If a foreigner stays in Japan more than five years, Japanese people start asking, "When are you going home?" This is because Japanese people can't imagine being away from their home country for so long. Sometimes Japanese people ask me, "Don't your parents miss you?" There is a feeling too that by staying in Japan so long, I have somehow abandoned my parents.

I can assure them that my parents don't feel abandoned. Western parents tend to encourage their children to go out and see the world. Gaining experience is what life is all about. Whereas many of my Japanese female students have to fight their parents to let them study abroad, Western parents support their children's desires, even when they may not agree with them. This is because to Western parents, their child's happiness comes first.

I do miss my parents and family. I miss having dinner with my parents, walking around the neighborhood afterward, and giving goodnight kisses before bed. I miss my brothers, my nieces and nephews and cousins twice removed.