Lately I have been very busy here in Japan, and so I have not had time to write so many blog posts. I have a few planned and coming up, but none to post now.
I have only about three weeks left in Japan. My airplane ticket is set for August 5th, and so I'm starting to prepare to leave already. I've started thinking about packing to return home and which things I don't have room for in my suitcase. I've also purchased parting gifts for several people here in return for their hospitality during my stay.
It's easy for me to be distracted by the present and to not think about leaving Japan very seriously, but I already know that there are many things that I will miss. Probably more things I will only be aware of when they are gone. I certainly miss my family and friends back at home, but a year is a long time to be away. I have close friends and places that feel like home to me on both sides of the world now. Wherever I go in the future I can be close some people that are meaningful to me, but must also be far away from others.
Last week I shared Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken with the kind lady who has been teaching me Japanese for the last few months. In the US it seems like this poem is universally known, but in Japan it is not. Ending my time in Japan I feel a little like the person in the poem. I'm going back to the United States but I'm not really going back. I will continue going forward and trying new things, and the places that I have been will become a part of me.
Ending my time in Japan leaves me with a long list of things I didn't get to do here, but that's okay. I hope to return to Japan in the future, maybe not to live here for too long though, and to be able to revisit old places and see new ones. I've had a good time, but I am looking forward to what is ahead.
