For Labor Day weekend, Dan and I flew to Gilbert, Arizona to spend a couple days with my cousin Yuko, her husband Devin, and their lovely family!
To be technical, Yuko is not exactly my cousin… she’s actually my grandfather’s uncle’s adopted son’s daughter, or something complicated like that (we always talk about it when we see each other, but we’re never quite sure), so we are not even related by blood! Â Still, she’s the closest in age to me out of all of my relatives in Japan, and we used to always play together when I’d visit Japan as a child, so we always called each other cousins and I feel so much closer to her than any of my real cousins (who are all significantly older than me by at least ten years). It’s funny because people always tell us that we look alike (we’re both pretty dark in complexion), even though we’re supposedly not blood relations! I agree that I look more like her than any of my actual cousins.
Three years older than me, Yuko has always been like the older sister I’ve always wanted. Whenever we’d visit Hiroshima, she would take me around to fun places, show me new things, and tell me such interesting stories. She was the one who taught me how to put on nail polish and shave my legs, and would give me some of the cutest clothes that she’d outgrown. We used to write to each other pretty regularly, even though we only got to see each other every few years.
Imagine my surprise when Yuko married her long-time boyfriend Devin (whom she’d met in Hiroshima) six years ago, and announced that she would be moving from Japan to Arizona! I was so excited to have her in the same country as me, and Dan and I visited her and Devin back in July of 2005, when we went on a road trip. We had a lot of fun with them, and it remains one of my fondest memories! Unfortunately, we didn’t get another chance to visit until this past weekend — I couldn’t believe that I’d let five years go by without seeing my favorite “cousin”! Since we last saw them, Devin and Yuko have had two adorable additions to their family, and I was psyched to finally get to meet their beautiful daughters!
Upon arriving in Phoenix, Yuko brought us to her house and served us a delicious homemade Japanese lunch! She then took us to the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa, which happened to have a “Jump to Japan!” exhibit going on. We were excited to find that they had Totoro there!
Afterwards, Yuko took us to Taliesin West in Scottsdale. Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and school in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. It had a very unique look to it!
In the evening, Beni’s friend was having a birthday party in Scottsdale, so we tagged along and cooled down by the pool.
The next day, Devin was able to join us for the whole day, and we went to the Phoenix Zoo in the morning, hoping to go in the cooler hours to avoid the heat.
After the zoo, Devin and Yuko treated us to some delicious local Arizona BBQ! In the evening, we went to Devin’s parents’ home and had a great time catching up with them and getting to know them better — we had met them when we visited five years ago, and they are really the most genuine and hospitable people. 🙂 We can’t wait to visit again!
It was delightful seeing Yuko and Devin again, and I loved meeting their little girls! Yuko had a lot of advice and wisdom to share, and I was really grateful for all the time we could spend together catching up and talking about all kinds of things, just like when we were kids. Hopefully we won’t let another five years pass before we see each other again! I miss her and her family already!
