The Final Act

Thus ends my two years on JET. At midday tomorrow, I will leave Shiogama, head to Sendai and then to Tokyo, where I will catch an evening flight to Hong Kong and then back to the UK. I will not have internet access as of this evening, since I'm packing up my Yahoo BB modem and sending it back to them, so I thought I should get my farewell post in quickly...

How to summarise my JET experience? It's been beneficial, no doubt about it - I've made some good friends, improved my Japanese maybe 30% and picked up 1-kyu, paid off a lot of student loan, and managed to save a fair amount too. And of course, I got into Columbia. I've been to South Korea and a lot of places I wanted to see in Japan...my only regret is that I didn't manage to travel more widely in Asia. Mission pretty much accomplished.

But it's also been frustrating at times. Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun doing my job, got on really well with my colleagues and met some very cool Japanese people, but have I really made a difference? If, in the fashion of It's a Wonderful Life, an angel could show me the last two years as if I had not been here, would things be very different? I doubt it.

I guess the thing with JET is that you have to take it for what it is; a means to an end. And in that sense, the last two years have been a success. I'm glad I decided to come here, and very happy with my placement - Shiogama is a fine place to live, and the office have been wonderful, never had a single problem with them in all of two years. I will miss the 'gama, in a lot of ways. But then, I'm moving on to somewhere rather different...

This is where my life moves up a gear and things start to get serious. If I've been on Pause for the last six months or so, then I have a feeling someone's about to hit the Fast Forward button.

If I'm honest, I don't know what to expect, but that's part of the thrill of starting up somewhere new. For the meantime, though, I have more immediate things to focus on, like getting home, getting a short-term job and seeing all of my old friends in London and Cambridge again.

So, thanks to all of you both in Japan and elsewhere who have helped to make the last two years so enjoyable, for all of your support, and for all of the laughs. Next time you hear from me, I will be safely home in Cambridge.

Til then.