The Slow Travel Diaries
Welcome to The Slow Travel Diaries—the podcast where travel meets transformation.
If you're a woman navigating life transitions, seeking healing, or craving deeper self-discovery, this podcast is for you. Through the power of slow, intentional travel, we explore how stepping outside your comfort zone can lead to clarity, confidence, and renewal.
🌍 What You'll Find Here:
✨ Inspiring Personal Stories – Real journeys of women who’ve healed and grown through travel.
🗺 Expert Insights & Practical Tips – Mindset shifts, travel strategies, and cultural connections.
💫 Deep Conversations on Growth & Healing – Exploring how travel helps you overcome fear, embrace change, and rediscover yourself.
🎙 Hosted by Sarah Hoover, founder of The Wanderer’s Anthology, this podcast is more than a travel guide—it’s a movement toward fearless living.
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🚀 Ready to explore the world and yourself? Hit play and let’s begin your transformation.
The Slow Travel Diaries
Japan and Beyond: Tales of Cultural Immersion, Community, and Resilience with Jenessa Carder
Discover the vibrant tapestry of Japanese culture through the eyes of our special guest, Janessa Carter, as she navigates life in Japan during the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic. Imagine arriving in a new country, facing language barriers and cultural shocks, all while trying to find your footing in the job market where your professional talents are often overshadowed by communication abilities. Janessa’s journey mirrors that of countless immigrants around the world, and her story is a powerful reminder of the empathy and understanding we owe each other across cultures.
As we follow Janessa's exploration of Japan, we delve into the fascinating world of traditional textiles and cuisine. Picture the serendipity of stumbling upon a rural farmhouse dedicated to preserving the art of crafting textiles that once honored samurai. Janessa's experiences invite us to appreciate the intricate beauty and cultural history woven into every kimono. Her culinary adventures, from savoring the distinctive flavors of Japanese ramen to discovering unusual snacks, reveal how embracing new experiences can deepen our cultural connections.
Through heartfelt tales of unexpected dining encounters and the warm embrace of local festivals, Janessa captures the essence of community spirit in Japan. She shares the remarkable hospitality and inclusivity that define the region, where heavy snowfall fosters neighborly cooperation and resilience. As Janessa looks to the future with aspirations of writing a book and continued cultural exchanges, we're reminded of the transformative power of travel, personal growth, and the lasting bonds formed through shared experiences.
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Get the Beginner's Guide to Slow Travel below:
https://thewanderersanthology.ck.page/d89f0d837a
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Slow Travel Diaries podcast, where we take you on journeys that delve deep into the heart of different cultures. I'm your host, sarah Hoover, and today we are joined by the amazing Janessa Carter. Janessa has been living in Japan for the past few years and she has some incredible stories to share, from navigating life during the COVID-19 pandemic to diving deep into traditional Japanese crafts and forming genuine connections with locals. Her experiences highlight the cultural shocks, language barriers and the beautiful community spirit she discovered along the way. In this episode, we'll explore Janessa's journey, discuss the empathy that travel can foster and hear about some of her memorable experiences, including unique festivals and culinary adventures. So sit back and relax as we uncover Janessa's fascinating stories and insights. It's going to be an engaging and inspiring conversation you won't want to miss. Hello, hi, how are you?
Speaker 2:There we go. My audio is shut off.
Speaker 1:How are you? I'm good how are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm good, I'm hanging in there. A lot going on. Yeah, a lot is going on. Well, I'm glad we could find a time to um that worked for both of us to do this.
Speaker 1:So this is like my new thing and I'm so glad that you um, you said you'd be on with be on with me because, um, I think you have a lot of really cool stuff to share about being, like being in Japan and all the cultural differences and the fact that you like went there right before COVID and had to go through all that there and you just have so much, so much like wisdom. I think that you learned from that and also like kind of also like the like the mental health part of it too, right, like kind of the resilience part of it and how to, how to actually kind of get through it when you're somewhere different and you don't have your family and your friends and you're working, and all all the stuff that you went through. Like. I'm so proud of you that you, you, you just persevered through all of that thank you.
