The sun has finally set on my time in the Land of the Rising Sun. It was a lot of fun while it lasted.
Yes, technically (or is it "literally"?) I'm writing this from back home in Canada, but I figured I should have a post for my last day in Japan. Kind of a summary of sorts.
There are many things I'm going to miss about Japan, but there are also things I'm looking forward to now that I'm gone. I'm definitely going to miss all the new people I met, but I'm looking forward to seeing old friends that I haven't seen a while here. I'm going to miss the excitement of the world's biggest city, but I'm going to enjoy sleeping through the night without being woken up by numerous sirens (knock on wood). I'm also going to miss late-night/all-night excursions to karaoke, however I'm happy that... umm... no one has to be subjected to my horrible singing voice again. Haha, that one's a bit of a stretch. Oh yeah, I'm also looking forward to being able to read a menu and order food without relying on pictures.
I guess if we're being perfectly honest here I should mention the things that I'm not going to miss about Japan. For one, I'm not going to miss the hot, humid summers and having to camp out in my living room. I'm also not going to miss the feeling of being stared at all the time. One thing I definitely won't miss is having to pretend to be a contortionist just to ride the train home at night. If there's one thing that Canada has over Japan it's personal space.
Well what next? For now, rest. ...And trying to deal with the reverse culture-shock of being back in North America. I have concentrate really hard to remember which side of the road to drive on and I'm also finding grocery shopping to be completely overwhelming! The shopping cart just seems so ridiculously huge! Haha. The stores just seem so big and there's so much selection. I have a hard time deciding what I actually want to buy. Is there such a thing as too much choice? I'm sure I'll get reaccustomed to it all soon enough. I'm already at peace with the fact that I don't have to eat Frosted Flakes anymore :)
In the New Year I'll be taking off again. The question thus far is where to? I currently have job offers in Russia and China. I really want to go to Russia but the pay and other benefits aren't as good as the job in China. In fact they're about half as good. Plus the location is China is really ideal for travel - 120km from Hong Kong, and pretty close to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand too. On the other hand, Russia would be really cool because it'd be completely different than any other place I've been so far. Dilemmas dilemmas. I guess I'll have to decide soon though - have to get that visa processing started if I wanna be off by February.
Well thank you all for joining me on my adventures in Japan. We'll see you next time in...?
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