diamondlife

In about 27 hours, I'll be back in the UK. ;_; I'm sad! There are a lot of things I'm going to miss:

- TV!! Even aside from the dramas I've been watching and MuchaBuri and so on, I love just having the TV on and there being some silly show with comedians in silver jumpsuits chasing each other round a field. I almost always know who *someone* is in any given show, and I've transcended the "WTF" factor into sheer appreciation.
- The wider media. Of course, I really appreciate the magazines and adverts you see everywhere - there's always some fun snippet somewhere!
- The biggest thing I'm going to miss, though, is the safety of everything here. The fact that you can leave your bag while you go to get a drink and it'll still be there when you get back. That's the thing that could convince me to stay in Japan a lot longer than I have this time.
- BL in the supermarket. XD
- I also love the food safety here. I completely trust everywhere I've eaten! Even slightly-dingy looking curry houses. I've never feared for my safety, which I do all the time at home. I really got into raw fish on nigiri here, but back home, I won't be so certain.
- Food in general. Zaru soba! Men's Pocky! Tempura! Yakiniku! Yakisoba! Gyudon! Unagi! BAKERIES!! Oh, the sweeeeet, sweet bread. :9 :9 :9 Those little chocolate donuts. I need to buy tonkatsu sauce. And eat a croquette. That's what I really want to eat before I leave. XD

There's one or two things I'm not going to miss, though:

- While customer service here is almost invariably excellent, random people can be incredibly rude without even seemingly knowing their behaviour is inappropriate. People will push in in front of you without even looking, and I rather suspect that it's being a foreigner that makes people do that, because the people who do it are almost always middle-aged or older, and if happens more often out of the cities. It just makes me laugh, really, because it's not an incredible inconvenience to me - it's just amusingly ignorant. I know there are ignorant people everywhere (especially elderly people who think they've a right to be rude just because they're old), but it's a surprise in a country where customer service people are so incredibly polite.
- People staring. Well, people do sometimes stare at me at home, because I do sometimes dress flamboyently and, for that matter, I'm quite tall and gangly and not especially attractive, so I often feel like people are staring in some weird fascination, or out and out mockery, back home. But here... it's more like being the local curiosity. XD I stand out because of my height even more here - once, even in Osaka, I got in a lift and one guy was all "...Bikkuri!" out loud. He even said something to me, though he wasn't being rude! When I first got here I found it refreshing to not think I was being seen as ugly, because I look so Western that I'm just different, not to be judged on the same criteria. But the only attention I've got has been, yeah, the stary kind. I don't quite know what to make of it! Oh well, at least here I seem like I have *some* chest at all. XD
- The extortionate price, and somewhat limited availability, of fruit and veg is also a kicker. x_o Restaurant food here is soooo cheap, but I like a nice bit of fruit to snack on and I don't appreciate paying 50p for one orange. o.O And you don't really get vegetables in meals here, so I'm looking forward to eating some when I get home. Haha, how sad am I? XD

Incidentally, I've also missed listening to the radio. I ♥ the BBC! ...In answer to my previous question, *very* sad. XD

Overall, I've had the greatest time here! I'm so pleased, because when I got here I was very homesick and thought I wasn't going to make it; it took me a while to get to grips with it. But I've seen so many awesome places and done such cool stuff and bought such awesome junk I feel like I've really had a fulfilling time. I've picked potatoes in Hyogo, made miso soup in Nikko, watched JaniBen in a monastery, had shiatsu in Abashiri, been to a Buddhist ceremony, seen numerous Shinto weddings, eaten gold in Kanazawa, been on a pirate ship in Hakone, been in an onsen in Kyushu (and Nikko), been 10 feet away from my heroes in life (hahaha)... I think I've covered all bases!

But I was worried after I'd been here a little while that by the time I left I'd've "done" Japan, and there'd be no reason for me to come back, after wanting to come for so long. But that's definitely not the case. I mean, Koya-san won't change, and Hiroshima won't change, but it would be nice to come in spring or autumn and see the different colours, and, to be honest, I'd just love to come back and enjoy being here again.

I'm already planning my next trip. And now, I'm going to watch the last ep of MuchaBuri I can live.