I seem to have forgotten to tell you something...

Have I mentioned what's happening this week? I know I've mentioned lots of goodbyes, final days and sayonara parties, buy I think I've neglected to say what I'm doing next, or at least where I'm going next. Which would seem to be a rather important detail. To me, at least. So although it seems odd to me that I've not been foaming at the mouth to tell everyone constantly, I think I know why I haven't done so. For a long while my plans have been up in the air, tempered by an air of indecision that at times has more resembled a rather suffocating plastic bag. But in the end I decided and then I became caught up in goodbyes. Not just in goodbyes to foreign friends who are leaving, but moreso in goodbyes to this town that I've grown to consider my home. I am starting to look forward to what's coming next, and will do moreso once I've finished packing up (or throwing out) the debris of current life.

Life in Katsuyama is at times like being in a 1950's dreamworld. Where everyone speaks Japanese. Unlike friends in some other towns I haven't been troubled by staring people or rude responses to my foreign-ness. Indeed, even the pensioners in my town are friendly and warm. I never thought I'd grow used to the pace of country life, but I enjoy the time that people have to chat or even share a greeting. It would be easy to suggest that this is just because I am foreigner and people are curious, and yes, I'm sure some are. But people aren't obtrusively curious. That happens in other places, but rarely here.

I remember being 4 and 5 years old and going to the shops at the end of the road with my Ma. She knew everyone she would pass in the street and she would talk to everyone at the shops, whether it was just a few quick words or catching up on something that has happened. Well, that's how life is here. If you have the time people will be friendly- this was proven to me moreso than ever when I recently used the expressway and on getting off at Ochiai, I ended up having a 20 minute conversation with the man collecting the toll fees. My new life will, I think, be very different. I will probably be able to get what I wanted when I first came to Japan- the city life, the music, the youth culture. But to be honest, I'm not sure I want these things so badly anymore. Well, I can't complain- my 2 years here have been better in many ways than I could have hoped for, but the next year depends on my attitude. I am going to a place where I already have good friends who I value and hopefully a new worklife will provide many different challenges.

Oh, I still haven't said where I'm going. I'm off to Tokyo.