Since stopping my regular posting, I've been coming to terms with the changes in my life and I think I've reached the end of my need to talk about Japan. I knew the time would come eventually when I'd move from being in transition to being "finished". I'm not quite complete, but I think the time has come to let go of my strong attachment to thinking about Japan and my life there. That's my way of saying that the time of comparisons is finished and maybe I don't have as much to say as I used to or just don't care to say it anymore.
I'm going to essentially go away for awhile. I am sure that there is something else I'll be writing about in the future, but I think I'm going to say goodbye to these blogs for awhile, maybe forever. I haven't decided yet. I just know that my impulse to continue has vanished.
I want to sincerely thank my readers for following me as they have. I will say that, if I start a new blog or write in another forum (or when my book is complete), I will likely come back and let readers of these blogs know about it. If you're only here because I talk about Japan, then you may not want to come back once in awhile to see if things have changed. If you're here because you like the way I write, then I'd say pop back once a month or so to see if anything has changed.
Thank you for all your kind support and reading my work. I am truly grateful.
I'm going to essentially go away for awhile. I am sure that there is something else I'll be writing about in the future, but I think I'm going to say goodbye to these blogs for awhile, maybe forever. I haven't decided yet. I just know that my impulse to continue has vanished.
I want to sincerely thank my readers for following me as they have. I will say that, if I start a new blog or write in another forum (or when my book is complete), I will likely come back and let readers of these blogs know about it. If you're only here because I talk about Japan, then you may not want to come back once in awhile to see if things have changed. If you're here because you like the way I write, then I'd say pop back once a month or so to see if anything has changed.
Thank you for all your kind support and reading my work. I am truly grateful.
Posts
I only found this blog rather late in the game (maybe two years ago?), but I have enjoyed reading your insights very much and I really appreciate the way you combined balanced and well thought out comments with personal experiences and reflections. Thank you so much, and all the very best for the future.
ReplyDeleteHave enjoyed your posts as they've given me a glimpse of my own future when I'll be gone from Japan and back home (or elsewhere). Will definitely be keeping you on the blog list so as to have an eye out for future updates...
ReplyDeleteAll good things must come to an end I guess. Amazingly enough, my Japanese wife and kids just came back from Japan (they were there for the last 20 months) to the States pretty much permanently.
ReplyDeleteWhat I enjoyed most about this blog was the 'impartial observer' aspect that was truly objective and very 'professorial' in nature. What went on in Japan was different and - most importantly - you went out of your way to distinguish WHY it was different than America. Far too many blogs about Japan either consistently put Japan on a pedestal and ask 'why can't America do that?!?!' or consistently carp about Japan and say 'thank God I don't live here.'
A very unique, well-thought out blog. Thank you very much and I point this blog out to many of my American friends who are familiar, but have not visited, Japan.
Thank so much for sharing your life in Japan with us these past few years. Your honesty with which you write about your feelings and experiences has been a revelation and fascinating to read. Whatever you choose to do with your writing in the future, I hope that it provides happiness and fulfillment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the fish.
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed your blogs very much and will miss them. Should you start a new project, I am sure I will follow it.
As for finally finishing..... that seems quite right and healthy. Japan has had a big influence on my life, and still tends to exert some pressure...I think I have unfinished business there.. but maybe I just think that way. I am starting to think that that is no way to live.
Good luck in all future endeavours.
Good Luck to you. Thanks for sharing your insights.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. I also found this blog somewhat late, a year and a half ago, just after I had moved from a 12 year stint in Osaka to a new life in Istanbul (I'm originally from NZ, married to a French/Turkish woman - we met in Osaka.)
ReplyDeleteI found your blog by Googling "I miss Japan" and it came at a great time for me. I was unhappy and in the darker stages of culture shock, and I had equal measures of giggles and nostalgia reading through your posts old and new. I haven't kept precise track, but I've read at least 90% of your material on here, and ventured onto your previous blog too via links that popped up here and there.
I would have commented more, but my lack of experience with Blogger/Blogspot meant that my comments got lost a few times and I just let it pass. One thing I'd say is that if you ever do revisit Japan, and I know that you've said you have a strong feeling you won't, but - if you do, give Osaka a visit. You said that you'd never been there but always enjoyed dealing with people from there due to their more open/outgoing approach...well, I think that's true, and I'd love to see your reaction (if it ever happens) to being in very much the same urban fabric, but with quite a different social atmosphere overlaid onto it. I visited Tokyo many times and I always enjoyed it, but the difference struck me as quite marked and I was always at ease with the choice to live in Osaka rather than the road more travelled (not that much more, but more.) I mean this in no way as a dig at Tokyo or at anyone's choice to live there, just as something I observed and felt.
Anyway. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for helping me unwittingly in my own process of saying a long goodbye to Japan and to many, many facets of life there which I loved, laughed about, complained about, had to deal with...all of that. I too feel that my transition is nearly complete. I had a recent visit to Osaka and saw all the "inner circle" friends, a few familiar neighbourhood faces, and managed to pop in and drop little gifts to people like the nice lady at the corner store, and so on. It was a lovely trip, and I didn't really realise it until about 2/3 through my stay there, and when a friend made the comment to me, that Yes, "this trip is about closure, isn't it." He was right.
Thank you for sharing all of your experiences and thoughts! It's been a pleasure to read them these past few years. I wish you the best of luck with everything!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the posts you've made! I've had hours upon hours of enjoyment reading them. Good luck with your book!
ReplyDeleteWhat everybody else said. I've followed you for years and I will miss your thoughts, insights, and experiences. I hope your book is a mind-blowing success.
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely come back from time to time to see if you'd posted anything. While I'll miss reading this blog, I wish you much success in your writing.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am sad we will no longer get to share in your thoughts on Japan, this feels like a positive move and I can't help but to feel happy for you at the same time. What is left to say, really? It's time for a new chapter in your life, and I wish you all the best!
ReplyDeleteThis blog has been a real pleasure in my life! Know that I'm looking forward eagerly to your next project.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how much I have enjoyed your blog. I first found it about two years ago, shortly before I visited Japan for a conference. Through a series of incredibly unlikely events, I now find myself living in Japan, and I have loved reading about your positive and negative reflections of your time in Japan and comparing them to my own experiences.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts with all of us, and best of luck with your future writing projects (and of course everything else in your life!).
I think I found your blog when you were near the beginning, but comfortably into the Will/Won't Miss posts. It's really been a pleasure to read and I've always looked forward to reading new posts. I wish you all the very best in your future endeavours, and I hope to read more from you at some point!
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you for all your hard work over the years. Your blog has been one of the best out there. Please let us know what you're doing next!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to see you leave this blog but I can understand why. I hope if you pickup a new blog you can share what it is so I may take up reading it as well. I have enjoyed your writing style, I hope your next venture is a good one.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteOrchid - you've done a great job with your blogs, and you were one of the J bloggers who inspired me to keep going with my own writing. I do hope to see more of your stuff to come, perhaps if inspiration strikes you again in some fashion!
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing all your posts. I have been an avid reader although took a long hiatus from bloghopping... I feel saddened to see you end your 1000thingsaboutJapan but I am glad you are moving forward... we all do...
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