Speaker 2:It was certainly a challenge. I mean it still is. It's japan is a love-hate relationship, because some days are better than others.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my current challenge is you know uh, covid was one thing, and being what I call under country arrest, essentially because I couldn't leave if I wanted to keep my job, but the latest challenge is that, um, trying to find a job that makes me happy and satisfied, and things like that in the last couple years a lot of times, like the language skills, are something that companies here value more than your actual work history. And what I try to think about is is this something that people would face in the US too? And actually I think it is, and it's really interesting to think about that, because we have tools to help us communicate left and right, and AI translation things are only becoming better left and right and AI translation things are only becoming better, yeah, and yet we focus on what people can't do, which is, you know, fully communicate in a specific way and it's for me.
Speaker 2:It's incredibly frustrating right now for that particular reason, because I don't feel seen for what I can do in the professional setting. I just get feedback of you can't, you can't, you can't which is true, and I don't make claims too but I have so much.
Speaker 1:I have so much more that I can offer you and you're just not trying to see that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah especially what like when I have things that will help solve some very inherent and deep challenges within the Japanese culture. And I think about, like a friend of mine whose family was an immigrant to the US, and it was long ago, but I remember her telling me that her dad faced almost the same things and had to go back to school before he recredentialized themselves. Yeah, and just to think like they probably felt exactly what I'm feeling in the US. You know, but we didn't have as many tools at the time for that. Honestly, their parents were probably even better at English than I am at Japanese, but, at any rate, it's just very frustrating that we can't see people for people yeah and that, and that's kind of one of the things I know, that we kind of have this philosophy and we share the same philosophy.
Speaker 1:But this is what I feel about travel is that it goes both ways, but like you travel somewhere new and it gives you this different perspective, it gives you this like better understanding of that culture, but also the reverse of it, right, like them coming to where you're from, right and giving you a little bit, maybe more of an empathetic, an empathetic tone to how you deal with people from other places, right.
Speaker 2:Totally, I think, like, think, like for me going to a culture that's so different than the us culture. In japan I really relate to children and also people, maybe with alzheimer's or something like that, because I constantly feel like I'm this grown human being, trapped in my own body, sometimes like I just don't have less so now that I have a better control over speaking the language. But you know, I have felt where I don't have enough ability to communicate my needs or just describe things and so on. So I get really frustrated, sometimes to the point where I could totally understand why children have temper tantrums, because they have a need and they don't have enough ability to communicate exactly what it is that they're feeling or going on, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the same thing with people who are maybe with Alzheimer's or something like that. Of course, we don't fully know what they go through, but I have a feeling that They've lost that ability right. Yeah, you know, you sense something within yourself and you're, you're self-aware enough, I would believe, um, and yet you can't fully communicate. And then you're like why does this not come together? Why are people not fully understanding, right, and trying to tell you, you know?
Speaker 1:yeah. So I think this actually leads to one of the questions that I had wanted to ask you because, um, I know that you've done a lot of stuff trying to like understand the culture a little bit more, like visiting temples and doing a lot of travel around Japan, and you know, kind of your all your like um, kind of what would you call them like cultural crafts, I guess. So, like, how do you feel and I know that you've like kind of participated in like some of the festivals and things like that, which are really cool, Like I wanted to know like what you thought, like how that maybe has like affected you, influenced, like the way that you I don't know process being there, or if it's helped like you experience it better, or I don't know if it's been like I don't know how it's if it's helped you in any way to more like I don't want to use the word assimilate, but feel a bit more comfortable living in Japan.
Speaker 2:Well, probably my biggest cultural achievement and involvement has been in kimono culture, fabric culture, which I think you know, but I'll describe it for your podcast. So early on in my time in Japan, covid hit right, or the pandemic hit, and things shut down, and so in Japan that meant not necessarily a full lockdown, but it meant pretty much the only thing open were shrines and convenience stores and restaurants a little bit. So for me it meant that I lost the ability to experience the country that I thought I was moving to to experience. So temples and shrines and things became the only accessible thing that I could explore and I really enjoyed them because they're very serene. I love the architecture of them.
