Finding “Yoyu” [Excerpt 7]

Since I rarely drive, I don’t feel super confident behind the wheel. I know I can drive if I must, but I will find any excuse to get out of it.

Living in Tokyo, even in the suburbs, I am spoiled by public transportation. With all the trains and buses, driving is unnecessary.

When I stayed with Otosan and Okasan during that summer, I let Otosan drive most of the time. He knew the country roads better than I did, and I could be an extra set of eyes if needed.

At least twice a week, we made the trek to visit Okasan in the hospital. It was a good thirty-minute drive into the nearest town, so we would buy groceries and run errands on those days, too.

Otosan is a speedster. I used to close my eyes and hold my breath as we careened around corners and made our way down the mountain from their home and into town…

Watch Excerpt #7 above from Finding “Yoyu” to learn more.

If you missed any of the excerpts, you can find the playlist here.

About the book:

A few years ago, we moved my husband’s parents from a rural part of Japan to live with us in Tokyo in our tiny 800 square foot (73 square-meter) condo. My book, Finding “Yoyu,” is about what it took to decide to move them. It’s also about navigating the Japanese health care system and finding an appropriate nursing home for my mother-in-law while helping my father-in-law transition from a lifetime of farming to retirement in the big city. It’s about how we discovered he had Alzheimer’s and my husband had stage 3 colon cancer. It’s about how I managed to support these two men and keep (or find!) my yoyu all while going through a career change.