After a successful interview and rigorous vetting process, I was selected to be one of nine individuals who earned the right to represent New Orleans on our trip to Japan. During the process, I found out that we’d be visiting a city called “Matsue” in Japan during our trip for approximately 10 days. At the time, I knew very little about Matsue outside of the fact that it has a sister city relationship with New Orleans and that it was a smaller town—so much so that an average Japanese person can’t easily place it. In the lead up to the trip, I was confronted and conflicted about the reality of visiting Japan. Over the years, I had obsessed about what visiting Japan would be like, from the places I’d go, things I’d see and do, to the horses I’d eat—it’s a thing there. In other ways, I was nervous that the “Japan” I’d built up in my head and come to love vicariously through stories from my Japanese friends would be so radically different in reality that I’d leave Japan feeling disappointed and lost.