I was going to let the previous depressing post dominate my blog for a while, but then I remember the awesome manga that my buddy Katagiri showed me today.
It's called Saint Young Men, and it's about Buddha and Jesus living together in Japan. From what I've glanced at so far it is absolutely hilarious :D
(you might be able to read it online too!)
Wow. Where to start. I wrote a very long post last Sunday that I was intending to post today, but after looking at it again I feel that it somehow doesn't accurately portray the things that I am feeling right now. I'm not sure that any kind of blogpost written by me could convey what I'm feeling right now, but I'll try. To business first: I've decided to quit my job at the end of March. In the beginning of April I will begin a cycling trip of which I don't know where or when it will end. I will leave my old life behind and go searching for something new.
There. I feel better now that I've finally said it. Of course this isn't a spur-of-the-moment decision: I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, starting as far back as in December. It may seem like a crazy decision to leave behind a safe and (fairly) happy life for something uncertain, but if you could see the world from my point of view you would completely understand. I've looked at my decision and my future options from the positive side and from the negative side, and after trying out a lot of different ideas in my head I've always come to the same conclusion: I don't know what I want to do with my life, but I'm certain that I don't want to waste my time doing things that I already did before. I've been here for four years, and no matter what, I must leave here. This is an absolute certainty for me.
The where-to-go part is less certain, though. Finding another job is one option, which I've considered many times before, and in fact acted upon many times as well. Unfortunately, my few attempts at applying for a job that genuinely interested me did not meet with success. So here I am, with a contract that's about to expire, no new job yet, and, let's be fair, not a lot of friends here. My self-chosen lifestyle is not easy, and it's been getting increasingly boring as friend after friend went back to their own country. Making local friends is.... possible, but difficult. Difficult enough for me to consider another option: admitting defeat and going back to Holland.
You can tell from my phrasing that I'm not too fond of this option. At first when I realized that my contract would soon be ending I gave myself a deadline: find a job in Japan before your contract ends, or go back to Holland. Plain and simple. But it just doesn't feel right, and I've come up with all kinds of (good and bad) reasons for not doing this. Holland is the easy choice. Going back would mean that I will absolutely have no problem in speaking the language, understanding the culture, integrating into society, and I would probably not have a very difficult time finding a job where I would be respected and have an opportunity to advance my career. Note that I am not grudging my current job, because I never looked for a career in my current job. I've always just wanted to enjoy the unique experience here. Now that the experience is becoming less 'unique', I seek something else, but I'm not sure if what I am seeking is a career opportunity or another unique experience.
I decided not to decide. Rather than search desperately for a job in Tokyo so I can stay in Japan, or go back to Holland not knowing if that's really what I want, I will cycle. I will start from here, Atsugi, Kanagawa. I'll go past Mount Fuji, Cross the Mie peninsula, visit Kyoto, go to Hiroshima, enter Kyushu and then cycle all the way to the southernmost tip of Kyushu. I'm not sure if I will have made up my mind by then, but if not I will simply continue. Okinawa, Chichijima, Hahajima, Hokkaido, Guam, Australia, New Zealand. All of these names have entered my head while I was fantasizing about the trip I am about to take, but everything still seems so far away. I can't seriously write here that I will go to any of those places. No, for now, it's Kyushu that will become my goal.
I'm keeping my options open. I've made my plans with two major options in mind, though I may find some interesting alternatives along the way. Who knows, perhaps becoming a fisherman in Hokkaido is what I was meant to be. Of my main options, this is number one: cycle until X, go back to Tokyo, fly to France, cycle back to Holland. Option two: cycle until X, go back to Tokyo, get a job. Possible alternatives include going to a different country or studying in Japan instead of getting a job. Money is an issue though, as I basically won't have any income this year starting from April. I hope that the Donate button makes a little bit more sense to you now :)
That's my plan. It may sound like a lot, but it isn't really. It's not like my mind is made up and my steel will has decided that this is the way that things must be. It's just that the alternative is worse. The one thing that I have never had any doubts about is that my life would be worse if I stayed here, in the same situation, for another year. It would just be a waste of time. Besides, if I changed my mind now, I would regret it for the rest of my life. How can I let such a great opportunity for adventure just pass me by? The answer is: I can't. I have to go. It's now or never.
