Introducing Mum to the people who have made this year in Osaka so special

It was great to have Mum come and visit. It was her first time in Asia since a few days in Singapore about 28 years ago on the way home from a Contiki Tour in Europe, and although she wanted to see a few of the sights she also wanted to just get some insight into my life here and why I keep coming back to Japan - so I figured the best way to show her was with food and meeting some of the amazing people I have the privilege of calling friends here.

I have been really lucky that both times I have lived in Japan I have come away with an awesome "international family" as well as a whole bunch of Japanese friends. On the way home from Nara we went out to have kushikatsu for dinner with a few of them in Shinsekai - thanks for making it out guys ;) Just as with my international family from Tokyo I am looking forward to keeping in touch, and catching up somewhere in the future - be it in Japan, NZ, your home or somewhere in the middle.

As well as my international family here, my workmates have become my Japanese family, so I had them over for dinner so they could meet my Mum too (as they have met Stuart and my brothers too). Special mention has to go out to Tsuda-san (she was the person who looked after me at work until April when she went on maternity leave) and her husband Pi-chan who became like an older sister and brother to me and Nagai-san (my senior) and her husband and children who I have made a special bond with. Although I will be leaving Japan in a month I hope to keep in touch with as many of these wonderful people as I can, they have been so much more than workmates to me over the past year.

On the theme of keeping in touch, we took a train an hour north after work on the Saturday to catch up with Sanae and her new husband. Sanae stayed with us as an exchange student for 6 weeks in 1999 (after I had stayed with her family for 6 weeks in 1998) and my Mum hadn't seen her since then. Stuart and I went to her wedding in October and her first baby is due at the end of July so it was great to see her one last time before I go home.

And life in Osaka just wouldn't be the same without eating some more delicious food to give us energy for a spot of shopping. Mum and I had afternoon tea at Yogurtland, explored around Shinsaibashi and I also introduced her to the wonderful world of kaitenzushi (sushi train) - glad she liked it ;)