Spindle: Most ponies would be spending Hearth’s Warming with their family or friends, inside the warm confines of their home. Candy canes and presents going around, the fire burning inside (if a hearth is present) or in a public square (otherwise), carols ringing through the air, kisses under mistletoe, a holiday of the very “local” kind.
 
But here we were, having to make a trip of over 6000 kilometres in winter air back to Canterlot.
 
Parcly Taxel: Hearth’s Warming is not a Japanese public holiday, yet since it comes so close to the end of the year, many shops close anyway. We cleared our rubbish from the bins provided to us by the host and set furniture back to their original positions, finalising our luggage in the process. All the stuff I had bought, and what I brought in, I could now push down…
 
Silverstream: …down the secret lift from her room to the lobby. Presents delivered, if you will. A leftover can of coffee perked her up for the long, long journey home.
 
One last ticket took her all the way to Kansai Airport, through the same stations she had (if only for a moment) fallen in love with. Train drivers swapping right in the middle of a stop, greeting each other. Elaborate plazas and shopping galleries trackside. Connections across networks, in this case from the Metro to Nankai (南海), the other railway serving KIX.
 
Spindle: Yet Osaka is a huge, huge city, full of friendship and places to explore – new ones pop up every day. No length of railways can reflect this staggering scale.
 
We did not visit Japan for its “foreign” charm. Indeed it is hardly foreign, importing culture from outside as much as it exports its own. Neither did we visit for the attractions drawing the most tourists, some of which are overloaded to the point of losing their novelty or unique beauty. No, we came to live the life of an ordinary being resident there, grappling with its challenges, relishing in its conveniences.
 
Parcly: There was a time, even before Shining and Cadance’s wedding, when Canterlot got run over in seven days by a rabid, all-conquering Japanese army. Now the Japanese are “conquering” us again in the cultural domain: we play with Pokémon and kendama, eat curry rice and so on, and we are facing this wave head-on unlike, say, Manehattanites. Regardless, partaking in this culture where we normally live cannot impart the correct context, which is why we travel.
 
Spindle: Of course, flying uses up energy for a corporeal being like Parcly, so for her last snack in Japan she had small sandwiches and milk tea from the convenience store. Not too much so as to cause stomach pain later.
 
The shorter flight to Incheon took two hours, the fourth of five long-distance flights for this holiday. Parcly had not done five on any previous trip, but she seemed to enjoy them all judging from her facial expressions.
 
Parcly: I had three hours to spend in Incheon Airport, which itself is a huge place. The inwards transit loomed quiet over me like the Everfree since I arrived centre-of-night. Here in the afternoon, this same place was bustling everywhere. For lunch I had another burger, just like I did before my initial flight, and a larger one at that.
 
At 7pm I soared into an expansive black sky, beginning a six-hour haul to the front gate of Canterlot Castle. My final thoughts about Japan floated into conscious memory at that point, concerning its future. The Reiwa era has just begun, but its population has been aging for years beforehand, and right now the elderly don’t seem to have enough resources to live out their last years in peaceful contemplation. What will be done to address this?
 
Spindle: We leave that question for the sentient creatures of Japan to answer. On our side, from about two hours into the flight Parcly noticed bright stars, far more than she was used to, pricking the otherwise impenetrable curtain of night; a wide streak of light connecting those stars then appeared. It was the Milky Way – Luna’s Hearth’s Warming present for the genie she loved to rub before bedtime, and also a teaser for the solar eclipse she was going to stage over Canterlot the next day.
 
Parcly: At 40 minutes past midnight my hooves felt solid ground again. The castle’s windows were dark, but I felt something warm inside. Something had to be there in that maze of corridors and staircases! I ran up to my room and found the fire of friendship, its violet flame nursed by Princess Luna herself.
 
“Happy Hearth’s Warming… oh wait, you were travelling all day. In that case, welcome home, sleep tight and enjoy my performance.”