I'll have a lot more to tell you guys about my plan, my preparations, the route, and tons of other things. For now, I'm just very happy that I can share my 'secret plan' with the rest of the world. It's my little act of rebellion against a boring life. I'm young, crazy and way less fit than I should be. Let's do it! :D
Today I went cycling (nothing surprising there). I started with the idea of going some place new, which is quite difficult after living in the same place for four years. I ended up going east towards Yokohama for quite a bit, on a horrible road with many hills along the way and nothing of interest to see. Just boring shops, cars, restaurants and people. It's the plain boring side of Japan that I like to avoid if at all possible. I changed my direction and continued southward, thinking that Enoshima must be near, but it turned out to be 10km's away, and the road going there was just as crowded and boring as the one I rode on before.
Enoshima is a great reward though. Whenever I'm there I get the feeling that it's just about ten times better than any other place in the Tokyo vicinity. It's lively yet peaceful, lots of cats around, lots of watersports going on, and a beautiful view no matter if you're on the beach looking at the island, or on the island looking in any direction. I walked around on the island for a while, taking a path I hadn't taken before, and I ended up on the other side of the island without climbing the big hill in the middle, something I previously thought was impossible.
I spent about an hour on the island, walking around, taking photos and relaxing. When I noticed the sun starting to set I prepared to head back. It's still about 25 km's back to Atsugi from there, and it does get cold here in the evening.
I don't know what happened on the way back, but somehow I was able to go way faster than usual, without even trying. The road back to Atsugi is about 12 km's along the seaside, and then another 12 km's inland. The seaside road is straight, flat and without much traffic lights. In front of me was a pro (silly looking) cyclist on a fast bicycle, whereas I was in half-touring mode, front luggage holder mounted, side bag, heavy coat on because of the cold, yet at every traffic light I caught up with the pro guy. Must have looked quite funny to the cars passing us by. I'd say normally I do about 20kph on the straight between Atsugi and the seaside, but this time I was consistently able to do 30kph on the seaside road, and 25-28kph on the inland road. Perhaps my training is paying off...
...or maybe not. During the final stretch of the trip I found my legs not hurting at all, but my arms really started to hurt. I should train those more. Arriving at home (and after climbing 5 flights of stairs) I noticed my legs.. I think I pushed myself a bit far cause I couldn't really calm down even an hour after sitting at my desk. Kinda weird considering that I didn't feel any special strain on my body during cycling. Guess I should be more careful. Well, I'll close this post with this panorama photo (clickable!).
(Note: all photos were taken with my Canon S90 compact. I left the big cam at home this time.)
Note for foreigners thinking of exchanging their yennies to something different: the yen's been going up a lot compared to the Euro the past couple of days. It's becoming favorable to exchange yens for euro's. Just FYI.
Check out this article by the Japan times: a Japanese general says some controversial stuff about WW2.
Here's some recommendations of stuff that I've seen recently.
At first glance this is just a giant robot show, but it somehow managed to suck me in very quickly. The story is a bit haphazard at some points, but interesting enough to keep your brain at work. Not to mention that it deals with my favorite topics: digitizing the human brain. Oh, and it also has awesome voice actors, something I am very weak against. I would watch a series with my favorite voice actors even if it sucked >_<;
Spice and Wolf (I and II)
This is an amazing story set in medieval Europe. It talks about a traveling merchant who happens to come upon a magical wolf called Holo, who transfers into a (naked) woman, and then travels together with him from town to town. Despite the description, this series beautifully manages to avoid every anime cliche, and despite its slow pace it's always very enjoyable to watch. I remember one scene in particular that made me realize that this anime is just so much better than all others. At some point in the story the male protagonist accidentally gets involved in an awkward situation with another woman, potentially making Holo quite jealous. The situation is defused by the protagonist honestly telling Holo what happened, and Holo understands the situation and forgives him. I bet you cannot even name one other anime where that happens. Anyway, watch this, it's beautiful. You'll learn a bit about trading, futures contracts, and the stock market as well.
If you've ever read a baseball manga then you'll know what this series is about. The premise is simple: high school kids form a baseball team and aim for the top. But actually, there is not that much baseball (matches) in the show at all, and it's mostly about character development. The pacing of the show, the characters and the atmosphere all make it a great series to watch, and it's a series that I still greatly enjoy even after 40 episodes.
Situation: sunset, nice weather, but really cold. I just cycled to the seaside and back. Arriving back home, I'm cold, sweaty and I want to take shower. After climbing up the stairs to my apartment there suddenly appears this salesman, who was ringing someone else's door, but noticing his new prey focused all his attention on me. We had this conversation:
