Sayonara Japan!
Looks like I’ll be leaving Sapporo and Japan on August 15th.
I’ve lived in this country for the past nine years and I’ve decided that it’s time to move on. I have mixed feelings about leaving but I think I’ve maxed my time in Japan.
My original intentions were to stay for a year or two. I never imagined that I would stay this long.
I wonder exactly what I accomplished by staying so long in Japan.
The work that I did was enjoyable and I do feel I got lucky with the company that I worked for. I had the opportunity to meet hundreds of people at the job (I’d say the number is well over a thousand) and I could learn many things from this. I had to deal with shy, introverted, extroverted, rich, young, selfish, eccentric and extremely intelligent people on a daily basis. These experiences taught me a lot about the culture and the way of thinking of the people in Japan.
I had a good time traveling in Japan. When I tell people where I’ve visited in Japan, many say that I’ve seen more of Japan than them. These people might be a tad modest. Every vacation in Japan was thoroughly enjoyable and I had a great time hunting for jazz related bars/clubs where I could connect instantly with the workers/clientele. Then there was that small izakaya in Nagasaki where I talked for several hours with the owner and regular customers or the ride I got to the bus station from the worker at a local museum in Iwanai. There are countless stories of the generosity of the people that I met in Japan.
I still remember taking a vacation to Nara seven years ago and being amazed at the temples and shrines. Todai-ji (the largest wooden structure in the world) was spectacular.
Nagasaki is a great city. There were lots of places to visit and I got a taste of history since the city was the only port open to foreigners for a couple of centuries. Then there was the grim A-bomb museum. Sad but it’s a place that everyone should visit to understand what exactly happened.
I went to Tokyo a couple of months ago and I could understand how hectic things can be in the capital. Crowds everywhere. The nightlife and amount of culture that can be absorbed is unlimited.
The list goes on for all the great places that I visited in Japan.
Another reason for staying so long was the amount of support that I got from the people around me. I had to work with many people from all over the world. Some were young and inexperienced (like me in the beginning) but then there were people with goals and purposes in life. I learned a lot from the people that I worked with over the years.
Booze and lots of booze also made Japan a fun place for me.
The first bar was called Rapa-Kankan. The owner, Tomonari Ozeki, treated me well and he spoke very good English due to the fact that he lived in New York for twenty years. I got lucky finding this place. Alone in Sapporo, I was walking around the downtown area with nowhere to go. One night I happened to hear the sound of a sax blasting away from the second floor of a building. The following night, I walked around hoping to find the place again (my bearings of the city weren’t that great at that time) and after walking around many alleys I found the place again. I went there every night for about a month and that was the beginning of my fascination for finding good bars where I could chat with all sorts of people.
I love the area that I live in Sapporo -- North 24. I found a jazz bar there and became friends with a lot of the regular customers there. The owner was a guy I could trust and rely on and he was always willing to help me out and give advice on any kind of situation. I was able to meet other people and my world got slightly bigger from going to this bar. I could also see and hear some of the best jazz musicians in the country at this bar.
It’s going to be tough leaving Japan. I can still remember coming to this country with a suitcase and my trombone. That’s it! Four hundred CDs later and busting my way through hundreds of books and Japanese comics, I’ve got to send all this stuff back home. It’s got to be done though.
You’re probably wondering why I’m leaving Japan. The reasons are such:
- My age. I’m thirty-four and if I want to restart (I don’t think it every really started) my life in Canada I should do it before I’m forty. My brain may already be starting to rot... it’s better to absorb new stuff when you’re younger rather than older.
- I’ve started to notice my limits with the language. While I’ve learned Japanese pretty well (I can bust my way through easier books and newspaper article (slowly)) and I can sustain a conversation for a certain period of time (it all depends on the person), I’ve realized that I have limits. I’m talking to people who have been exposed to the language since they were born and have gone through the school system. It’s hard to catch up with what people are saying at times.
- I hate to say this but living in Japan can be mentally tiring. There are some people that treat me as a human being. Other times, I’m treated as an alien. Luckily, I’ve managed to find good bars where the customers don’t do this... I don’t think I’ve experience blatant discrimination but some of the comments that I hear from people can irk me. Yes, I can use chopsticks. Ah... my eyes are big. Yes, I like Japanese women. Yes, I speak Japanese when I go to restaurants. Umm...
- The winters in Sapporo are too long. Six month of putting up with icy roads and blizzards have taken a toll on me.
- I can’t imagine what kind of work I’ll be able to do in Japan when I get past fifty. The type of work that I can do in this country is limited. Basically all I can do is teach English and I don’t really notice many people over the age of fifty doing this kind of work in this country. The demand for teachers in Sapporo seems to be low and the English conversation industry is not what it used to be. Without a decent job, life in Japan will turn sour pretty quickly.
- I’m not going to go into too much detail about his but I’m worried about the future of Japan...
There are other reasons for leaving Japan but these are the main reasons why I’ve decided to return to Canada.
複雑. These two kanji characters mean “complicated”. It’s the word I hate the most in the Japanese language, but this is how life feels at the moment.
Life goes on and I’ve got to be positive about what I can do when I return to Canada. Will I start to forget the Japanese that I’ve inputed into my brain up to this point? Will I be able to make enough money to support myself? Will I meet that perfect person who I’ll live with for the rest of my life?
Who knows what’s going to happen with my future but I’m sure that what I’ve experienced in Japan will somehow help me until I take my last breath.
I’d like to thank everyone who I’ve met up to this point in Japan and that I’m sure we can meet up sometime in the near or far future.
どうも有り難う