Speaker 2:We don't really in most cultures today make things like what you see in Japanese shrines. There's incredible woodworking and paintings and just immense attention to detail, which I very much love, and it's truly like an art form. We call it like crafts and Japanese people call it crafts, but it's art to me and in the textile culture that's also what I learned. So around that time a friend had asked hey, do you want to go to this thing? And for whatever reason at the time when they were describing, do you want to go to that thing. I zoned out and didn't hear what they said. I just said, sure, let's go. And what I ended up committing to is going out to this rural farmhouse and starting to study Japanese textiles and I learned how integral Japanese historical crafts are just to Japanese society. So, for instance, one of the things is that, a long time ago, japanese historical crafts aren't just to Japanese society. So, for instance, one of the things is that a long time ago there were samurais.
Speaker 2:Of course, a lot of people loved those in that period of time, but the local towns and communities wanted people to, of course, stop in their town on their way over to wherever they were going, stop in their town on their way over to wherever they were going. So they started trying to hone their craft, whether it be making food, making chopsticks or making textiles, whatever it was, so that they could become famous for a particular thing, and then that would attract the samurai class of people to stay over in that town and that's so interesting to stay over in that town.
Speaker 2:That's so interesting. Yeah, it's really cool and modern day. What's really cool and I feel like we don't really have this to this extent in the US is that these towns are still very much famous for those particular products, and the reason is because, long ago, there's a lot of pride in Japanese culture where this sense of I put a lot of time and effort to make this the most beautiful experience for other people or most beautiful product. In the West we might charge high prices for that, but in Japan it's basically just internal pride and internal like it's more like honor, right, it's like an honor honor, yeah that's a great way to describe it.
Speaker 2:So, um, you ended up having these towns where people started to kind of one up each other and compete against each other. Can I do this better? Can I do this better? Oh look, I achieved this higher level of craftsmanship than my neighbor then that lit a fire under their neighbor to achieve another, higher level of craftsmanship and so on.
Speaker 2:That's how you get this incredible craftsmanship all over the country, everywhere, from food to the textiles, to those things I saw in the shrines, and so on. And then, as I started learning even more about textiles, I learned even more about textiles. I learned all the different nuances about it and eventually you know. People really praised kimonos as being, of course, the cultural apparel of Japan, but I started seeing resale stores selling them for 1,000 yen, which is like 10 bucks. If we do, the exchange rate isn't the same anymore, but it's different um and a lot of people also would just discard these kimonos if there was a family heirloom or something. There's families that don't feel the connection to those um objects and it's kind of lost that um that connection it used to have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, but I, because I learned about the craftsmanship culture and they learned about how long it takes to make these things, and the thought and the care every step of the way, everywhere, from weaving the thread to actually weaving the pattern and, in some cases, dyeing it before the thread is even on the loom yeah and painting it, or gold bleaching it and then sewing it together in certain ways.
Speaker 1:That mean certain things yeah, with the different stitches, I remember like talking about all the different stitches and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, every step of the process is really truly amazing and truly an art form. So in the art of studying textiles or really honestly, just trying to make friends in the beginning, we learned a lot about Japanese culture and feel a lot more connected to the past the people who have walked the country before my time and the people that will come in the future. Because if we don't take time to preserve those crafts of Japanese culture, but really all of our cultures, there is no culture left.
