Itte Kimasu . . . Say What?

You may be asking yourself a few questions right about now:

• Why is your blog address so long?
• Why is your blog address different from your blog title?
• What the heck is an Itte Kimasu?

You should know that naming a blog stresses me out, and I always second guess myself. A blog name should encapsulate all that your blog is in just a few words. It has to be simple and easy to remember, while at the same time standing out as clever and unique. Unfortunately, I'm not all that clever, so I leaned toward the stereotypical and chose the Japanese phrase "Itte kimasu". Because that idea is neither unique or very clever, the blog address was of course already taken. That can't stop me from using it as my blog title however, so in the end I was able to triumph over the internet, in spite of my lack of originality or cleverness.

Itte kimasu is a ritualistic Japanese phrase (meaning it is used verbatim every time a person is in the correct circumstance to use it) that basically means "I am going out now, but I am going to come back." This would be used by a Japanese person anytime he/she was about to leave the house to run and errand, go to work or school, etc.). We often would say "bye" or "see you later" or even "I'm going now but I'll be back in about an hour." The Japanese phrase holds a certain weight to it: that you don't want to tempt fate by simply saying "goodbye". It's considered good luck to state your intention to return. 

We are moving to Misawa, Japan his summer. This is not a move that we chose for ourselves. To be honest we aren't all that happy about it. We fully intend to make the most of our situation, but that doesn't change the fact that we struggle to find peace with everything that lies ahead of us. 

After a lot of agonizing and anguish over choosing a blog title I settled on Itte Kimasu. It fit. It was perfect. My intention in creating this blog is to share our travels and experiences in Japan. So a Japanese phrase is fitting. On top of that I found comfort in the phrase. We aren't just saying goodbye to the USA and all our friends and family. We aren't just leaving everything we wanted and planned on behind. We are coming back. We are going out, but we are coming back. In the meantime, we will have as much fun and as many adventures as we possibly can.