The Journey to Arrival at Penn State

It’s been two weeks since I left Haneda, and I’ve made the most of my plane ticket by stopping here and there.

San Francisco, Gardena,
Los Angeles, San Jose
for one week

Around the time my father went to work in the Arafura Sea, north of Australia, when he was 16, people of the same age were crossing over to the U.S. West Coast. More than 50 years have passed since then.
Mr. Aozasa in San Francisco and Mr. Nakachi in Los Angeles, along with the second-generation Japanese Americans. About 30 members of the Wakayama Prefectural Association warmly welcomed me and treated me to a dreamlike hospitality.
“We came to America with nothing but the clothes on our backs. You’ve graduated from college and are even studying abroad. How wonderful! How happy I am!” Mr. Nakachi said, shedding tears of joy.

Denver, Sioux Falls, St. Paul
for one week

I was able to visit thanks to an introduction from Mr. Glen Swanson, a missionary from my hometown of Shingu.
I savored the American nature and rural scenery. A two-hour drive from Denver, I encountered heavy snow in Estes Park.
Iin Sioux Falls, I gazed at the endless fields of the Midwest; and in St. Paul, I observed the devout lives of the Swedish-American community...

(Click here for snapshots)

…………

This concludes this report.
Starting at the end of this month, I’m planning a cross-country trip across the U.S. for about a month. It looks like the three of us who met at Penn State will be loading a tent into the car.

Please look forward to the next report.

Part4 Reading (3:15) on
Total reading time 32:39
(first 2 months into study abroad):