One unavoidable aspect of being a foreigner who stays in Japan for a long time is that other foreigners are almost certainly not going to be here as long as you. There's a veritable revolving door of people who you get to know, get to like (or love), and who ultimately leave for their home pastures. While it certainly is possible to keep such friendships alive over the distance, ultimately it is never the same. More often than not, the friendship eventually withers like a neglected plant as going your separate ways means you have less and less in common. While people do move on and around back home, it doesn't happen with the same certainty or frequency as it does here, and your interests don't diverge quite so sharply or rapidly.
I won't miss making friendships which I know will end sooner rather than later.
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