There’s only a few more weeks left and although I’m anxiously trying to make sure that I get to do everything I wanted to do in Japan, I’m still incredibly happy to be coming home. There’s a lot of things that I’m going to miss here, but I feel like Japan is like a second home to me and I hope that one day I can come back to explore all the places that I never got to visit.
I visited Kobe recently, which was a goal of mine. I got to explore the streets of the local Chinatown (which, for some reason, had a couple of Spiderman statues throughout it) and eat Kobe beef in the most decently-priced way that I could: as a hamburger. We browsed through a shopping mall on the way and I wished that I had a sense of fashion because the clothes are wonderful and the people here wear them well!
In the subsequent weekend, I went to a section of Osaka called Nipponbashi, which hosts a lot of pop-cultural media and merchandise. My roommate and I visited a small animal café where we got to handle creatures like baby mice, baby guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, hedgehogs, etc. I’d been to a cat café in Kyoto and I’m planning on going to an owl café as well. Japanese homes are so small that I’m not surprised so many people visit animal cafes to get their animal fix!
The next day, I went to Kyoto’s Kiyomizu temple to see the fall leaves. It was freezing and raining, but I was still amazed by the view. There were so many colorful, bright red leaves all around. I constantly joke to my friends as I take pictures, telling them that I don’t see this kind of thing in Florida at all – and because I’ve never really been outside of Florida for extended periods of time, I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve said it a lot before, but I really mean it! It’s beautiful here, and I’d like to spend more time in Japan at some point to see ALL the seasons that I’ve never gotten to see before.
I’m still practicing Japanese as best I can along the way, and I’m noticing some decent improvement. It makes me kind of sad that I’ll be leaving now that I’m really starting to pick things up. When you’re surrounded by people speaking it and signs showing the complicated symbols you just learned, it tends to sink into your memory a lot better. However, now that my language abilities have vastly improved and I can see it when I read Japanese media with a lot more ease, I’m feeling inspired to continue learning it when I get home. Japan has reignited my passion for languages.
I accomplished what I set out to accomplish and more. I learned a lot of things about the culture, I learned about myself, I gained inspiration, and I improved my Japanese. I’m super excited to tell people about my experiences when I get home and there’s a lot of passion that I’d love to share with everyone about Japan. Although I’m going to miss it and I’m sad to leave, I’m still excited to be back home again where I can take these experiences and apply them to my life in a whole new way. I feel really blessed to have been able to do this – it truly is an experience that changes a person in ways that nothing else can change you.
