Many of you have been waiting for this final chapter of the blog. But I guess I was just not ready to say good-bye to Tokyo. Until now.
Packing 14 years of my life in Tokyo into 60 boxes was like walking through the emotional land mine. The application form for the Japanese language school, the first job offer letter, many happy-birthday cards from my students, the divorce papers, etc. all exploded in my mind and took me down the memory lane where I was extremely reluctant to go.
Of course moving countries is never easy, but renting out the apartment I designed and decorated, getting rid of the furniture I spent weeks choosing, quitting the job I loved, and leaving my familiar and comfortable life style behind were all much more traumatic than I expected.
However the hardest part of all was saying good-bye to my dear friends. You see, I can force myself to throw or give away things that have sentimental value to me, but I can never do that to friendship.
I don’t have much. The only thing I am proud of is having so many wonderful friends in Tokyo. Some of them have been my guardian angels for years and some of them are new friends who I would love to get to know. They have been part of me and leaving them is almost like emotional amputation. It was the most difficult part of my leaving.
Before I left, I organized a charity auction to raise money for Japan Cat Network and to introduce all my friends to each other. Although I couldn't be there in person for the event, now many of my friends are connected and I am sure that their friendship will flourish with time.
But I want to remind them all that I will always be here for them. The distance shouldn’t matter with true friendship. And I also want to say thank you to all my dear friends - for having enriched my life, for laughing and crying with me, and for helping me through the darkest hours. Thank you!
