These past two weeks, I was with the five-year-olds and three-year-olds. The five-year-olds were way more relaxed than the four-year-olds, which was refreshing. It was crazy to think that just a few weeks prior, they were the four-year-olds who would tire me out. I had a lot of fun with them. I have a strong connection with a student with Down Syndrome. It was great to see her again. There was a moment this week when I was communicating with the vice principal, and Google Translate did not work, but I could understand her well enough to respond in Japanese. The staff was so excited, and honestly, I was too. My communication is improving! 

There is a new student in the five-year-old class. She recently transitioned from their academy for disabled children, so she is having some difficulty adjusting to the school’s routines and expectations. She does not get overstimulated easily, but she has difficulty processing verbal instructions. She is very tactile, sensory seeking, so patting her arm repeatedly or swaying while she sits on my lap helps keep her calm. She has the sweetest laugh when something excites her. I could tell she was most likely autistic, and that was confirmed by the teachers. The attitudes about autism here are different from what I am used to. The teachers treat it as a very sad burden, which it can be, but Americans usually have a more nuanced and well-rounded view of autism, from my personal experience. For example, many teachers were shocked that my sister has a job and a driver’s license despite being autistic, whereas in the United States, that is not usually as surprising. Since the teachers have seen how well I work with the kids with disabilities, they have put me with them more frequently. I don’t mind, I have been working with people with disabilities almost my whole life, so I am comfortable with that responsibility. I have also been given the responsibility of helping the kids who have trouble falling asleep at naptime fall asleep. I am usually able to get them sleeping, and it makes me feel very accomplished.

The school hired a magician to come and entertain the children one day. It was a very cute performance that the kids were extremely excited to see. All morning, the kids kept reminding me about the magic show. The show was great, I could tell how he did many of the tricks, but there were a few at the end that I have no clue how he did them. 

I did music therapy with the two-year-olds. They are so adorable! Many of them were curious about my guitar, so I gave them all turns to strum at the end of my session. I was impressed with how well they followed my instructions. Typically, children of this age group need extra assistance, so I was prepared for that, but they understood everything very well. They followed all my movements during the instrument play without needing verbal instruction to do so. They loved using the egg shakers. They loved my modified freeze dance and thought it was so funny when we were all frozen. They even did great listening to my lyrical cues in a movement song to catch what movement they needed to do. When I did music therapy with the three-year-olds they sang very loudly and were great at identifying their colors!

After I finished music therapy with the three-year-olds the five-year-olds came into the gym and the teachers told me not to go anywhere. One of the teachers went to the piano and began to play “Happy Birthday!” All the children and staff sang to me and gave me a little crown. It was so incredibly sweet that I started tearing up! Over the weekend I had a great birthday! My host family took me to a wonderful local Italian restaurant. My friend Emma told me that when I get back she is going to pay for us to go skydiving as my birthday present! That was the most exciting gift I could ever ask for! It gives me a really big bucket list task to look forward to when I am back in America!

I got a day off from volunteering because Naoko (my program director) wanted to take me out to do a cultural experience in Japan. She took me to an old onsen in an old castle that is owned by her friend. It had the most stunning mountain views! It was relaxing and full of history. It is hard to describe how it felt, but being immersed in another culture like this is an incredible feeling. Naoko told me all the nice things the nursery school staff had told her. According to Naoko, they told her that they love having me and appreciate the initiative I take in the classrooms to help the teachers. They also told her that they are incredibly impressed with my music therapy sessions and how professional I am. They were even worried I was overworking myself on the music therapy plans because of how well they have been going! It was incredibly flattering to hear that and reassured me of the difference and impact I am making. The staff even told Naoko they are considering hiring a music therapist to come to the school after I am gone! Which is exactly the goal of my work here! After the onsen, Naoko took me to meet a music therapist her husband met at a conference. She did not know much about him or his work, so she was a bit nervous. I got to observe two of his sessions, and they were incredible!! He is amazingly talented and everything I was taught in college. I got to ask him questions in between the sessions and learned that he is one of the pioneers of music therapy in Japan! He is one of the founders of Japan’s music therapy association! I was stunned and amazed. Naoko had no idea either! What an incredible opportunity that came about as the result of many coincidences lining up in perfect timing. It shows God’s faithfulness and was, yet again, more reassurance that this is where God wants me to be. The next day after volunteering I went to my friend Megan’s apartment since she was hosting an event. We all ate taco rice and played a new board game. I had a great time!

My friend Hiro took me to a Toyohashi baseball game. It was super fun! The crowd was very excited throughout the entire game. I liked watching them play. They were not MLB-level players, but it turned out to be an exciting game. Toyohashi won as well!! Hiro and I got to know each other a lot better, and despite being so different, we relate on a lot as well. It is nice to have a friend. Over the weekend, my sister and I played video games like we used to when I was at my internship. I also hopped on a call with Emma and Allie for crochet club, but I forgot to buy yarn. It was still fun, though! It was nice and relaxing. I have been taking my weekends slowly and trying to be present.

