Thanksgiving

The firm required me to be in Tokyo, so I spent another Thanksgiving in Japan.  It's a tough day to be away from home because, given that the holiday is very American by definition, it isn't acknowledged at all in Tokyo.  You go to work on Thursday and generally can't find turkey unless you have a way to get out to Costco to buy a whole bird or pre-order one from a specialty grocery.  (Thinking about this some more, there must be some restaurants in Minato-ku that put on special course menus for those that can get off work at a decent hour.)

Our office tries to help with the homesickness by having a turkey lunch catered.  I attended last year.  The food was great although it was strange picking up turkey in a conference room and eating it alone at your desk!  This year I had an offsite client meeting so I missed lunch.

Spending Thanksgiving alone helped me reflect on how lucky I've been to spend so many past Thanksgivings with my family.  I am thankful for those memories and, of course, for my good health.

Next year, I hope I'm living somewhere where I can find the ingredients for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and I can spend some time with my family.