Speaker 1:That's basically the basis of culture. And yeah, and I think that those also are some of the things that I want to kind of point out to people when they do travel is to to kind of try to find those things and try to to spend the time to to look for them and to understand them more, because I feel like you get a deeper understanding of the place that you're visiting right. And just that kind of touristy top layer right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it's important to try to dive into. Why is this the item that I should be buying in a particular place? How did the kimono come to be? How did the wood carving come to be? Why should I eat ramen in this particular area? What is that? Cultural significance? Because if you can do that, you can learn a lot more about the history and have such a greater appreciation for your local surroundings, and that's definitely what I gained from yeah, 100, 100, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that the other thing that I wanted to try to chat with you just a little bit, because I, um, I got addicted to these and, um, you do this snack time on your Instagram, which I just think is the best thing ever. You know, I'm a foodie, so, but I just was so cool to me like just kind of like watching you like just try things and discover things, and you'd be like I don't know what this says, I don't know what it is, but we're going to try it, let's see if it's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I thought I know I think food is such an important part of like the culture connection. Like you were talking about ramen and stuff, and I know that your apartment like you don't have like the kind of same kind of kitchen and you know the same like ways to prepare food and so like, do you think that that like just being open to trying things and all that kind of stuff has kind of helped to break down some barriers and maybe, you know, give you some different ways to connect with people there?
Speaker 2:totally I. I every time I go to a restaurant, I make connections, I make friends, basically, and the reason is because, even after studying Japanese every week for four years, I only studied like an hour and a half a week. But even after studying that much, I'm still basically illiterate. I can read some sometimes, but the biggest test is when I go to a restaurant and I'm given a menu, and if it's a more local restaurant, it probably doesn't have an English menu. So then I'm left to Google translate. But what if I don't have service, which happens a lot or what if my phone is dead or something like that? Then what do I do? So long ago I learned the hack of what is your recommendation. You know, I did it back in the US too because if you're lazy or something and you don't want to read the menu, or you're having a difficult time or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly so. I always ask that in japan because I it's a shortcut to having something good and thankfully I don't have any food issues so I can eat whatever. If you have a food issue, of course, it'd be much harder, but um, it's always a way to learn what the local people like. However, I learned that in Japan, when you ask that question, you will get whatever is the most popular dish as the answer.
Speaker 1:That's interesting Okay.
Speaker 2:So the idea is that you know, people want to curate great experiences for other people, because that's showing respect for your neighbor and so on in this culture, and so if they give you a recommendation they don't know do you like chicken, do you like beef, do you like pork, are you vegetarian, whatever? So the safest answer for them is to give you the recommendation of what the majority of people eat, because the majority of people like that. So chances are you will like that too, which is still fine for me, because I at least get a great dish that most people are happy with. But it doesn't give you that connection that I think we have.
Speaker 1:Right, it's not that like that more, it's not like that personal link that you would think like what does the wait like, what does the waiter like, what would that you order? You know, right, the waiter like what would that you order.
Speaker 2:You know right, exactly. So we always ask that with that intent. You know it's gonna happen. We're gonna find out, like, what the true local people. Yeah, so the way to find out what the true local people eat is to look at other people and be like I'm always. I'm always being that like really curious and nosy foreign person oh what's going on? And then, because of of that, I ended up making friends and then they ended up getting invested in like does she like it? What is her?
Speaker 1:response no, because they want to make sure you liked it right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so like a funny story kind of related to this that happened earlier this year was I was traveling down to Tottori, which is a really cool like desert area of Japan, but I stopped along the way in this place called Kobe, which is famous for beef and Kobe beef, and so I wanted to eat Kobe beef and so I went to this beef place and I was looking at that menu and just overwhelmed because there was every single type of cut of this beef that you could imagine and I just thought like oh, oh, I don't know what do I order? Okay, easier, like trick, right, but there's another trick you can do called omakase, which is like chef's recommendation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was gonna ask you about this because I know about omakase yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So I did that, thinking like, okay, great, they're gonna like peg some cut of meat for me awesome, they did. And when I got the, the plate, I was looking at like did I order this? I make a mistake? Like this does not look like meat, but okay. And then I realized like, oh, omakase, that's why I don't recognize it. Yeah, okay, it must be mine. So I go to try it and like, imagine these little cuts of I think it was cartilage, but plastic-looking things that are rectangles about the size of your pinky, and then they've got little X hash marks on it all the way down and it's a plate, maybe about the size of a dessert plate, or so just piles full of like 30 cuts of these things. Okay, let's go, why not?
