Throughout the last two days at work, even though I have been pretty occupied with catching up on my very long to-do list, I randomly remember things I noticed or observed during our time in Japan. As I yawned and covered my mouth during a meeting today, I realized that on every single train ride, in the subway stations or even on the street, I never once saw anyone yawn. I’m sure it would be pretty outlandish for anyone in a white-collar work setting to yawn during a meeting the way I did, even if the person closed her mouth, as that would be perceived as very rude and disrespectful. Here, I yawn all the time and sometimes don’t even cover my mouth, whether it’s at work or in public.

I have a feeling that I will still recall tidbits of Japan for the next few weeks as I reminisce on our incredible time there and hope to go back sometime in the near future.