Grab a snack, this is long.

Monday, Dec 15

A not thrilling day. I went first thing in the morning to the local Yamato (Japanese UPS) office to find out about getting my package redelivered. I had to taxi there since all the Google Maps options were like “Train A to Train B then walk 24 minutes.” No thank you.

I’ve gotten over the “taxis in Japan are expensive” hump and I’m just like…if taking a taxi is the only thing that’s gonna get me out the door, then so be it.

The ladies in the office were very helpful (Japanese customer service is unmatched) and with our translator apps she was able to let me to know to go home and wait for redelivery and to pay the deliverer the still-owed amount.

At least I got a nice ride in the car out of it…the next town over is much more charming than where I am, more traditional homes and little shrines nestled in-between buildings. If I didn’t have to pay $30 (roundtrip), or walk 24 minutes to get there, it would be a nice place for a picture-taking stroll.

I’m just…in such a dead zone here. Everything is far…or requires complicated navigation…or lots of walking. It’s frustrating…but I’m just sort of weary of feeling frustrated and have pretty much thrown in the towel. I’ve done a couple tours, which helps with transportation and navigation and just general peace of mind…but they’re expensive and pack wayyy too many things into a day, and it just exhausts me. To the point of misery and “I don’t even want to look at the pretty trees/eat the delicious food, etc, just cuz I’ just miserable.”

It seems…worse than when I was in Korea. And it was bad there! I don’t know if it’s that things are truly harder to get to here…or just that I’m that much older…or I was more fit then from walking to school up The Hill a million times a week. Or a combination thereof.

I have less than two weeks left here. I hope to get a couple more things done on my “want to do” list…but am not pressuring myself. I will be back.

It was much better being in Kyoto. Things were much more accessible to me. There were way more busses and bus info was included on Google Maps…taxis would pick me up quickly from the hotel (vs here where I had to wait over 20 minutes this morning just to reserve a taxi to the Yamato office…and then wait another 10 minutes for it to get here from civilization), and many things I wanted to do were within 30-60 minutes…vs 60-90mins here. And there were things I could just walk to.

Sigh.

Poor Bettye, traveling around the world, exactly as she hoped to do. Ha ha.

Tuesday, Dec 16

I don’t even want to go into the ridiculousness of today’s journey to see a big tree. Suffice it to say I spent four hours and almost $50 to see a big tree that’s like an hour (by train) from here. Because navigation and directions and taxis and turnstiles and bathrooms and payment apps.

Regardless, I went to Mitsushima Shrine to see a 1,000-year-old giant Camphor tree. It’s 78′ tall and about 42′ around. That’s bigger than this room! It was actually quite impressive. And the shrine was small and old and charming in a bit of an unkempt way, ha ha. But I liked it. And there were benches in the shade to just sit quietly and take in the peacefulness.

The god affiliated with Mitsushima Shrine is Ōyamazumi-no-Ōkami, the god of mountains, forests, trees, and nature…and the long-lived tree reinforces that symbolism, representing longevity, protection, deep roots.

But it was a helluva trip getting there and back.

I really need to start being more discriminating about where I go – when in a “difficult” place like where I’m staying here. Did I want to see the tree? Yes. Am I glad I got to see the tree? Yes? Was it worth half a day, $50, and travel stress/aggravation? Mmm…I’d have to say no.

It’s just hard to know the worth of some things until you’ve done them.

Wednesday, Dec 17

Officially Scheduled Rain Day.

Thursday, Dec 18

Had plans with a friend to go to a Christmas Market, but her little guy got sick so we’re rescheduling.

Canceled plans means I get to stay in all day.

I did give myself a bit of a haircut. No one else would even notice, but.

Friday, Dec 19 – Thur, Dec 25

Merry Christmas. Santa gave me the gift of Never Having to Leave the House and I have been playing with it nonstop. I literally have not been out of the building since Tuesday, Dec 16, when I went to see the big tree.

I’ve made plans and itineraries. And then just stayed home.

Anyway, I got the very traditional Japanese Christmas dinner of KFC and stayed home (shocker) and watched k-dramas.

I have truly become my mother. Just in another country.

In my defense, for the past two nights, I DID plan to go into osaka to look at Christmas lights…but it’s raining and windy since Wednesday afternoon so…

I did get to do a facetime with Katie and we opened some gifts together. That was a good gift.

Friday Dec 26

Reserved an Uber for airbnb check-out day next week. It will take me to Osaka, where I will get a shuttle to the airport…where I will get a shuttle to the hotel where I’ll stay the night. Then the next morning I’ll shuttle or taxi back to the airport for my 11:30am flight.

I texted with Thai airbnb host this week and she said I could check-in at any time, gave me a code to my mailbox where I’ll get my room key. So I won’t need an extra hotel for my first night in Thailand.

I signed-up for a 5-week in-person Thai language class for while I’m there. A) for the language, and B) cuz maybe I can meet a human that would like to get coffee or something. At the very least there will be PEOPLE. And I’m checking out some local tours.

Saturday, Dec 27

I know I’m gonna have ROMO (Regret of Missing Out) as soon as I leave here…but even knowing that isn’t getting me out the door.

Sunday, Dec 28

I LEFT THE HOUSE! I REPEAT…I LEFT THE HOUSE!

Send in the band! And some photographers. It was a DAY!

