A sweet man just came by from Tokyo Electric for me to pay my bill (only 1,200 yen, which is nice). Packing went a lot easier when I saw that I can take my mandolin as carry-on luggage. I’ve thrown loads of stuff out, though it still seems to be all here. I’m moving out.
I’d be lying if I said I felt desperately sad. It bothers me that I’m not bothered by leaving, because the truth is that after about three days back at home the truth is going to sink in and I will be a miserable wreck. I’m just looking forward to the confusing and complex task of “leaving Japan” being over, from a practical standpoint. It’s really complicated! There are forms! Stuff to return! I have to take photos and say goodbye to people! I haven’t had a second of downtime (except when I got stuck on Awkward Family Photos) and writing long blog posts or uploading photos seems out of the question.
But I couldn’t go without putting a little thing up. It seems weird that I will never, ever see this room again. It’s been my home for ten months. Not much of any interest happened here, but I’ll miss the nasty yellow curtains, the odd humidity of the toilet room, the lovely green forest of moss and little plants that has grown in the run-off from the air-con and over my discarded sock.
I plan to make the last song I play in my room “Black Out Fall Out” (the later compilation album edition which is a magnitude more epic). I remember when Polysics ended their live show with it. It was beautiful.
Technically, I leave Tokyo today (Narita is in Chiba-ken). This is sad. If there’s one thing I’ve confirmed from this year, it’s that this city…
Money is running tight, thanks to splurging on stupid kanji textbooks which I’m not even sure I need (given that I’ve got a perfectly good kanji dictionary), and what counts as a small amount here is a ridiculously huge expenditure back home, like Japan is some kind of magical shrinking land where all of £50 transforms into £5 after it passes through the mystical portal to Nippon.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The exchange rate has jumped 10 yen, which isn’t much but does make some difference. Plus I just picked up my MUFJ bank book and card, and the JASSO scholarship will indeed be going in next week, and I got my electricity bill and I only spent 1,214 yen (£8) for the period 30/09 – 18/10, which implies that my monthly cost will be a mere 1800 yen or so; which is far less than the 15000 I budgeted for – although the water bill could be ridiculously high, I don’t know.
Also I got some MEN’S HAIR STRAIGHTENERS and now my hair looks a bit like Nick Cave’s from when he was in The Birthday Party and on lots of heroin, which is good.
And it’s November soon, which means it’s Nanowrimo time again! Last time my bizarre tale of alien invasion utilitarianism floundered at ~34,000 words, but it was a good experience nonetheless, and I’m certain that it gave me the impetus to go ahead with my currently-in-progress novel, right now at about ~54,000 words. The thing is, do I cheat and use the month to finish that off, winding up with a choppy-but-complete 100,000 word novel? Or do I follow the spirit of Nano and start afresh with something totally original and unashamedly pulpy? The prospect of actually having a 100,000-word finished novel to my name in 40 days time is almost too good to resist, rules be damned.
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