My memorable holiday is New Years in 1997. The reason why I remember this specific one, is because everybody in my family was there!

  New Years Day is the biggest and most important holiday in Japan. For this holiday, families try to get together even if we live in different places. We enjoy staying in our parentｹs house for at least three days. Also we celebrate with a special meal we can have only once a year.

   I have two older brothers. My oldest brother was still living in our parentｹs house. I lived just one hour away by train from there. So it was no problem to visit them for me and my oldest brother but not for my older brother.

   Because our New Years holiday is such a special holiday, it was very difficult for my older brother, who worked at travel agency, to take vacation. What made it harder was not only his work schedule but also the distance between Kyushu where he resided and Kanagawa where our parents lived. Kyushu is so far that he had to fly and  transfer several trains to go to Kanagawa.

   But If I didnｹt see him in New Years, most likely I would miss him for a whole year.
It was also right after I had my son in fall. So I really wanted to show my baby to both of my brothers before he grew up.

   When I arrived at my parentｹs house with my husband and my son on New Years Eve, only my oldest brother was there. So I thought my other brother couldnｹt make it this time. I was disappointed. But he did! His airplane was just late. We had wonderful New Years Day and "Okuizome".

   After that, I havenｹt had a chance to see him for a long time. I had no idea that I was going to move to the U.S.A. 4 years after that time. But I was really glad that he was able to come and I could introduced my son to his uncle Tetsuo.