I was Down to the Wire, and if I was getting people back home gifts from Japan, today was the last chance.

I started at a little matcha shop in a traditional market. The “market” in Japan and Korea means like a whole street with shops on both sides, covered with like a plastic roof. So it’s not like a single STORE, but…more like a two-sided…or galley, if you will, strip mall. Shops, lots of food, both street food and fresh meats and produce.

I found some things for Katie in there…and I had a yummy matcha ice cream. I think I’ve mentioned before that I am not the biggest matcha fan – to me it just tastes grassy, and not particularly pleasant…but this ice cream was delish! I don’t know if it was a lesser matcha content or a better quality, but it was interesting and nice.

Then just strolling along, I happened across a kimono shop…and I have been looking for a kimono shop since I’ve been here, and mostly they’re rental shops…or they don’t have children’s sizes (looking for my great-niece) or they’re SUPER expensive (hundreds of dollars). This was authentic kimonos, with children’s sizes, at a reasoable cost. The gentleman who helped me spoke zero english, so I hope we got the sizing right. My niece is 9, but seems very tall to me! Oh well, at the very least, she could hang it on her wall as decor. So that was a fortuitous find.

That little bit of shopping wore me out and left me feeling slightly overwhelmed. I can’t believe I used to love shopping. Now, two stores – and these places were quite small – is more than enough for me. I’d probably feel differently if I knew my trusty steed (Hyundai) was right outside waiting to comfortably and conveniently deliver me home, but instead I was facing the walk back to the train station, and multiple navigations and train changes for the long ride home…and that keeps me in my place and keeps my shopping trips short.

I made it home pretty well. All in all was a pretty successful trip.

Monday, Dec 29

Today’s project was taking things to the post office to ship them to Katie and to my niece.

Simple.

Oh ho ho, NOT.

First, an almost mile walk to the post office, carrying stuff. Then…essentially being told at the post office “you can’t mail things to the US from Japan.” There are some subtleties to that statement…and I was there about an hour, trying every which way, they were trying to help, but…in the end, I just had to walk back home with all my stuff. And was faced with trying to fit MORE stuff in my already overweight suitcase.

That was a very sort of…degrading’s not the right word, but…something like that. I couldn’t accomplish a simple task because I can’t speak the language so didn’t understand the rules and couldn’t advocate for myself and my goal.

Got home and started trying to manuever my entire life + Christmas gifts into my suitcase.

Tuesday, Dec 30

Today was a blend of last minute oh my gosh still have so much to do before I leave TOMORROW and let’s have a leisurely lunch with a friend before I leave Japan. A bipolar day.

I met my friend for lunch at a sort of Westerny pasta/noodle restaurant in a mall. We chatted, her little boy was so well-behaved…we walked around a bit afterwards. We went to a nearby convenience store where she very graciously printed all my travel documents for me…then we said goodbye and parted ways. I’m glad we met while I was in Japan…

I still had to get all my trash (who keeps letting that pile up??) and recycling out, and get all my stuff packed neatlyish…trying hard to keep the things I’ll need in Thailand at the top, so I don’t have to take EVERYTHING out when I get there, just the warm weather things (Future Me asks: How’d that work out? Future Me answers: Not. So. Well.).

I managed to fit everything in, even the gifts…somehow both suitcases felt less full than before…and yet, heavier. Ha. I was already fully-prepared for overweight charges at the airport cuz the budget Asian airlines have like a 33lb weight limit (vs 50lbs in the US).

And off to bed I went, early morning alarm set so I would be ready for my Uber pickup at 11am.

Wednesday, Dec 31

Last day in Japan…and New Year’s Day. AND The Day I Have to Get Papa Bear Down the *&3@6%$9&%! Stairs. An event which has been weighing on my mind for two months, since the day I moved in here. And the day has come.

And surprisingly…it was just not as terrifying as I’d feared. Maybe cuz I’d built it up SO much in my mind, as The Next Worst Thing to Literal Death.

I just took it Very Slow. I mean VERRRRY SLOW. Obviously, going down is not as physically demanding as going up, but it’s still scary. I’m unsteady walking down stairs with nothing in my hands, so…

Anyway, I left Papa Bear on the first floor around 9am. The airbnb host had told me no one was staying on the first floor and it would be okay to leave it there til my ride came.

I made a couple more trips up and down with recycling, trash, and Baby Bear…and still didn’t get everything out. I sent an apology note to the airbnb host that I was not leaving the space quite as I found it. SORRY.

Uber got there a little early at 10:30…drove me to the shuttle pick-up spot in downtown Osaka…where a very nice young man from Malaysia helped me buy tickets for the shuttle. The ride is only like 30 minutes and then I was at Kansai Airport in Osaka. I exchanged most of my Japanese Yen for Thai Baht at the currency exchange window…made a convenience store stop for some snacks and dinner…and requested a taxi to take me to the hotel where I was staying overnight.

Check-in went smoothly, they even let me check-in almost an hour early, which was lovely. The room was small, typical of Japan, but the bed and pillow were good, it had an actual desk…the mini-fridge was so cold it turned my Coke into a Coke Slush, which was delightful, and there was a large western-facing window that gave me a beautiful “last sunset of 2025” view. All in all, it was a good last night in Japan.

The end of the year. The end of my Japan era.

Onto the next adventure: Thailand.

See ya there!

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