Elena leaves Komazawa

At the end of October, Elena and her family had to leave the Komazawa apartment that had been her home until now. Goodbye Komazawa . . .








Elena also said goodbye to all the friends we made over the last year, like the people at the local grocer, the butcher, the fish shop, and all the ladies at tozanmai, Yuko's pottery school.










Elena even said goodbye to the local burger stand:






















We said goodbye to everyone at our favorite izakaya, Hirono. We'd already taken Elena there so much that she had gotten just as used to the izakaya as any other room in our house. They had a going away party for us on their day off, which happened to be our last day in our apartment.





It was sad to say goodbye to all the friends in our little community that we had made over the last 4 years, and we realized how lucky we had been to have settled in such a warm, welcoming neighborhood in Tokyo. We'll be back someday!