These past two weeks, I was with the four-year-olds. The kids have gotten to know me since I have been here for three months. It is exciting to see my impact on the children. They recognize me at school and in public, get excited when they see me, run up to me for hugs and high fives, and get sad when I leave the school or can’t play with them. It can get hard with all the kids wanting time with me, I wish I could duplicate myself so every kid can have fun without debating who gets to play with me. One day, when we took the kids on a walk to a park, I taught a few kids how to swing. Some of them were trying to pump their legs, but the swing wasn’t moving or pumping opposite to how they should be. I got on a free swing, taught the kids how to do it, and then helped them. Two more kids now know how to swing independently! I was so proud of them!

I have been getting mistaken for a Brazilian more frequently. Many Brazilian immigrant parents at the nursery school see me and ask if I am also Brazilian. I get mixed reactions when I tell them I am American, but it is interesting how often people assume I am from Brazil. 

Despite only being with the four-year-olds, I did music therapy with both the three and four-year-old classes. The three-year-olds were so cute! I brought musical activities to promote socialization and listening. Listening skills are where they need the most growth. They can follow directions and nonverbal cues beautifully. However, listening carefully for specific cues is more difficult. 

I have started making myself chicken onigiri for lunch. The recipe is inspired by my favorite recipe back home, making my lunches so much tastier. On Wednesday, after volunteering, I was picked up by a friend I met at the park on Easter weekend. He took me to his friend’s grandmother’s house for a barbecue. There was another American there, so I had someone to talk to and understand the conversation. The food was incredible! After eating, I brought out my guitar and sang “Country Roads.” It was an enjoyable time. I have been talking much more on the phone with my best friend Emma. She has been great to help me get through the heartbreak of being broken up with. She has even started sending me a daily Pinterest post with an inspirational message to go with it. In my free time, I have been doing everything possible to care for myself. Prayer, feeling my feelings, calling loved ones, exercising, as well as letting myself veg out with snacks and video games. 

I finished my itinerary for my trip to South Korea and packed as much fun stuff as I could into my schedule. Even though I had to go alone, all the activities I planned got me very excited for my trip. The day I flew to Korea was nice, except customs confused me, and I got stressed. Thankfully, some employees helped me kindly. My hotel was awesome, and it had an amazing view of the street it was on. The location was incredible, right in the middle of street markets, cafes, and arcades. My first night there I was waiting in line for a restaurant, and the family in frot of me kindly offered to let me eat with them. It was a husband and wife with the wife’s mother. The couple was in Seoul from California and told me how they immigrated to the United States when they were both young. They have four kids, two of whom are incredibly talented creatives. I was able to tell them all about music therapy and what I do in Japan. They ended up paying for my meal and wishing me God’s blessings and prayers. It was incredibly sweet and an experience that is so unique. It was an experience I wouldn’t expect to have in the United States. Normally, I would be wary of strangers, but Seoul is one of the safest cities in the world! I felt very comfortable. I will miss that when I come home, both Japan and South Korea are incredibly safe countries. The next day I got up early because I had a reservation to rent a hanbok: a traditional Korean dress often worn by royalty. I felt sooo pretty, and the best part was that if you where a hanbok to Gyeonbukgung palace, you get in for free! I spent the entire morning at the palace before going to Bukchon village. I met many Japanese tourists there and was able to hold entire conversations in Japanese! I got many compliments from the Japanese people I met. After returning my hanbok, I had a very delicious lunch! South Korean fried chicken with sweet potatoes. Oh my goodness… おいし！After a food coma nap, I ended the day at N tower. The views were beautiful! Even though I went to bed late, I still managed to wake up before my alarm the next morning. I had a delicious bagel from a cafe near my hotel called Onjisim. It was one of the few cafes open since most do not open until 10 am! The culture in Seoul is so nightlife-based that even coffee shops don’t open early. I went outside of Seoul to go to a spa called “Cimer”. It was amazing, they had multiple floors of pools, experiences, snack bars, and saunas. They even had two waterslides! I started my day at the spa with a massage, then I hit all the pools and slides, and ended my time with the saunas. After I got back to my hotel, I walked down to the night market. I ate a bunch of Korean street food and explored the shops and booths for last-minute souvenirs. Flying home went incredibly smoothly. I had such a blast in South Korea! I am so grateful I got that opportunity, and now my visa is all good for the rest of my trip in Japan! It was also nice to go shortly after my breakup. It was a great time and helped me feel better. I have moved into a new phase of the healing process, and I am proud of myself for how well I have been taking this and how healthily I have been processing it. The following weekend, after coming back from South Korea, I gave myself some music therapy in the park by doing some songwriting.

