Its now been a few days since I got back to Tokyo, and the jetlag is abating enough for me to be able to think about what it was like being back home, and my feelings about coming back here again….
Being in England was a strange experience, with everything being so familiar but somehow distant. There were some obvious things about the differences between the cultures, I’ve forgotten how to navigate around English people in crowds – the Japanese are very ordered about how they navigate en masse, they have to be (in Tokyo, at least) since the city is so crowded.
England is full of broken things, its OK to just put a notice on something and let your public move to the next one over, the Japanese would either fix it as soon as they knew it was broken, or they would remove it so as not to expose the broken-ness to the public for any length of time. Broken glass is something I don’t remember ever seeing in Tokyo, though I’m sure there must be some.
Coming back to a place where you understand the language is another strange experience, the conversations around you make sense again, you have to start being selective and filter them all out, in Tokyo I had been (and will again be) in the habit of tuning in to any conversation I understood.
I was doing alright with people until I got to Oxford – most of the people I’d seen at Whitby (and before) were people I never used to see particularly frequently anyway so it didn’t seem that odd to see them after a four month break. Then, in Oxford, I wondered if I was doing the right thing by intending to go back to Tokyo.
No, I’m too nomadic to return to Oxford. Well, I’m not going back yet – I’ll keep in touch with (some of) those I know there. Of all the places I have lived it is the one I’ve been most comfortable with.
So what do I think about returning to Tokyo? Well having been back to the UK I know I’m not going to be staying beyond the end of this contract, I need to get back to Europe or somewhere English speaking, its too far away here. But I’m quite happy about it for the moment, as long as I can manage to keep communications going, I will try to write more letters, more emails, keep in touch better. Its not easy.
Oh, and the girls here are damned cute, which has got to be a bonus. Long dark hair and perfect legs (the ones without knock-knees at least), everywhere you (I) look. Now all I need is the courage, confidence or desperation to start talking to some of them…
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