It was our last day of our trip. I woke up at 6 a.m. and enjoyed a nice and hot bath. I was planning to have the curry at our favorite café for lunch, but they only open at 11:30 a.m., and we could not make it.

We left the mansion around 11 a.m. and headed to the airport limousine bus stop. The weather report showed 100% rain, but I prayed to hold on the rain until we get on the bus. The spirits listened my wish. The sky was full of clouds but it was not raining. We walked about 10 minutes to the bus stop without rain. Once we got on the bus and the bus started, it started raining hard. It was amazing that the spirits always take care of us and protect us.

Our 2 flights departed and arrived on time. We safely came back home. I had a good sleep in my own bed at my own house in America.

My day started by taking out the garbage at the trash station. It was our last trash day of this trip.

While my daughter was still sleeping, I walked to the orthopedics clinic. Last night while I was receiving a massage, the massage therapist strongly suggested me to go see a doctor and have the diagnosis of my back and the right foot pain. She introduced me to one orthopedics doctor whom most of her clients recommend and the clinic was just a 5-minute walk from my mansion. This clinic accepts the reception of the patients at 8 a.m. in the morning. I received a number 5, that means I was the fifth patient to registered for the evening. Then the nurse told me to come back to the clinic at 5 p.m.    

In the early afternoon, while we were walking the downtown shopping area, we found a kimono store. There the elderly couple was the store owner. With the wife’s support, we purchased a set of yukatas, which was our last shopping items. We were glad that we could purchase yukata at the last minute of our trip.

At 5 p.m. in the evening, I went back to the clinic by myself. I had an MRI test for the very first time in my life. I thought the MRI was just 3 minutes or so, but the nurse told me I have to lay down inside the MRI equipment for 20 minutes. I felt scared inside the MRI dome. While I was inside, I shed lots of tears. I prayed to my family spirits with me, so they did. I felt their existence to calm me down and supported me.

With the MRI’s detailed results, the doctor told me that I can rest assured and that my spines are all fine. He was thoughtful and nice to me. He said he had the same experience as I had with the severe pain from sciatica when he was in his 30s, but he naturally healed just like I did. Since then, he has not had sciatica anymore. All his encouragements and diagnoses cheered me up and made me feel relieved. Even though I paid the full amount for the doctor’s visit without the health insurance, all the payment was not expensive at all, compared with the medical fee in America. I appreciate the massage therapist to suggest me to go see this doctor. And I appreciate my daughter for her support to go see this doctor as well.

In the evening, we went to the lymph massage. This was our third time to have a massage from the same massage therapist. The massage therapist was very nice and kind, and good at massage. During reconvening massage, I was snoring that I could hear my snoring by myself while sleeping. 

In the morning, we went to the DYI store which has become my daughter’s favorite store. While we were walking down the shopping street, she found a dress shop where they had lots of her favorite designed clothing. She purchased several dresses, blouses, and skirts.

In the evening, we went to the planetarium and watched the show of western horoscope.

We woke up early and went to the hot spring close to our mansion. I mistakenly chose the wrong shuttle bus and arrived at a wrong destination, so that we needed to take a taxi to the hot spring facility. Other than that, the hot spiring experience itself was great. There were not many visitors there and we took out time to enjoy the natural hot spring.

Our departure day is coming closer. I brought one of my suitcase to the closest shipping office and sent it to the airport.

My day started from taking out garbage to the trash station in front of the building.

We went to the Himeji castle. It was a request from my daughter. I have been to there three or four times while I was single. I don’t have any good memories going there. But this time, going there with my daughter rewrote my memory to a good one. Even though we had to walk a long distance and my feet hurt, I enjoyed being there with my daughter.

My day started taking out 2 different types of trash: plastic trash and can/bottle trash.

My cough and throat were calming down, and my daughter slept in to recover from food poisoning.  

We went to the hot spring facility that was still new to this area. They had a free shuttle bus from the station. It only takes 5 minutes ride from the station to the facility. If I didn’t have a pain in my foot, I could have walked from our mansion.

It was a very nice place. We loved their hot spring. We had lunch at the facility and loved their food too.

At night, we watched the movie Kokuho at the theater. Even though it was a long movie of 3 hours, both of us were into the story and amazed at every beautiful scene. We definitely enjoyed the movie. And, both of our health condition got full recovered.

I woke up feeling sick. My throat was swollen and painful, and I could not say a word. I heavily cough with phlegm that made me tough to normally breath.  

I had an appointment with the one person whom I had met in zoom app and exchange some conversation via emails, but I never met her in person and wanted to visit her at her office.

I should have listened to my body. I was feeling sick and I should have asked her to let me cancel the appointment. It was a strong urge to stop me to go to her office for some reasons but as a Japanese, I could not cancel it and forced myself to keep my word.

Her office was located 40 minutes away from my mansion. We needed to take a train to get there. I was reluctant to go there for some reasons.

When we got out from the train, it was now my daughter’s turn to feel sick. While in the train, she started having a severe pain in the stomach. It seemed to be food poisoning. Right after we got out from the train, we entered to a bathroom in a store where she tried to throw up, but in vain. There too, I should have listened to my daughter’s body and cancel the appointment. But I couldn’t do so and went ahead to her office.

To be honest, I greatly regretted that I didn’t cancel the appointment. I made an appointment with her to give us a make-up lesson. I asked her if she charges us for the lesson, but she never answered. I thought she would do it for free as friends. She mentioned she would give us a  German thermal bath therapy for free of charge. We both were looking forward to it. However, everything didn’t turn out well. She was doing MLM type of business and sells make-up products. We expected to learn the technique to put on a makeup but she advertised us the products she sells. During the lesson, I had tough time to breath and my daughter needed to lay down on a chair because of the extreme tummy ache. Both of us were not ready to listen to advertising any unwanted makeup products. And, we were charged the high fee for the makeup lesson. She also added the fee of the German thermal bath, which I politely declined to pay though. I really didn’t feel comfortable. I fully regretted that I should have listened to the strong signs from my body and my daughter’s body.

After we came back to our hometown, both of our health got much better. It was a powerful lesson that I should have listened from now on.

My day started to taking out the garbage bag to the trash station in front of the mansion.

We had lunch at the hotel that I still had enough points to pay it off.

In the afternoon, we went to the Japanese garden. When we got out from the subway, it started sprinkling. We walked the Japanese garden in the rain. It was good in a way because there were no other tourists other than us. We found a rest area where there were some benches and roof to take shelter from the rain. From the bench, we enjoyed the sound of water fall with the gentle raining sound.  

I didn’t have any plan for today, because we were originally planning to stay one night in Wakayama. It was like a surprise gift for us to spend all day without any plan.

We decided to visit the herb garden in the northern mountain area. We took a cable car to get there. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery from the top of the mountain and the gardens and flowers. I am scared of heights and felt too scared to see the view from the cable car, but my daughter enjoyed the scenery from the cable car.