I have been with the new five- and four-year-olds for two weeks. All the kids are in new classes now. Everyone moved up a grade; that was a surprise! There are new babies in the baby class as well! They are so precious! Since this was my first week back since being sick, I was still in recovery. I had headaches almost every day, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. The five-year-olds found some handbells while I was with them. We sang Do-Re-Me from The Sound of Music and taught the kids the different hand signals for each note. They loved it! Another fun activity I participated in was a relay race with the five-year-olds. They needed me to even out the teams. The girl I passed my baton to was the fastest kid there. I was so impressed! One of the five-year-olds is fluent in English! I am not sure why; she told me her parents speak it at home, but she doesn’t know how they know English. Even though I was able to use more English, my Japanese is still something I am working on and improving. I had a broken, but understandable, conversation with one of the five-year-olds during lunch one day. It was cool to have a kid that I could communicate with easily. I have learned that my Apple Watch can be a translator, so I have started using it to understand simple words that I hear repeated by the children. We took the kids on a field trip to the park. This is not unusual, but it’s always a surprise what work we go to because it’s different each time. The one we went to this time was a far walk. It had me reflecting on how American schools don’t have this same luxury. Not only due to the lack of pedestrian streets, but also because many big elementary schools are on a large plot of land, and it would take 10 minutes just to walk from the entrance to the school to the sidewalk to go anywhere. The four-year-old class I was with had many students I had not interacted with before. In early childhood fashion, many of the new kids were testing their limits with me and how they could play with me. I had a little difficulty with some children climbing on me and similar behaviors because I did not have a good and consistent way to communicate boundaries with them. Thankfully, after a slight learning curve, I have figured out how to set boundaries with them. Now that everyone is familiar with who I am, the classes get sad when I have to leave and swarm me for high-fives and hugs. It is bittersweet because I am happy I have made a good impression, but it is sad to see them sad to see me leave. 

Music therapy was extra fun this time! I introduced a new game with the five-year-olds. It targets their divided attention and listening skills. I lined them up into two lines and placed an egg shaker between all of them. Then we all started singing the Japanese version of head-shoulders-knees-toes with the motions. The catch was that if I replaced a lyric with the word “shaker,” they had to reach for the shaker in front of them. The first person ot catch it won that round. It also helped the kids work on teamwork, because the kids who got out got to cheer on their competitor. After the first two rounds, the teachers wanted to join in too! The four-year-olds had an absolute blast with freeze dance! They have even started requesting it, they had so much fun. We worked on their colors in English and Japanese, which was needed. They have made progress, though, and that is exactly what music therapy is for!

I have started eating my lunch in the park near the nursery school since the weather has been so nice. Now that I’ve started, I can’t stop! It’s such a beautiful park, and it’s so peaceful eating there every day. It gives me a nice chance to clear my head and relax. Since the park is a public setting, I can call my friends on my lunch break! I talked to my besties Emma and Allie to catch up, and it was great. 

One day, on my way home, it was raining very hard. On my walk, I passed a mother with her young daughter. The daughter’s umbrella popped inside out, and it made the young girl laugh so hard. Her laughter was so contagious! It was nice that something so simple made a nice moment with some strangers, especially something that would normally be a bother. Children help show me the whimsy in life. 

My host brother Souta bought a goldfish. I am not sure where the fish is in the house. I have not seen it since he bought it. It seemed like the whole family was excited when we went to pick it out, so I am sure it is well taken care of! Hinata got a new game for the DS. It’s a game I recommended she play, and now she plays it all the time!! It makes me wish I had brought my DS, but I did not want to overpack, so I only brought my Nintendo Switch. Since it was Easter season over the weekend, I decided to fast for half of the day on Friday and then study the scriptures in the park on Saturday. While I was at the park, I met two guys who requested to take a video of me giving some kind words to their friends who are getting married. They showed me their project, and they had all kinds of people wishing their friends happiness, mostly foreigners. They asked me because they figured I was a Brazilian, but when I walked by them, I smiled, and that let them know I was an American. Smiling at strangers is an American giveaway. I ended up hanging out with them. It was nice to feel like I had some friends in Toyohashi, especially since one of them was fluent in English. On Easter Sunday, my (now-ex) boyfriend and I went on a break. It made it incredibly difficult for me to concentrate the following week. However, I pushed through it, and the kids at the nursery helped keep my mind off it. Then, the following Saturday, I was broken up with. It is gut-wrenching going through this in another country. However, it is showing me how strong I am. Although it makes it more challenging, it has not hindered my ability to show up and do volunteer work for the kids. The day after getting dumped, I went to Ghibli Park. I had bought my ticket months ago, and I was not going to let a man ruin my plans. I ended up having a great time! I made a new friend that I met through an English speakers group chat I am a part of. I had an extra ticket, so she used it. We both had a wonderful time and have a lot in common. We both love The Secret World of Arrietty. I bought so many souvenirs as well, and I cannot wait to decorate my place in America with my souvenirs.

