Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan

After almost one year we are happy to say that we are back in Japan. Summer is here with a vengeance and humidity the likes we have not exeperienced in a long time is an ever-present sophorific. Cicadas and all their insect friends provide a natural soundscape accompanied by the trills and whistles of the bird world. It is all at the same time amazingly familiar and strangely new again.

Flying into Kansai International Airport reminded me strongly of the time seven years ago when I arrived at Narita, on my way to Tokyo, fresh off a flight from Brisbane. The heat and the humidity. The orderliness of the entire process. The sense of entering another world. And yet this time the things that were different had changed. The language is familiar to me. The way people relate to each other. The politeness. What was different was surprising. Cars driving on the left hand side of the road. Immaculately clean toilets. Being able to communicate.

Seeing the concrete jungle, the machine that is Osaka from the plane as we flew in to KIX and from the bus as we drove into the city was quite horrific. I feel quite strongly that I no longer wish to live in such an environment. I need trees and birds, fresh air, frogs croaking. That is part of my heritage as a Kiwi, my turangawaewae. So I doubt we will be living in Tokyo again. Living in our little house in Mita was a great experience for us – Tokyo is a very energetic and electric city but it is time to move to the country. Of course with the internet work will be no problem.

Having spent most of that time in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang I think it is that part of the journey that will stay with me the strongest. The mix of the recently arrived Han culture with the enduring ways of the local Uighyr people and especially their hospitality will always be with me. In some ways more ancient that anything I have experienced before, life on the edge of the desert is something all the more precious because of its tenacity in the face of adversity.

The blogs were down – due to some technical difficulties with a server at our hosting company which have now thankfully been resolved. Also our digital camera has passed away – it kicked the bucket during our last day in Bulgaria, so no more photos for a while.

We will spend the next couple of weeks traveling around Japan – up to Tokyo for a picnic and then off to Mt. Fuji to spend some time with our friends and enjoy some wonderful music. And then to Akita for Obon and some quality time in rural Japan.