Speaker 1:It's not what you were expecting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not what I was imagining when I ordered omakase, but whatever, sometimes you know things are good, so let's try. So I put it in my mouth and I can't break it with my front teeth, so I just move it to the back and I'm trying to break it off and my teeth just won't break it. It was almost.
Speaker 1:The scoring was supposed to make it easier to eat, maybe, I think.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure, but it was tougher than Laffy Paffy or anything taffy for him and I couldn't break it. So I just was like I guess I need to cut this into tiny pieces. So I take it out of my mouth and start trying to cut it. But the beef knife, you know, with extra searing and such, couldn't cut it.
Speaker 1:Oh my, Did you ever figure out what it was that they gave you?
Speaker 2:No, I think it was cartilage or like stomach intestine or something. But this woman next to me, she was eating. We were eating at a bar and she was eating with her two daughters and she was at the furthest seat. She leans over in English and she was eating with her two daughters. She was at the front of the seat, she leans over in English and she goes it's okay, us Japanese people don't usually like that either. You don't have to eat it.
Speaker 1:Oh I love that.
Speaker 2:I realized the whole time I was being watched by her to be like Is she going to do it? How's it going to go?
Speaker 1:She's really trying. She's really really really trying.
Speaker 2:I tried hard and I felt bad because it was the chef's special or it was the chef's prank I'm not really sure because I didn't notice them watching me, but but it could have been like oh yes, let's see how she can do this did you finally get some actual kobe beef though? By that time I was full, so I don't think I had actual Kobe beef.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I remember the other one, I know about that. You went to that special egg restaurant.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I saw that on Instagram or something like that, and it was basically an all-you-can-eat egg place, although when I got there, I was really surprised that that is only one item of the menu and obviously that's why they became famous. The rest of it is like egg-based dishes, like rice, chicken cutlets or something. So, yeah, anyways, you just order unlimited eggs and a rice bowl of different sizes, and my friend had a theory that if you didn't eat the egg white or separated the egg white, you could eat more eggs. So I did that and I think I ate was it seven or eight different?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think. I think I remember you saying like eight, but do you think that they tasted different? Because they were supposed to taste different, right?
Speaker 2:They were all different tasting, most of them. So basically the difference was the eggs were raised in different types of ways or fed different. The chickens who birthed the eggs ate different types of food. So one type of chicken ate a lot of citrus fruit, another ate a lot of citrus fruit, another ate a lot of floral foods, and it came through in the flavor profiles of the eggs. It was really interesting, yeah that's really interesting. I would recommend an egg cafe.
Speaker 1:All right, sounds great. Let me just see if there's another question. I had a couple here. I just want to see if we talked about all of these. Well, I guess I kind of talked about this, but like I know that you have traveled a little bit around, like I know you went to like Taiwan and a couple other places. Is there any other place that you had like a surprising or transformative, like cultural experience that you weren't expecting, like like it had a real impact on you?
Speaker 2:sure, when I it was a long time ago, not recently, but well, there's a couple of them actually, because I think every time you travel you probably have something that wasn't expected. It's the nature of travel. But in school I studied French and I was able to go to Europe when I was younger and my first trip without my parents was to Finland and I was on a music exchange program where I actually would live with a Finnish family in my case they were actually Russian, but living in.
Speaker 2:Finland, but it's a little bit irrelevant to what I'm going to say. So I had really only learned about European people and their habits from watching people, movies and my French class and such Excuse me. So when I arrived at the airport, the dad of the girl that was my age that I was staying with greeted me, and he greeted me with the textbook French person kiss that I had learned about in French class, and I was so shocked oh my gosh, it's real, they actually do this and what that is is like a kiss on on each cheek, but you do it three times, essentially, so three kisses, um, and I was just so shocked you know that that happened and also really excited because it was a real world example of something cool. And uh, then at that time we only had calling cards and so when I got to their house, I called my parents okay, I'm safe, and then describing those first few moments in Finland. And I told my parents okay, I'm safe, and then describing those first few moments in Finland, and I told my dad like, oh, yeah, and the dad even kissed me and dad was like what Do I need to come and take you away? It was like no, no, no, no, dad. There's like this special way that Europeans kiss. That's not American and it's a greeting and it's not like romantic at all. It's just totally okay. Yeah, it's a greeting and it's not like romantic at all. It's totally okay. Yeah, it's okay. So I think that was like a really momentous occasion for me, because I learned through a textbook but then I actually saw it in practical example. People are just people and we have different ways of showing affection and care for other people, but we're just, you know, we're slightly different, but at the end of the day, we're all human, you know, and so it's a pretty cool experience.