It is that time of year when kids are moving on to their new grade. These last two weeks started with the five-year-olds graduating. Monday was their last day, so I did a music therapy session with them to celebrate. We did multiple rounds of freeze dance to songs that are popular amongst their group, egg shaker games, and singing. They had lots of fun, and each got to stand up and make music for their peers. Sadly, it was the last time I would see this group of kiddos, but I know they will be successful kindergarteners! I was with the four-year-olds on Tuesday, Wednesday, and on Thursday I was with the three-year-olds. It was a typical week with them. I got Friday off due to the graduation ceremony for the five-year-olds. 

The school was in transition because the five-year-olds graduated and only came on Monday. The commotion of the teachers preparing for the new school year made my role a little less structured than it typically is. 

Since I will need to renew my visa in May, I am going to South Korea during Golden Week. I booked my flights to and from Seoul and filled out my customs declaration form to get back into Japan more smoothly. It was difficult to find the links to fill out my customs declaration, and I still need to see if there is anything I need to do to make Korea’s customs smoother. Hopefully, I will be fully prepared and have an easy transition through customs. 

I went on a picnic in Nagoya with my American friend Megan. She invited me, as well as other English speakers, to join her on a picnic in a beautiful park in Nagoya! There were food trucks, TONS of people, and the sakura was blooming. I had a blast and met some wonderful people I would love to see again. I connected with an American girl that I have a lot in common with, and one of the guys was into art and made a beautiful painting of the grand gazebo we were sitting by. My food was delicious, I got a taco and loaded fries! 

The next day, Kyoko took me to her salon to give me highlights and a haircut. She did wonderfully, and I loved how it turned out. Unfortunately, I threw up in the middle of the appointment! I did not think much of it, I assumed I had eaten something bad. As the day went on, I felt worse and worse. This led to a trip to the ER. We were worried I had appendicitis. Thankfully, I was clear of appendicitis, but I was very sick with my fever spiking at 102. Kyoko was a wonderful host mom through my sickness, though. She took great care of me and helped me not be afraid. It is a scary experience being so sick in a foreign country. If I had an illness that required more serious action, I would have been terrified of medical malpractice since I did not have the language to speak up for myself. All the glory to God that I was not that sick, but on the downside, I was bedridden for an entire week. In hindsight, I was extra tired and in a slump the week leading up to being sick. Maybe it was a warning sign, or maybe it was just the chaos of the school being in transition. Either way, being sick was miserable, but I recovered and am back in action as I am writing this. I experienced my first bout of homesickness while being sick. I missed my American comfort foods, my family, and my cushy bed and parents’ couch that reclines all the way back. I think it was just because I was sick that I felt this homesickness, since I was bedridden, bored, and lonely with very few foods I was able to keep down. Thankfully, by Saturday, I felt well enough to try to get back to my normal routine. It wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t want to be sick anymore.

These past two weeks I was with the babies, and then back to the five-year-olds. Babies are precious. Many are walking, but a couple can only take a few steps before falling over. They have the most contagious smiles. Babies are one of my therapeutic strengths, and it is always fun to observe their developmental state. I can see how they are processing the nursery they are in, cause and effect, and the different stages each child is in. The five-year-olds seem so big after being with the infants! They are fun, though! I got to play a lot of games with them. They taught me new card games like speed and old maid. I taught them how to shuffle. Well, I taught some of them how to shuffle, and some of them had difficulty figuring it out, but that’s okay. They also liked playing dodgeball with me. They play dodgeball differently here than I am used to. They only used one ball, and if you got hit, you got sent to the out-of-bounds zone behind the other team. You need to get everybody on the opposite team into your out-of-bounds zone to win. However, being out of bounds does not mean you are out of the game. If a ball goes out of bounds, a player on the out-of-bounds team has to get the ball, and they can try to get someone who is still in, out (why they have to be on the side of the opposite team). If they successfully get someone from the opposite team out, they can go back into their team’s square. I hope I explained that well; it’s hard without a visual aid. I also got to play jump rope with the kids, which was super fun! One little girl got over 100 jumps in! I played with them so much that the children began to pick up on English phrases like “Nice catch!” One five-year-old asked me to put my signature on one of her drawings after I came back from a lunch break. Although I found it a little odd, I signed her picture. After I did that, everybody suddenly wanted my autograph. I told the teacher I felt famous. Now, there are a large number of five-year-olds in Toyohashi that have my autograph. I got to practice my hiragana with the kids, and I helped them practice their English characters. I even got to show them the difference between cursive and print. During some downtime, I taught the five-year-olds how to play ninja. It was the best worst decision I made because the kids loved it. They loved it so much that it was the only thing we played for the rest of the day… we had two hours left. They all ganged up on me as well. It was funny seeing how excited they got when they got me out, but they did not even care about playing until there was a winner. Once I got out, they all took it as a collective win. I am glad they enjoyed the game. 

