Despite what I wrote and planned yesterday, it appears I will not be visiting Japan this coming April.

After a little more deliberation and discussion, Reiko and I have decided to continue forward with our original plan to visit my family in Ontario during the Golden Week holiday (April 29th - May 6th).  This will work out pretty good for my family as they’re all expecting to see Reiko in a few weeks, and we’ll hopefully get to see Niagara Falls.

I am curious to know how Reiko will react to my family, and vice-versa.  I’m sure that some of my sisters will get along great with Reiko, and I know my parents will really like her.  The only area I’m a bit concerned with is the cultural differences between Reiko’s family and mine.  I don’t think anything will cause anyone discomfort, but since I’ve observed and studied asian culture (especially Japanese) for the last ten years, I tend to miss what others would find distasteful or subtly offensive.

I’m sure we’ll all have a great time, though.

One of the unfortunate things about this trip will be the short amount of time that Reiko and I will have at each place.  We’ll only get to spend about two and a half days in Ontario, and two days in Vancouver.  The rest of the time, Reiko will be stuck at an airport waiting for her flights.  If I had the opportunity, I would send her a Japanese PDA running Windows Mobile2003 so that she could play Jawbreaker while killing time.

It’s amazing how addictive that game can be :sad: