See you later, Japan 👋🏻

08.12.2019 - Airport Thoughts

It's unbelievable how quickly the last 3 months have passed... now I'm already sitting at the airport in Beijing, waiting for my flight to San Francisco 😱 (which starts 40 minutes later by the way)

During the last week of my trip, I saw a lot and the highlights were definitely Miyajima and Universal Studios, but there will be separate posts about that 😉 The fact that it felt colder every day and yesterday was a real rainy, gray autumn day already prepared me a bit for going home and made the farewell slightly easier. Although, honestly, the anticipation of San Francisco makes it easier as well 😋

All in all, Tokyo has simply surprised me positively. With the image of people over people bustling in an endless city of concrete, working around the clock, loud and crazy anime everywhere, and an apparently insurmountable language barrier, I wasn't initially enthusiastic. But what can I say? My attitude has completely changed from "it's only 3 months, I'll get through it somehow" to "oh, can't I stay a little longer?" 😅

Yes, there are a lot of people here, and especially at tourist hotspots, it often became too much for me. But at the same time, everyone is considerate, accommodating, and it's quiet (well, the Japanese, not so much the tourists). If you go a few streets further, you often find yourself alone. Or you take a train for 1-2 hours and find yourself in the middle of nature - mountains, sea views, tranquility, and the concrete jungle only a skyline on the horizon... I definitely didn't expect that, and I will miss the hikes with a subsequent visit to the onsen the most...

And yes, there is the language barrier, and even after 3 months and a few weeks of Japanese course, I only understand a few words and phrases. However, I didn't really study with much motivation because I got along very well with English in the city and in everyday life... Plus, if you're not interested in a specific piece of information, it's super relaxing to be able to completely ignore all background conversations without trying to listen and understand what's being said 😅

At first, I thought I had sooo much time to do and see all sorts of things from my Japan list, but in the end, I checked off many items, but not nearly everything. Once the excitement of September had subsided a bit and I was really settled into my daily routine, I simply didn't feel like going anywhere after work. And on weekends, I preferred to go out to nature or just to a cafe nearby rather than to other parts of Tokyo... But I do want to have something new to see when I come back 😜 Prof. K has already mentioned that he would help me again with the application for funding my postdoc, so we'll see 😅

That's why it's ja mata じゃまた ('see you later') and not sayonara ('goodbye'), because I'm definitely coming back 😉