELLO KITTY CHARMS
  
• J-Pop (and K-Pop) concerts
  
• Meat Nights
  
• 道の駅スタンプ集め
  
• Mister Donut
• my apartment
  
• kicking back in my お風呂, an Asahi in hand
• salty, salty ramen
  
• trains
• point cards everywhere
  
• the gym (since I actually worked out when I was in Japan)
• traveling to a new place every weekend
• AEON Shopping Centers
• chicken karaage and my Takitate Bento jiichan
• コンビニ
• the chance that I could meet Totoro
• seasons (except summer)
• ソフトクリーム
  
• the daily chance to practice my 日本語
• ridiculously fabulous fashion
  
• big cities
  
• my students (well, some of them)
• Sapporo Potato veggie chips
• juicy, Kewpie mayonnaise-licious okonomiyaki
• 和菓子
  

And I've missed blogging.

Facebook has unfortunately become the dumping ground for updates on my reads and eats. Through this blog, I'd like to spare my friends the pain of to-the-minute notifications on every step I take, every cupcake I make.

To those who read my Japan blog, thank you! It'll remain on the Internet as a record of an utterly perfect time in my life, but from now on, all my writings will appear here. I'll try to be as faithful in these postings as I was for the past two years. 頑張りま～す！