Music therapy with the babies was a huge success. The week was cut short due to the closed nursery, so I did my session earlier in the week. I did a lot of fine motor activities, encouraging the babies to follow instructions and manipulate their fingers. I did a counting song with visuals on my iPad for them to count. I let each baby try strumming on my guitar for sensory integration. I also did the adapted freeze dance. There was one baby girl in particular that hit a specific pose every time I froze. I was impressed because it appeared the infants understood the cues better than the one-year-old class. The teachers enjoyed the session and were so impressed that they specifically requested I do a session for them again the following week! The week I was with the five-year-olds, I went to a different facility for music therapy. The facility I went to was for children with various disabilities. The property the nursery school is located on has other facilities dedicated to other groups. I was not sure what to expect in terms of age and abilities, so I prepared a lot of activities. Fortunately, I was able to use many of the interventions I used with the babies’ group for the disability group. The group consisted mostly of infants and toddlers and were accompanied by their parents. It went great! I felt very professional being able to adapt so quickly and still have a successful session. I hope I get to do more sessions at this facility. After my session, I was unexpectedly asked to do another session that week with the babies at the nursery school. Even though it was short notice, I am a professional and said yes. It was another successful session. I added some new activities I had not done with them before, like egg shaker songs. 

After my session at the alternate facility, at the end of my day, I was preparing to walk home when Nobu and Souta showed up! They yelled at me from their car and asked if I wanted to get crepes with them on the way home. It was a delightful surprise that I graciously accepted! There is a local crepe place owned by my host family’s friends, so we go there relatively regularly. I can’t complain because the crepes are delicious! Later that day, I showed my host brother the game Nintendo Switch Sports. He has a Nintendo Switch, but he doesn’t have that game. I knew he would love it, and he did. He said, “One more round,” about eight times. I let him borrow my Switch to keep playing while I got ready for bed. He was very grateful. 

I traveled to Nagoya the week that the nursery was closed on Thursday and Friday. Stepping into Nagoya felt like a 2000s movie scene where the main character gets out of the taxi in the big city for the first time. I walked out of the subway station and was greeted by tall city buildings and huge streets. It was a stark contrast from my little town of Toyohashi. I went to Nagoya to see a friend from Belmont who was working as a missionary. She was holding an event at her apartment for young adults who speak English. It was so refreshing being around people who speak my native language! I had a blast and made some friends I hope to keep for a long time! We played Jackbox, ate taco rice and brownies, and got to know each other. Fortunately for me, Megan (my Belmont friend) let me spend the night at her apartment since my journey back would take so long. The following morning, she took me to brunch, and it was the most delicious breakfast I have had since arriving here. My host mom is wonderful at cooking, but this food was exquisite. I will put a picture in so you can see what I ate. On my way back to Toyohashi, I met a kind man who asked me about my motion sickness goggles (In English!). I was able to tell him that I was living in Toyohashi and why in Japanese! He was only visiting the town to go to a museum, but he was curious about my funny goggles. The following weekend, I went to Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo with my host sister. Since the Shinkansen is so expensive, we took a bus company. It took us about 6 hours to get there and then 7 hours to get back. On the way back, we went on an overnight sleeper bus, which was a rougher sleep than on the plane ride here. Sanrio Puroland was very cute, though. I got to take cute pictures and get cute merchandise I am going to cherish for a long time. 

I ended up going to the doctor because my fingers had gotten itchy, dry, and flakey, amongst other things. I have never had eczema before, but that is what the doctor thinks I might have. It does run in my family. The appointment and medications were shockingly cheap, and I applied for an insurance claim as well. It was just hard to believe how affordable it was before insurance. However, I learned that the Japanese people have extremely high taxes to lower the cost of healthcare.

These past two weeks, I have been with the two-year-olds and one-year-olds. Both ages were super adorable. The only real downside of transitioning to these younger ages is the reality of bathroom accidents, increased amounts of crying, and getting sick. I did not let it scare me, though; this is nothing I have not seen before. One two-year-old particularly liked me, and one of the teachers taught him how to say “I love you” in English. After he learned that, he would run over to me, say “I love you!” and then run away again. It was precious. Because these age groups take a nap after lunch, the teachers allowed me to visit other classes during the nap. The first class I revisited was the three-year-olds. They were VERY excited that I briefly came to play with them and made me into a human tower. The teachers are incredibly friendly. I have felt appreciated here, and many of them practice their English with me and help with my Japanese.

