Tokyo, Japan

It's always been both of our dreams to go to Japan together. To experience the culture, the food, and of course their world famous onsens (natural hot springs fueled by volcanic activity).

The first time I even heard about Japan was by watching an old Japanese cartoon called Anime on a VHS cassette tape. After watching just that one tape I knew I was hooked. Through the years the more anime I watched the more I wanted to learn and know about Japan and everything about it. The same way I was fascinated by Japan, Samantha also feel in love with their food and culture. Especially their food!

Every birthday her parents asked what she wanted to eat for her birthday and almost every time she would reply "Sushi!". Through the years of looking at pictures or videos of people in Kimonos or Yukatas (traditional formal clothes) and being posed in front of a cherry blossom tree or rustic wooden buildings she knew she had to go herself one day to experience it.

When we both started dating I posed a question to Samantha, "If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?". She answered, "Rome". I laughed and agreed that Italy would be fun to place to visit at some point. She responded, "Italy? I said Rome". I laughed again and reminded her Italy used to be Rome. She blushed and laughed. She responded, "Well where would you go?" I told her I have always wanted to go to Japan since I was a kid. As soon as I mentioned Japan, her eyes lit up with excitement. She exclaimed, "I've always wanted to go to Japan too!".

From there we knew one day we would both go to Japan together. What we didn’t know at that time, was that the first time we would go to Japan it would be as soulmates.