Ume blossom season in kairakuen, Mito, Ibarocky

This banana tastes a lot like cake.

Another Ibaraki #throwback karaoke party

And this time I was accompanied on the Hitachi express by none other than Gbro, a fellow Ibaraki ALT-alumni. Oh the good old days in the inaka.

What ensued? The same old nonsense.  Causing a fuss in Mito station as a 10 man strong drunken gaijin posse, Lawson onigiri fails, nomihoudai chugging, peace sign selfies with a random group of university students you met for 5 minutes but have somehow already got their Line account details, belting out the same karaoke classics in all their glory, cross dressing, Neil Young harmonica solos and of course a taxi ride to a Chinese restaurant in daikomachi from the Duck at 3 in the morning. Actually, I decided to skip that part in favour of passing out on Daniel's couch. Quite right old girl.

The bath house partyyy

A party at an abandoned sento in Komae  (or an 'about-to-be-demolished' sento), which got shut down early by the incredibly polite police. It wasn't the police involvement which annoyed me, because plans to move elsewhere were already in place, it was that my favourite indie-brit-pop inspired Japanese band "The Fin." were told they would be arrested if they played...and deciding not to fight for the music and be sensible...so they didn't play.

My reviews:

Melt-banana: im not sure on the exact genre but you could call them experimental noise punk...or something . Not really my thing but definitely very wild Japanese alternative music and a worthwhile experience.

Hikashu: bloody fantastic.  Frank zappa vibe..fun dance music, would 100% see again...probably gonna track them down and become obsessed by them from now on.

Boy age: totally rubbish.

This was followed by gyoza and a nomihoudai shisha party in a Shimokita basement bar.

The power of goodbye

Moving to tokyo had been my dream for a long time and I'm really glad that I did it.

I came here with a lot of positive energy in September and was lucky to find myself in an instantly great situation.

I got a good job which has calmed a lot of anxiety I had about my ability to start a career. Of course I don't know how well I may or may not be doing, and I'm not sure where this will take me, but I'm glad I found something stable and interesting outside the field of English-language teaching for the time being. Also, I had a few friends in Tokyo and a good sense of the city already, so it wasn't daunting.

But somehow things don't feel right.

There is a true pain which comes when your friends leave. This is something I have been experiencing slowly the entire time I've been here which, when it hits you enough times, can make Japan seem like more and more of a transient place. This leads me to question my decision to continue sticking around.

At first when good friends started leaving, I was sad to see them go, but felt that I wasn't affected so greatly. Now, after saying goodbye so many times, I'm starting to feel really saddened by it.

The last few weeks, I've felt nostalgic, lonely and lost.

What's the point of forming such great friendships with people you are unlikely to see again after they leave Japan?
A naturally pessimistic question. Almost as relevant as "what's the point of it all anyway?".

This is just a phase. I know. I have been homesick before and I can get over it again. How much longer will I be in Japan? I'm not sure, but something tells me I won't be here forever.

Special mention to the big goodbyes:
Hana
Dyar
Cage
Tiffani
Riley
Elle
Jelle
Daleth*
Vince*
JJ*

*leaving in the next few weeks. I'm already feeling it.

Day trip to Nagano