There was an earthquake drill when I was with the two-year-old class. It was similar to the U.S. in that the children got under their tables to shield their heads. What made it different was that every teacher was supplied with a helmet (including me), and their job was to make sure no kids exposed their head or neck from under the tables. The one-year-olds were precious. During my time with them, there was an assembly, and a lady did a puppet show. The show was cute, and I was able to understand the gist of it. However, during the puppet show, our jobs were more chaos control, ensuring the one-year-olds didn’t run off or become too fussy. 

Music therapy with both age groups went great! The two-year-olds did have challenges with attention skills. However, the room they had me do the session in was the gym, so the children associate that room with being able to run around like crazy. Other than that, they loved playing with the scarves and shakers. I translated finger play songs into Japanese to target fine motor skills and adjusted the hello song to fit their developmental stage. With the one-year-olds, I tried an age-appropriate freeze dance song. They decently grasped it and thought it was hilarious when I froze. 

I got interviewed for the newspaper this week. My host grandma from my previous post was interviewed for her work hosting foreigners, and learned about what I am doing in Japan and wanted to interview me too! He came by the nursery, observed my session with the two-year-olds, and asked questions. I do not know when the article will be published, but I am excited to see it. It made me feel important! 

These past two weeks were the first time I started getting complimented on my Japanese. That was very exciting because it means I am improving, AND it’s noticeable!

Over the weekend, my host family took me to the arcade. It was so cheap! Every game and claw machine, no matter what, was only 100 yen. That is only 66 cents in USD. I had a blast for less than $10. I also called my friends and family a lot to talk. That was nice. I usually call my loved ones regularly, but the time spent talking was higher than normal over this weekend, and it was rejuvenating. The following weekend, I went to experience a Japanese festival! This festival was to worship and pray to a god of fertility. Many people were there despite it raining the entire time. There were many themes of wishing people luck in having children and hopes for their children’s futures. I went with an English student of Naoko’s. It was nice of her to find someone to go with me. The festival ended up being so much fun! I ate great food; there were so many food stalls! It ended with a huge parade in honor of the god. I also got souvenirs for me and my friends! I love being able to experience local Japanese culture.

Since my last post, Japan has started to feel like another home. I have never lived anywhere for an extremely long time, so I am used to adjusting to new places as my temporary home. I thought it would be much harder to do that in a different country, living with a host family I didn’t know before coming here, but after the initial culture shock and nerves, I settled right in. My volunteering schedule has gotten into a nice groove. I work with a different age group every week, get to know them, plan for a music therapy session with them, and then at the end of the week we do a large group music therapy session. It has been a comforting routine because it allows me to take a few days to prepare for my sessions. Extra session planning time is needed here because I have to translate my entire session which turns into me outlining a script and then practicing how to communicate and sing in the Japanese language so that it is seamless during the actual session. 

I was with the four and three-year-olds for the past two weeks. The four-year-olds enjoyed playing with me. They seemed interested in just observing me as a person. I almost felt like a foreign creature. They were rowdy at one point so I decided that encouraging them to color with me would help give me time to catch my breath. What ended up happening was that I colored while the kids watched and handed me colored pencils they thought I might want. It was hilarious. Some did end up coloring and giving me their artwork as a very sweet gift. The three-year-olds were very rambunctious. I was constantly on my toes. They were fascinated with my hair and played with it every day, which I did not mind! One three-year-old even spoke English! The week I was with the four-year-olds the school was playing “shop”. Each classroom was a different store and sold various goods that were crafted by all the classes. Each class took turns being a shop and being a shopper. They had little paper money and would exchange it for the fun crafts made by the other children. It was adorable. The store goods included pretend lollipops and candy, spinning top toys made out of paper plates and bottle caps, superhero capes made out of old fabric, and paper headbands with popular Japanese characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachu. The school did an intruder drill that same week. It scared the crap out of me! Instead of just announcing that there was an intruder, they had a teacher dress up as an intruder and run into the classrooms while screaming. The teachers had to quickly push her out of the room and lock the doors while all of the children instinctively hid under their desks. I was standing there after that jumpscare and like a character in a sitcom I slowly made my way to the floor to match the actions of everybody else. It was quite hilarious.

