Completely Natural!

Now, our latest homestay guest was a wonderful adult lady from Yokohama.
She was incredibly powerful, yet exceptionally thoughtful and attentive.🥰

Looking back, March and April were quite busy for us with family and friends constantly coming and going.
In March, our eldest son moved back into our family home🧑. Then at the end of March, our second son who got married moved out to their new place💑. We also welcomed my mother to celebrate her 90th birthday👩‍🦳, and the baby budgies we brought home in January fell ill, so we were busy taking them to the vet.🐦..

After that hectic whirlwind of March and April, a guest finally came to stay with us just before the Golden Week holidays. She was around the same age as my eldest daughter and works as a video translator. While she can read and write English well, she wanted to practice her speaking skills, which was her main goal for this stay.

Since she came alone without children, it turned into a lively, youthful kind of homestay. By pure coincidence during her stay, our second son and his wife visited, and our third son returned from Australia! She blended right into our big family gathering so effortlessly, and we all had a wonderful, chatty time together!

We can't always recreate the exact same experience for every guest, but it really is all about perfect timing!

Oh, and by the way—we received a huge bounty of bamboo shoots from an acquaintance this year! We peeled, boiled, and prepped them together. Trying our best to make use of them all, I cooked them in every way imaginable. We had more bamboo shoots than we could possibly eat! We were so incredibly grateful. 🥰

She is also a huge fan of history and dinosaurs. Together, we visited the four historical museums in the castle town, as well as dinosaur-related parks and museums. And something amazing happened when we went to the "Tamba Ryu no Sato Park" (Tamba Dinosaur Park)! While we were talking to a staff at the fossil excavation site, she gave us a thrilling piece of information: the exact person who originally discovered the Tamba Dinosaur fossils happened to be visiting right then!!
Of course, an opportunity like this is extremely rare. Blessed with this "chance connection," we rushed straight over to meet him. Though many years had passed since the photos taken at the time of the discovery and he had grown older, he was more than happy to share his vivid memories of that day with us.

Just like that, her stay was truly blessed with all kinds of wonderful, serendipitous encounters. Before leaving, she wrote us a beautiful review. In fact, she wrote it the night before her departure, making it the fastest review we've ever received!
Her feelings touched me so deeply that I found myself tearing up while reading it. I hope her words touch the hearts of everyone reading this, too.

Here is her review: 👇👇👇

I am writing this the night before my departure because parting is just too hard. This is a "letter" disguised as a review. I write this so that the warmth I felt can reach "you"—the person who might visit this place in the future—exactly as it is.

I am a 35-year-old woman, traveling alone. Having just quit the company where I worked for 10 years, I came here with a slightly greedy expectation: hoping to meet someone new, and if possible, to immerse myself in English.

My journey actually began with the "postcards" that arrived on my smartphone. During our communication before my arrival, Yoko-san sent me photos of the local scenery. With each picture, I could feel the tension in my stiff heart slowly melting away.

When I finally arrived, the place was exactly as those photos had promised. Nestled within the peaceful countryside were greenhouse and vegetable gardens, the scent of herbs, chickens, and budgies. Every form of "living" was breathing here; the space was overflowing with a beautiful gradation of diverse lives. But what surprised me most was the "sense of distance." It wasn't just my hosts, John and Yoko, but also their grown children and their partners! Before I knew it, I found myself welcomed into a lively ensemble of about 10 people.

Everyone was so frank, and instantly, the distance between us became "zero." It felt as though I had been a character in this story from the very beginning—so natural, so warm.

I realized that the word "dive in" on their hosting page didn't just mean diving into the land or the experiences; it meant diving into the "relationships" woven right here.

The hours spent talking deeply with John and Yoko late into the night are unforgettable.

Wrapped in their profound kindness, I found myself completely leaning on them. During those hours, I spilled the deepest parts of my heart—things I had never imagined sharing with anyone before—letting them slip out piece by piece.

The only reason I could bare my soul like that was because the gaze they fixed upon me was endlessly gentle.

And what I learned is that this isn't just a "homestay"—it is a "community stay."

Every single person I met in Sasayama was so endearingly warm. It felt as if the land itself was wrapping its arms around me in a tight embrace.

Tomorrow, I will leave this place. Once I am far away, I know I won't be able to put this overwhelming, bittersweet sorrow into words.

That is why, in the deep of the night with my departure looming, I am softly writing this, so that these emotions can crystallize into an "unforgettable memory" that will never fade.

Thank you to John, Yoko, and everyone who crossed paths with me.

I pray that this magical time will gently shower down upon "you," too, when you someday find your way here.