Remembering Japan

I played through my audition music for two friends today.  One of them was a former friend from HPAC and had shared my first year with me in Japan.  In the past year-and-a-half she has been making a life for herself in San Diego, putting together different music-related jobs, playing, teaching, organizing.  It's very different to see people I once knew in Japan, in America.  Why is life so different?  Is it because we have more options in our native country to get involved in many different things?  Or is there something about Japan specifically?  My friend agreed, there is a weight lifted to be back.  We can communicate with other people, we can balance a life of many variables, can be closer to friends and family and feel that connection and support.  It's as though in Japan we were unformed beings and now born into America, we meet one another in another life.  On the edge of the next phase, of life after Japan, it's comforting to see the guidance of those before me that have adjusted and found places in the world.  Although everyone always seems to miss the food.