I’m at Narita airport, waiting for my plane to take me back to Seattle. Somehow, one year of my life has passed by in the blink of an eye.
I can’t remember how long I’ve just assumed I’d live in Japan one day. It seems like something I’ve always planned on doing. This country has been in my conscious since a very early age, when I’d hear stories from my grandparents of their lives here in the early 20th century. I grew up having scraps of Japanese culture, language and cuisine weaving a cord between me and an exotic country across the sea.
My first visit to Japan was in 1981, when I was 13 years old. Nortoriously unadventurous at that time when it came to food, I suvived on rice, seaweed and two trips to McDonalds. Despite my lack of culinary adventure, the trip left a huge impression on me and I’ve wanted to return every since.
And now here I am at the end of a year of my life lived in Japan. Despite being excited about returning to the States to see family and friends, I have mixed feelings about leaving after only one year. It seems too short a time, really, to come to any fair conclusions as to what type of place Japan really is.
And as I write this, I’m having trouble coming up with anything like a neat summary of my time and of my experiences here. My mind is kind of mush now after three weeks of being uprooted — traveling, as well as leaving one life behind and returning to another I haven’t occupied for a year.
So, no deep thoughts at this point. Only a mention that I know I’ll be back one day.
Mike, I m a little sad for you but you are so lucky too to find again the path of one of your previous lives. For a few weeks now, I have been constently amazed at how close we are. Often, reading your posts will make me feel like I wrote them, this is really weird. I was in Korea almost when you went there too and all of it felt so weird. Anyway, good luck for what s next and I hope to meet you one day.
take care.
I wish I could experience just a fraction of what you have over there. I know I will someday, hopefully within the next few years, but that doesn’t keep me from feeling jealous now.
Hey Mike, just wanna let you know what a joyful jolt of escapism your blog has been. I lived in Japan until I was 5 and also feel a strong connection to the place even now that I’m the ripe old age of 36. I hope you’ll keep the blog up; the photos are fantastic, and I look at them a lot!
I felt the same sense of melancholy when I left Japan; a dream fulfilled is the loss of that dream. Now what?
Looking forward to the unfolding of your new dreams…
sad to see you go; hopefully this forum for your thoughts and photos won’t go. best of luck back home, and we’ll always keep the noren out for you here.