We’ve been living out of suitcases for the past month. It hasn’t been as difficult as it might have been because we’ve been blessed to be able to use Pastor Steve and Shelley’s beautiful house as a home base and have only taken our smaller suitcases when we’ve left here to go to Osaka and to other homes in this area.  Our time here is running out, however, and the time has come for a complete repacking job.

We have four nights left in Japan. We’ll spend the first two with Seiko, Atsuo and their two boys (our Japanese grandsons) then move back to Smoky and Ikuko’s for the last two. Again, we’ll take only our smaller suitcases to Seiko and Atsuo’s but I want to have everything ready for our flight back to Canada today as we’ll only stop here for a few minutes to pick up the rest of our baggage on our way to Smoky and Ikuko’s after church on Sunday. We’ll go to the airport from their place on Tuesday.

So, everything is folded and sitting in piles on the bed and now it’s a matter of figuring out what goes in which bag. Instead, I’m procrastinating and sitting on the computer! It really isn’t that big of a job. We travel light and I know there’s enough room for everything. We’ve picked up a few mementos and gifts to take home with us but we’ve also unloaded the gifts that we brought for people here so it should even out.

We’ll be carrying an extra box back but that’s because we did some shopping for Matt and Robin while we’ve been here. Having lived in Japan for two years, there are things they can’t get at home that they wanted us to pick up. Their box is already packed though. Now it’s just a matter of getting our own stuff organized. So why am I still sitting here? Why am I procrastinating?

I’m looking forward to going home and especially to our ten day stopover in Vancouver where we’ll meet our new grandson who was born while we’ve been here but perhaps I’m also a little bit sad to see our time here coming to an end. I do love Japan and it’s going to be hard to say good bye again. We have to leave so many special people behind!

Over the past couple of weeks as we’ve revisited many of the places that we enjoyed during our year in Japan and explored a few new ones, I’ve been reminded how fortunate we were to live where we did. Funabashi is part of the greater Tokyo area but our students often referred to it as the countryside. To those of us who are used to the wide open spaces of the Canadian prairie, it is extremely urban but compared to the crowds and bustle of Tokyo proper, it’s definitely more peaceful. I loved being close enough to enjoy time in Tokyo but was always glad to return to the relative calm of our quieter neighbourhood.

Last night we had supper in downtown Tokyo with a friend from church who chooses to commute two hours to and from work each day in order to enjoy living in Chiba which is even further out than Funabashi. In addition to the more peaceful lifestyle, lower housing costs also draw people away from the city centre. We’ve been told that it costs less to rent an apartment in Funabashi than a parking stall in downtown Tokyo!

This week we’ve both immersed ourselves in the heart of the city and sought out quieter spots. It’s actually quite easy to do both. The day before yesterday, we walked through the bustling shopping districts of Harajuku and Shibuya and crossed the world’s busiest pedestrian intersection but we also strolled the wooded grounds of Yoyogi Koen. Today we revisited a smaller park in the area where we lived. I love the vibrancy of the world’s largest city but I’m glad I didn’t live in the middle of it. I also need time in more tranquil places.