A Short Trip Back Home

Tomahawk Restaurant, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

I've been back in Japan a bit over a week after visiting family and friends in Vancouver over Christmas and New Years. Things are more or less back to the usual now with the exception of a bit of jet lag which lasted the better part of the week (a cup of coffee wasn't enough to get me through the spells where I wanted to stay awake).

How was it being back at the old homestead? Quite good. It goes without saying I ate a lot of foods which I can't have here in Japan: homemade turkey dinner with all the fixings, North American style pizza, Greek style roast lamb, Cantonese style Chinese food (including yum-cha/dim sum goodies), Indian cuisine, the list goes on...

In a way it was like I had never left. But there was still that lingering feeling that something was amiss. I called it "reverse culture shock". I was doing a lot of things I had done in my past life in Canada but at the end of the day there wasn't a place which I could claim as being "mine", i.e.: home. Yes, I own an apartment in Vancouver but I have tenants renting it out now. Hardly the place I can turn myself in to at the end of busy day of shopping, dining and socializing.

The Tomahawk Restaurant is one place I drove by almost each day (I borrowed my mother's car) during my stay in Canada. It has been a constant throughout all my waking memory. I suppose its exterior has been cleaned up a bit every now and then but aside from that I don't think it has changed in appearance in over half a century. In a way it was a symbol of at once of being back home and yet being a stranger in a familiar place; a place both comfortable and alien at the same time. I can't quite put my finger on it but I know the feeling is real.

All in all the trip back home was a good one. There was a slight pang of sadness when I headed off on my return journey. I'll be back again...can't say when but it will happen.


Post script: Technically my B.C. driver's licence is invalid so I carried my Japanese driver's licence when I drove. It was amusing when I produced it was I.D. at a bank. The teller wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "At least the name is in English" was all she could say... (^_-)\*