March 31: My Last Host Family

After our long day, we arrived back at the hotel in Utsunomiya to meet our host families. Three lovely women met me and took me to a small town just outside Utsunomiya called Mibu. Two of the women were part of my host family – the third was a woman named Matsuko. Matsuko is about my age, she’s 34, and came with the family since she could speak English. She lived in the US for several years – attending college in South Carolina and living and working in New York before moving back to the U.S. She was great – I really enjoyed talking and having a few drinks with her. It’s sad to think how women are viewed in Japan. We didn’t hear too much about it – since most didn’t open up to us. Matsuko is single and has some pressure from her parents to get married – it may not be anything more than many women in the U.S. see, but since I am fortunate enough to have parents that don’t bug me about marriage – it seemed like a lot of pressure. I do feel bad for some of the women – so many of the wives did so much for me during my stay in Japan – they were very kind – but I still feel like I was somehow taking advantage of them!
My host mother fixes me breakfast every morning – although I did tell her I just wanted toast and tea. It’s so much less work than having her whip up a big breakfast every day. She also has done my laundry – I need to do some more but I almost hate to ask – because she would do it for me again! My host father is an amazing doctor. He studied both in Japan and in the U.S. He used to be an anesthetist, but is now an MD specializing in pain prevention. He runs a pain clinic in Mibu and works 10 hour days 6 days a week. I hope he pays himself well!