在东京丰富的自然！

In October 2018, I spent 7 days and nights with the family of Tomoyuki in the wonderful city of Akishima in Tokyo prefecture. I am already well acquainted to the area, as my very first home stay was in Tachikawa, a city close by, which I somehow fell in love with and which I try to visit every time I am in Japan.
My home stay at Tomoyuki’s place still was more an “accident”, as the friend I wanted to visit in Kyoto became sick and couldn’t accommodate me. So when the urge to find a place in Kyoto or Osaka arose, it unfortunately turned out that there was no place for me to stay. Same in central Tokyo area … So I somehow had to find a place in a time frame of maybe four days before my plane was leaving for Japan. Tomoyuki was quick to react and immediately accepted my request, though from the beginning he told me that it was absolutely okay if I first checked if I liked the place or if I wanted to leave earlier.
As said before the area was more or less well-known to me, so I had no doubt it would be a great stay and said “no worries”.
My travel from Tachikawa station to Akishima went pretty smooth, and I had no problems to find the house. The way is easy to remember and Tomoyuki did a great job in describing it!
Tomoyuki and his family weren’t there at that time, as they had to take care of some business, but left the keys in a place we agreed upon earlier.
Surprisingly for me it turned out that I didn’t live in the families house, but had an own small apartment that was just located in the same house. The room was not all too big – at least for a big guy like me – but it was cozy and provided enough space for me and my luggage to feel comfortable. (At least I felt comfortable, can’t tell you what my luggage felt).
After the first “shock” of being completely responsible for myself, it became apparent that everything still was taken care of. I had a bed, a toilet, a kitchen niche with cooking equipment and (most important) a place to put on my laptop computer and internet connectivity.
I would like to express that this was pretty uncommon for me and I at the beginning felt a bit awkward. I mean – this was more like a holiday house, not a home stay in a common sense. It’s hard to explain and I don’t want you to get a wrong impression, but please understand that it is a different way of home-staying than you might be used to.
I am more used to taking part in a family’s life – interact, help and be helped, but in this case it felt more like living next door to each other – like … let’s say … like neighbors.
The first time I met Tomoyuki and his family in person I got quite a strong impression. All of them just radiate the energy of a heartwarming, wonderful family which you absolutely want to be part of. The boys are adorable and energetic, Tomoyuki is a great listener and a mind full of ideas and fun and his wife made the impression she was so amazed by the pure energy of the three other family members I from time to time wanted to pat her hand and explain to her that I felt the same.
In an earlier review I talked about how I felt on my very first home-staying, being afraid of breaking into an existing family and disturbing them. Well … yeah … that was exactly the feeling I had at this moment.
Normally I am a pretty straight-forward person. I immediately know if I like someone or not. In this case it was hard for me to make out a point from where I could tell how I should (and could) react to the family. I missed the interaction in the beginning pretty much, especially as there was another guest doing stuff with the family I am used to doing with a home stay family: Going somewhere together, having dinner, playing and so on. I really got the feeling of “maybe they don’t like me”?
In a short period of just a few days the building of a relation to the family accommodating you is not easiest. (And to be honest – that’s the reason I do home-staying for: Being with a family, getting some insight into the life of another culture, and maybe understanding how and why people in different countries are – or are not - different). I know: It can always be an on and off relationship before you finally find a way to connect.
In this case it took maybe three, four days for us to bond, and after that things went pretty different. We did barbecue together, went to a public bath and I did a lot of stuff with the boys (they broke my record on Duolingo trying to learn English …). But that was just a short period. Three days later I already had to leave, which at that moment hit me quite hard, as I just had found a way of interaction and started to feel comfortable.
So don’t get a wrong impression, please. This family is wonderful and heartwarming. It just maybe takes you a bit longer to really find a connection point.
The house of Tomoyuki is located maybe a 5-10 minute walk away from Higashi-Nakagami station, where the local train between Akishima and Tachikawa is stopping. The next bigger hub is Tachikawa, from where you can take different lines towards Tokyo and other hubs in the greater Tokyo area. Notice that to central Tokyo it will take you somewhere between 30 and 50 minutes, depending on the train you take.
And if you don’t want to enjoy the pulsating heart of Japans capital, you can spend your time exploring Akishima and/or Tachikawa. There are many places to see, and especially the Tachikawa Showa-Kinen-Park is a beauty in Spring, Summer and Autumn.
Maybe you just want to go down the road and meet Japanese locals? Then the suburban area around Tomoyukis house will be the perfect spot for you.
I for example met an elderly woman there. Her English was bad, my Japanese worse, so we understood each other perfectly and went to a shop near Higashi-Nakagami station, where she showed me some fruits and ingredients for Japanese cuisine.
Another day I met a former box champion (at least he told me he was a box champion) now running a gym in Akishima.
Though it was just a rather small stay, I made the acquaintance of quite a lot of people who were amazed to see a big European guy walking in the center of the suburbs trying to speak Japanese and of course they were eager to learn more about who I was and where I came from.
A wonderful experience and especially the last evening at Tomoyukis house, meeting his Father and Mother and dining with the whole family exchanging wonderful and funny stories was the final highlight to my time in Akishima.
But then again – on the next day I had to leave early on a 7-hour ride from Akishima to Fukuoka. And during that time it struck me that I, though I had felt weird in the beginning, already missed the small energetic family I left near Higashi-Nakagami station. I just didn’t have enough time around them.
Which is a perfect reason to come back one day …

Such a nice family. Cutest funniest kids too. It's hard to enumerate all the nice things they did for me, so I'll give a short list here: took me to a zen temple to meditate for two hours one morning (at the crack of dawn-ish); brought me to an old authentic unagi (eel) restaurant for a feast; invited me to floorball practice (crazy fun); introduced me to a number of other travelers, all of whom were really interesting; brought us to a sentou (communal bath house); the list goes on. But their personalities and warmth were perhaps the greatest gift. Highly highly recommended!