sayonara Nihon

a short walk in the sand
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After returning from our amazing trip in Kyoto we knew that the next six weeks, our last in Japan, would fly by at supersonic speed. We were caught up in a whirlwind of packing, goodbye parties, ‘last time’ moments and general busyness. I could go on and on about our final weeks of life in Japan, writing pages about what we were thinking and the vast range of emotions and highs and lows. However, I’ll try and keep this entry brief and will instead let the photos do most of the talking (something I’m guessing a load of you wish I did more… I know I have a tendency to write a little more than is needed sometimes…).

table tennis tourny
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Packing up two years of life and memories into a couple of bags and a few boxes is not an easy thing to do, we struggled immensely (mainly due to our procrastinating nature), but we got there in the end. For the final month or so we pretty much gave up trying to keep our apartment ‘neat and tidy’ and instead resorted to chucking things into piles; the ‘going to England’ pile, the ‘back to NZ’ pile, ‘giveaway stuff’, ‘stuff staying for the next guy’, and, of course the massive ‘throwaway’ pile – I hate to think of how much money we spent on random junk at the 100 yen store over our two years! (...haha, that reminds me of my brilliant plan to start whittling wood and the tools I bought…. yeah, that never really took off…one day!)

we knew that the next six weeks, our last in Japan, would fly by at supersonic speed

Karen's tt kids
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While my days at school slowed down to involve very little actual teaching time,I found that I was still kept busy with other projects, trying to cancel all the utilities and other things I had signed up to over the past two years, and trying to spend as much time as possible hanging out with the awesome students I like to think of more as my friends.

There has definitely been no shortage of parties to attend and most of which as a ‘guest of honour’. If it wasn’t a farewell party it was a birthday, or just a party for party’s sake. Each time a farewell was said the reality of leaving so soon would kick in just that little bit more. I think though of all the goodbye parties we had, saying “sayonara” to the young kids we taught once a week at home, and a few extra special Japanese friends was the hardest. That’s not to say that we won’t miss our awesome western friends, believe me, we will. It’s just that for so many of the Japanese people we said bye to we honestly probably won’t ever see most of them again, and that makes me sad.

3rd Annual Pirate Regatta
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We’ve been blessed with such amazing friends, and to have lived in a town with such kind, generous warm people, but then again, if you speak with anyone who has lived in Japan they will probably tell you the same thing. I’m convinced it wasn’t just the area, it was the whole country. Japan has blown every high pre-expectation I ever had right out of the water. As good as I hoped my experience to be prior to leaving, it was been a hundred times that. I have learnt so much in Japan and enjoyed so many uniquely Japanese experiences. I love the cities, the towns the mountains, the rice fields, the festivals, the onsens, the beaches, the ski fields, the vending machines, the food, the people and most importantly the memories for Karen and myself, as Japan has been our first home together. We will always think back fondly to our twenty four months of magical memories in Takeo, Japan. And I know both of us are eagerly await the day when we go back to being enchanted by the delicate beauty of Japan once again.