My first music therapy sessions were a huge hit! I was honestly quite impressed with how well the children were able to follow instructions despite my broken Japanese and their age group. From my observation, Japan does a great job of introducing structure and behavioral expectations to children starting at just one year old. Not that the school is strict or harsh with the children, but it’s small actions that add up that make a difference, such as switching their shoes as soon as they come into the building and helping to serve lunch. Getting back to music therapy though, the children had a great time singing, playing with rhythm sticks, egg shakers and scarves, and dancing. I translated my songs into Japanese and had a script to follow to maximize the outcome for the children. I used a song to ask them questions about the day, month, and season which they understood and responded with enthusiasm. I worked on nonverbal communication through the rhythm sticks, encouraging them to follow my movements despite not speaking or singing, and encouraged them to interact with their peers (safely of course). The scarves allowed them to have some free dance time, but it was also used to work on receptive communication because they had to listen to the guitar for their dance cues. I also translated and memorized the hokey pokey in Japanese to work on coordination and learning left vs right. That was a fun challenge! It was beautiful watching how the power of the music transcended language in places where I needed it to. The joy of the children was contagious and the staff was truly grateful and impressed with my work. I missed working with groups of children. The four-year-old class was so grateful for me spending the week with them and doing music therapy that they made me the cutest thank you sign. It meant the world to me. 

I went to Okazaki for the weekend and stayed with a different host family. It almost felt like going to grandma’s house. I left the home with siblings and busy schedules and went to a house where the kids are grown and have moved out. I got spoiled and fed more food than I could eat, and then I went home at the end of the weekend. My temporary host mom (or host grandma) was very very sweet and an excellent cook. I taught her husband how to play gin rummy with their Ohio State playing cards they got from a previous host child. The reason I stayed out of town for the weekend was that Naoko had invited me to see a pottery exhibition for a previous United Planet volunteer who ended up moving to Japan to pursue pottery. He was very kind, it was nice to talk to an American. The exhibition was in Tokoname so I got to explore the area. It was very cute, definitely a hidden gem. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold that day. Before I left Tokoname, my host grandma took me to the mall. I didn’t do much shopping and spent under $10, but I had a great time. They had an entire store of only gacha machines. I walked through the entire store before deciding which machine I was going to try my luck with. I ended up getting a little cat dressed in a pineapple! The following weekend I went to see my host brother, Souta, play basketball. He was the smallest one on the team, but he did great. Life here moves slowly. It is causing me to be more present and relaxed. I do not know what is making life feel like this, but I appreciate the slowness.

This post is going to be weird. I adore my host family’s bathrooms! Their toilet seat is heated! The toilet has an entire control panel on the wall with three different bidet settings, all with different strengths. You can also adjust the heat of the bidet water and toilet seat. I also have enjoyed the Japanese style of bathing. They have a shower room with a tub. Unlike American bathrooms where you stand in the tub with the shower head above you, Japanese shower rooms have two-level hooks for the shower head next to the tub with a mirror. They let the tub fill and heat up while doing other tasks. You know when the tub is ready because a panel in the kitchen plays a cute song to alert you the tub is full and ready at 40 degrees Celsius. They keep the tub covered during the shower so nothing gets in. You shower first and ensure you are squeaky clean, and once you are clean you soak in the bath. Because the water heats itself and continues to heat up so that it doesn’t get cold, and everybody gets in clean, a single bathtub of water is shared between the entire family. It is very relaxing, like a hot tub but without the chlorine. I greatly enjoy this arrangement, but I know some Americans feel uncomfortable sharing bathwater with others. If you are an American who is uncomfortable sharing bathwater, do not go to an onsen/the hot springs if you visit Japan.

After over 24 hours of traveling, I was exhausted, to say the least. I started strong because I do genuinely enjoy flying and traveling. However, things got more difficult after my second flight. Out of my four total flights, my third one was the one that left the United States and landed in Tokyo. I had called ahead to get a window seat, but unfortunately, I ended up in the aisle in the middle column of seats. Thankfully, nobody was in the middle seat next to me, so that was nice. Although I slept for 8 hours on the 14-hour flight, it was not consecutive, so I felt delirious at the end of the flight. Once I was in Japan, I felt gross and just wanted to freshen up, but I had to brave customs. Customs was overwhelming and confusing. I got through it, and thankfully, the TSA after customs was very cheerful and kind. Once I found my gate, I could freshen up in the bathroom and get some Japanese 7-Eleven before boarding my final flight. 

After finishing my fourth and final flight, I was able to drag my two suitcases, guitar, and backpack to the start of my life in Japan. I took the train from the airport to Higashi Okazaki, where I met with my program director, Naoko. On my way there I struggled with all my luggage during a train change; a nice boy helped me and even spoke English. He was shocked to hear that I was going to be living in Toyohashi for 6 months since it’s such a “small town.” 

