The Beginning of the End

Well, it's all over now. It's been over for quite a few days. On Sunday we left Japan and we won't be able to return to finish up the rest of our year. It's Friday morning now and I'm still suffering from jet lag. I keep waking up at 11 or 12 no matter how late I try to go to bed, only been getting 5-6 hours of sleep the past week due to waking up anxious and worried about this entire mess. Our bad luck just won't seem to stop even though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something will turn our way soon.

I'm rather sad to have left. I got so used to my Tokyo lifestyle and I just loved living there. It is so hard for me to leave and try to re-adjust to an American one. I miss everything already. The convenience stores, the convenience of Tokyo in general, the arcades, the way people don't get into your business, the fact that food comes to you within five minutes, the signs reading in Japanese, getting to hear Japanese all of the time... There is just so much.

Plus there are so many things I regret not buying before I left. For example, another pack of my lashes and Dolly Wink liquid eyeliner. I did not realize that I had only ONE left eyelash left and three right eyelashes. Unfortunately all of the stores in Narita airport only had Dolly Wink eyelashes instead of my Diamond ones. They also only had the pencil liners for Dolly Wink rather than liquid. It would be really nice if there was a Japanese grocery store here in Boston. There used to be one but I'm pretty sure they have been closed down. Also, I really regret not buying a few more tights before I left Japan. You know, the warm ones that allows you to get away with wearing shorts and skirts in the winter. I have no idea where I could possibly get those here. At the very least I have one, my WC ones.

I guess that this means that this blog will come to a close soon. However there's still some pictures I have left to post up, so I'll still post a few more times before I close it. I also need to write about my hectic last few days. Beyond this blog though, I think I will probably re-start up my Ameba blog (though I write that in Japanese). I am not sure if I will start up another blog in English yet.

In any case, here are some pictures of the road leading to Nerima, which is about ten minutes from where I was living. I took these a few days before the earthquake.

Traffic signs. It was cool that they were in both Japanese and English.

An underpass.

A different angle of the underpass.

Crosswalk sign.

The Bamiyan Chinese restaurant, a sister of our much frequented Cafe Gusto. I wish we had had a chance to go one last time.

A nearby pet store. However, it is unique in that it also doubles as a cat and dog cafe and triples as a karaoke bar where you can have your own private karaoke box or party with the animals. Is this not a perfect way to establish a relationship with an animal you're thinking about purchasing or what? I wish we had had a chance to go just for the experience.

Momotarou sushi restaurant. I always thought the sign was cute.