Kiraboshi After Party

Last week was one of the top weekends of my time in Japan, possibly my life. There's this big dance festival in Nagoya every summer, the Domatsuri, and after watching it last year I decided I wanted to try it. I got connected with a team, and after a year practicing with them, especially the last few months when we were working on this year's dance, last weekend we did three days of performances around the city. It was amazing, no words, really.

Tonight was the after party for the group. Over the year I've grown close to many people on the team, turning it into an extended family for me. It can be hard, because my Japanese is limited and only one person on the team really speaks much English. But all the effort put into it was worth it, and no moment in the night made it clearer than when I was talking with one of the team leaders.

The week before was his birthday, and as a present from the team, all the kids and many of the adults wrote notes for him. These were put onto cans of beer which they lined up and handed to him at the beginning of the party (I should have mentioned that my team is a hard-drinking, fun group of people). I didn't know about this, so I wrote my own note and gave it to him, something about how great the year was and how thankful I am to the team for welcoming me. He teared up a bit, I teared up a bit (a few drinks had been consumed by both of us). After a moment, he took this wooden pendant he had made with the team name on it off and gave it to me. I was stunned and could't believe it. He and some others from the team had one, and I had been wanting one, but to get one this way was far beyond what I could have hoped for.

Kiraboshi, thank you for welcoming me to your family. It's been one of the most rewarding parts of my life, and I am happy knowing that it will continue and only get better.