After lunch, I was finally able to meet my host family. My hosts are the sweetest people and have made the transition to living here so much easier. They gave me my own bedroom with a traditional-style sleeping mat on the floor. It was a tad hard at first, but I have become accustomed to it, and now I enjoy the comfort of my bed.  I brought gifts from the United States for my host family, and they loved them. They put their “Nashville” magnet on their fridge, Hinata wore her crocheted bag I gave her, Souta loved learning how to shuffle and play “Spit” with the card deck I gave him, and the goo-goo clusters were gone so quickly. Hinata has become a great friend. She has been helping me with my Japanese while I help her with her English, and we have become close as we do so many things together. 

The town I am living in is small compared to the surrounding cities in Aichi. This area is not used to Americans, so I have received mixed reactions from locals. When I am alone, I tend to see more confusion because of my presence and difficulties since I am still learning how to communicate in Japanese. However, when I go out with my host family, and they can help me and explain to people what I am doing in Toyohashi, I usually receive praise and excitement. One of my first meals at a restaurant here I had ordered chicken and was eating it with my hands. I was not supposed to do that because a waitress rushed over, waving her hands signaling me to stop, pointed to the chopsticks, and asked“Fork? Fork?” I apologized, grabbed some chopsticks, and showed her that I knew how to use them before she walked away. It had me a bit overwhelmed, but my program director told me it was nothing to worry about. Now I know! It was difficult my first week to settle into the culture, but now that I am in week 2 and have a rhythm, it has become much more comfortable. One thing Kelly told me when she was helping me find a country to go to was how important it is to go to a country you are excited about even if you are passionate about your project because if your project has challenges, being in a country you love can help balance that out. She was so right! I am so thankful she helped me come to the country I am excited about because I have already felt that to be true with small challenges like buying groceries alone and having trouble communicating at the register. 

After a week to settle in, I started my volunteer work. The first two days were challenging because of the language barrier. I just wanted them to know that I am trying my best to learn Japanese and that I care about their language, but I was unsure if that came across. By day three, I was feeling much better. The kids are so much fun and seem to like me. Right now, I am acclimating to the nursery school and getting to know each classroom. Music therapy starts on Friday!

During my second weekend here, I took a trip out to Okazaki to give a presentation on music therapy at Naoko’s Global Cafe. The turnout was great, and my presentation went very well. I was able to go in-depth about what music therapy is, and with Naoko to help translate and the effort I put into making sure I had both English and Japanese on my presentation slides, the message was able to get across to everyone in attendance. I received so many questions and lots of excitement about music therapy. It was great to be able to talk to everybody about it. 

All this does not even scratch the surface of all the experiences I have had so far, but I am getting exhausted from writing about all this. I am sure my next blog posts will be a bit lighter. I just needed to pack a lot into my initial experience getting here and being here. If you read the whole thing, thank you for making it here!

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” Proverbs 19:21 ESV

I am so excited to be in Japan! I have been making the preparations since my internship ended right before Christmas. There was a lot to do and it kept me busy until now, and I am so relieved that it is done! There were so many moving parts. Nothing difficult per se, just detail-oriented. I needed to make sure I got each detail correct. I also took my music therapist board certification exam. I passed! Now I am an official music therapist! Packing gave me some perspective I was not expecting. I realized how much I need to get by and what I use daily. It helped me see how many luxuries I have in my life. In a way it has made me very grateful for the few items I am bringing that have deep importance to me. I still have a lot of stuff though because I had to bring all my music therapy resources. I did my best to also make sure I dedicated plenty of time to my family and friends before I left. Saying goodbye is hard, but everybody around me has been so supportive and I will see them all again! I made sure to get my fill of dirty bird fries from Hattie B’s since I won’t be able to eat them for a while. The First Art Museum in Nashville had an exhibit all about Japan in January and I went with my friends to get a taste of what is to come. I made sure to savor the comforts of familiarity before it got lost in a new environment. I love change and thrive when I get to experience everything fresh and new, but I wanted to make sure I did not forget to appreciate the luxuries of being home before letting my excitement run wild. 

I am looking forward to a gentle start to my project. Since I will be in Japan for 6 months, my program director decided to let me have the first week to acclimate to Japan, get to know my host family, and set up meetings with the school teachers I will be working with to find a plan for my schedule and the use of music therapy. I appreciate Naoko allowing me that time to adjust. Everybody I have talked to while preparing for this trip has been so kind! I am excited to meet them and work with them in person. As nervous as I am about my Japanese skills, I am very excited to be immersed in the language and learn it better! I am excited to meet my host family and get to know them better. They have a boston terrier! I love dogs so that makes me excited. I do have one friend who is working in Japan as a missionary. I am excited to see her and have somebody who can support me spiritually and as a friend. I can’t wait to walk around Toyohashi and go to seven eleven! I hear the seven elevens in Japan are way better than the US! I am excited to try the ramen and Wagyu beef and enjoy all the food and drinks I will have in Japan!

Here’s to a safe flight and happy travels! “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord…” Joshua 29:11