Speaker 2:And then the other one is also related to France, where I also was fortunate to study abroad, and I studied in the south of France and in a little tiny medieval village called Lacoste, and in that village we would host a art gallery at the end of our semester featuring all of the different things that we created, and I had taken art history class at the time, so my work was more art history blogging or blogging at the time, or travel journaling, but the local people would come and review the stuff that we had made and I was really surprised that a lot of the local people were interested in our travel journals rather than the art and the particular issues. I was there and this one farmer picked up my journal and he started flipping through it and he said, like, oh my gosh, you haven't been to my favorite place. How could you? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I didn't know either. Yes, and then he said okay, tomorrow you and your friends meet me at the goat gate, which the goat gate is where the shepherds used to leave their goats a long, long time ago, you know, before they entered into town, and I'll pick you guys up and then I'm going to bring you there, like, in hindsight, modern day. We could have maybe gotten a nap. This is maybe not the best idea, but anyways we went and he took us to all of his favorite things that day.
Speaker 2:Here's this little french man who was easily maybe my shoulder high, with a large belly, not so much hair, and he ate kind of like a chipmunk, I remember. But he brought us to his favorite boulangerie, which is a bread shop, and bought baguettes. He brought us his favorite wine shop and we brought some lime. We bought some fruit, we had a picnic, but, yeah, his favorite churches along the way, which were really old stone churches, and at the time in in I think it was in july, maybe early august there's a famous photography festival in the south of france and they use old venues like stone churches to display the artwork. So I'm just marveling at how amazing this 13, 1300, 1400 year old building is, which, to an american, is just mind-boggling yeah, we have.
Speaker 2:We have nothing that old, the european, okay, whatever, probably. But um, it was so cool to see the contrast between modern and new. Then we get to where he wanted to take us and it was this little Spanish village on the Mediterranean coast of France, or sorry, the coast of France there. And then he's like, okay, let's go swimming. And we were like we don't have to. Okay, once in a lifetime. We just all jumped in with our clothes on and then sitting there soaking wet on the coast for eating the baguettes and just enjoying time. And all of that was done with what little French I had, which is two years, high school French. It had been years since I had spoken French at that point, because this is in college and his willingness to just connect with us, even though he couldn't speak English. And it's really cool when people just have a desire to connect with other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that this happens a lot where, if you're open to it, all those boundaries and those barriers that people think exist, they just kind of melt away. You know, because we are all just people and we want to connect. And he wanted to show you all his favorite stuff and it didn't matter if you guys could speak to connect. And he wanted to show you all his favorite stuff and it didn't matter if you guys could speak to each other, he was going to show it to you, right? I think that's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was one of the most magical days I think I've ever lived. It was pretty cool and it kind of reminds me like another really really cool example is here in Japan and I had planned a trip where I was going for one particular event but in planning it I saw that, oh, if I stay just an extra day, there was another event that was fairly well known like the biggest dance festival in the region. That was happening and so, okay, you don't have to tell me twice Like I'm going to stay. That sounds great. Stay, that sounds great.
Speaker 2:And this was maybe only um. It was last year, so japan was was open. But it's a region of japan that not so many foreign people go when they visit japan, which is nigata, and nigata in august has a big festival called a mensuri and it's a dance festival. So those are usually called odori, which means to dance in japanese. Um, and the festival that they have there is basically a circuit and they close down a big street into multiple blocks and then pretty much every community organization I would say probably in that whole region comes, they dress in the uniform and then they get together in these little pods and they're all simultaneously doing the same exact dance. So imagine thousands and thousands and thousands of people, all with their organization or their work organization, different colors and groups of people, um, but all doing the same dance. So most people are not like me watching this. Most people are in it. The participant.
Speaker 1:This Most people are in it. They're participating yeah.
Speaker 2:I was one of very few people watching this and I think I don't remember seeing any other foreign person. So if there were tourists, there were other Japanese people or Asian-looking people that I can tell the difference Right. So, anyways, I'm walking the streets just being amazed at the atmosphere and whatever, and there were two groups that really stuck out to me. So I was watching this one group who was having the time of their life. They were goofing off but also doing the dance and just having so much fun. Turns out they were the local baseball team's fans. And then they turned to me and they were like hey, want a beer. And they started handing me a beer. And then they were like cheers, you know. And then they keep going down the street, but they were really sweet for doing that. So I'm sitting there drinking my beer. And then the next group I'm admiring their uniforms and then this one woman comes over to me and reaches out her hand and she's like hey, come join us.
Speaker 1:And I was like, oh OK, sure OK. I don't know the dance, but OK.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm going to mess you guys up, but like OK, and then she basically motions like, stand right next to me, copy me, and within maybe several minutes or something I basically have the gist down. And we keep doing that for maybe about 15 minutes and the event was basically almost done, so I didn't get to do it for that long. But then afterwards her whole group comes swarming over to me and starts talking to me and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there's a few people really intently looking at me and then there's a few people starting to do sign language and I thought, oh wow, there must be like a deaf person nearby. Whatever. Come to find out that this group was basically like the deaf people and their advocates um group. Oh wow, a lot of the people that I had just been dancing with were people living with deafness, and I just thought it was the coolest thing that we were all experiencing music from like a feeling standpoint and enjoying everything together. And here I had no idea until we started talking that even the lady, I believe, who had come and got me was somebody who was living with deafness, or is probably.
Speaker 2:And then they wanted to give me all kinds of gifts afterwards, so it was basically anything that they had on their body that they could give me. They gave me a fan from some local temple. A lot of times there's little towels called teneguis that are souvenirs. A lot of times there's little towels called teneguis that are souvenirs. So every participant in the Matsuri festival had one and they took it off their neck. It's a little sweaty but it's okay. It's a really sweet souvenir. Yeah, that's sweet. I love that festival for the community aspect, that the whole community was there. You know, nobody is watching Everyone's in it.
Speaker 2:And then the fact that, okay, you're a foreign person, then you're here and you have to be in our parade and the inclusion of it, right, yeah, that's incredible yeah, and then I find out from my friend afterwards who lived in that area I think of it as like a state that that area is often known for some of the most friendly people in all of Japan and part of the reason is because it gets the most snowfall from in the entire country. And so if you think about, like any time any of us go through community hardships, bad weather or whatever, it really is your neighbors pitching in to help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, band together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and so she believes that there's this inherent sense of community in that region, of we just want to include everybody, we want to help everybody, and so on. And I believe that's true based on what I witnessed and experienced that particular night. It was really, really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing and yeah, so I think that's a great place to leave it. I think that that's kind of what we should all aim for, I think you know is to make everyone feel included and comfortable, and yeah, so that's a great message and thank you again for taking the time out. It's a great message and thank you again for taking the time out. You know we had to find a time that worked you in Tokyo and me on the East Coast of the US but this was really great and it's really great to see you and talk to you, and hopefully I can catch you next time you're in Boston. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:That would be amazing, and I'm going to try and get myself over to Japan at some point.
Speaker 2:You will need a long time in Japan, maybe you should do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will. Six months' race, research or something I know right, I know Well, get all these things off the ground and I can do it. Yeah, you can do it, I have confidence. All right. Well, I think it's the start of your day.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, actually I'm going to start writing my book actually, yeah, I'm excited. Yeah, me too.